Hillcrest Christian College: Elite school parents silenced over turmoil

Parents at a strife-torn southeast Queensland private college have been told school leaders won’t be discussing recent troubles, at a P & F Association’s general meeting. It comes after a series of parent forums called for last month were cancelled suddenly.

Hillcrest Christian College, Gold Coast.

PARENTS at a strife-torn Gold Coast private college have been told school leaders won’t be discussing the school’s troubles at the P & F Association’s general meeting tonight.

Instead, parents say they can only talk about the upcoming school fete.

Strict guidelines have been laid down for the P & F meeting at Hillcrest Christian College, which has been rocked by months of turmoil including allegations of bullying against the principal, staff upheaval and hundreds of thousands of dollars in school loans to a private company set up to commercialise a reading program.

About 250 people signed a petition calling for the principal, Jeff Davis, to be stood down and an independent investigator appointed.

The college’s P & F Association last week posted the agenda for its general meeting on Facebook, warning that there would be ‘no general business’ discussion about the controversy.

“This meeting will be FETE-FOCUSED so come along and hear all the exciting plans for the Futuristic Fete,” the post read.

“Please note there will be no executive update from College at this time and no general business involving them. The comment from the College is as follows:

“Allegations raised into and against the College leadership are still under investigation and subject to due process. On strict advice, College leaders who attend the P&F meeting will not be able to answer any questions relating to the running and organisation of the College outside that which has already been given in media releases to the community. We apologise for this situation and look forward to commencing parent forums as soon as it becomes possible for these to run as planned.”

Hillcrest Christian College, Gold Coast.

A series of parent forums called for last month were cancelled suddenly after the school said it feared they would be hijacked by a ‘negative and divisive group’.

One angry Hillcrest parent slammed the decision to censor the P & F meeting, saying the school community was being kept in the dark.

“The silence from the College is deafening,” the parent said.

“Parents are outraged yet again that we are being prevented from seeking answers to the crises enveloping the College. We have legitimate questions that the College hierarchy is failing to answer other than through carefully worded statements that shed no light on the issues.

“The College abruptly cancelled the recent information sessions and many parents were hoping the P and F meeting would enable us to be able to get answers to legitimate questions that impact on the future of our kids.

“But all we are being allowed to do is discuss scones and fetes.

“It’s not a good look for the College to be lacking open dialogue and transparency.”

The Hillcrest board has publicly backed Mr Davis and said there were ‘no known grounds’ for his termination.

Originally published as Hillcrest Christian College: Elite school parents silenced over turmoil