Boys’ school St Kevin’s faces fresh scrutiny over disgraced coach
One of the state’s top private schools, St Kevin’s College, is under new scrutiny after it came to light that a staff member gave a character reference in court for an athletics coach who was convicted of a child sex offence.
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St Kevin’s College — one of the state’s top private schools — faces fresh scrutiny over its handling of the conviction of one of its longest-serving athletics coaches for a child sex offence.
Volunteer coach Peter Kehoe was sentenced in April 2015 for one count of grooming a child under the age of 16, and was placed on the sex offenders’ register. The man was 60 at the time.
The Herald Sun can now reveal that a current staff member at the school gave a character reference in court supporting the disgraced coach, greatly angering Kehoe’s young victim and his family.
The senior staff member also allegedly wrote a letter of reference for the coach, suggesting he was fit to be employed to work with children despite his knowledge of the allegations against him. This led another senior boys’ school to hire Kehoe.
A source inside the school said staff also had to agitate to have Kehoe’s photo removed from the school walls after his conviction.
It comes amid growing concerns that there is a culture problem at the elite college.
Late last year, footage emerged of students singing a sexist chant on a public tram.
The chant, branded “offensive and misogynistic” by headmaster Stephen Russell, bragged about explicit and degrading sexual acts men performed on women.
One staff member at St Kevin’s, who did not wish to be named, called for the headmaster’s sacking on Wednesday as anger over the school’s handling of Kehoe bubbled up.
“The headmaster has got to go, it’s time he fell on his sword,” the staff member said.
Kehoe volunteered at the prestigious private school as an athletics coach for 38 years.
When the conviction was made public, the school refused to comment and declined to say whether it would investigate Kehoe’s decades-long contact with students.
Kehoe was dumped as a member of St Kevin’s College Athletics Hall of Fame in March 2015, in light of the charges against him.
Minutes of a meeting of the St Kevin’s Amateur Athletic Club Annual General Meeting in May 2015 noted that this decision “upset a small minority of members”.
Kehoe’s offending took place in 2014, with his online profile showing he stopped formally coaching at St Kevin’s in March 2013.
However, it is understood he continued to coach children, both formally and informally, until his conviction was made public.
The Herald Sun is not suggesting Mr Russell engaged in any wrongdoing, only that some people in the school community are calling for him to take responsibility as headmaster.
The St Kevin’s staff member who called for the headmaster to go, said others also needed to be “held to account”.
“Four or five other senior people must go along with the headmaster,” he said.
“For five years they’ve been pushing kids too hard, for the wrong reasons. Years ago, it was about doing your best, now it’s about beating everyone else and being the best.”
The kids were the victims, he said.
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“The kids are feeling very betrayed. I hope this doesn’t come back to hurt them. There are some very good kids and very good families here who are very upset,” he said.
Mr Russell wrote a letter to St Kevin’s parents on Monday, warning them that the ABC’s Four Corners program would be further focusing on issues at the school next week, and they were receiving “appropriate professional advice”.
“Please be assured that, as always, the care of our students is our first priority,” he said.
He could not be contacted for comment on Wednesday.