St Kevin’s College headmaster resigns in wake of child grooming scandal
Melbourne girls school Sacre Coeur has severed ties with St Kevin’s College after the school was rocked by a child grooming scandal. St Kevin’s headmaster Stephen Russell has resigned and the school’s dean of sport Luke Travers has been stood down.
Education
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Prestigious girls school Sacre Coeur has cut ties with St Kevin’s College in the wake of a child grooming scandal and misogynist student chants.
Sacre Coeur has put a hold on any future partnerships with the Toorak boys’ school effective immediately.
Principal Anna Masters and board chair Joan Fitzpatrick notified the Glen Iris school community of the decision in a letter this afternoon, which came after advice from Catholic Education Melbourne (CEM).
The relationship would be severed until the Victorian Registrations Qualifications Authority (VRQA) determined St Kevin’s was compliant with child safety standards following an investigation.
The letter confirmed a Four Corners report about St Kevin’s on Monday night “included an offensive rap song video about our school that was created by St Kevin’s College students in 2018.”
“The rap song video was broadcast again in 2019.
“This republication was triggered by another video of St Kevin’s College students singing a misogynistic chant on a Melbourne tram.
“I want to assure you that our school managed these incidents with the ongoing priority being the well-being and privacy of our students who were affected.”
It’s the latest blow to St Kevin’s after headmaster Stephen Russell resigned and head of sport Luke Travers was stood down on Wednesday.
Mr Russell wrote to the executive director of Edmund Rice Education Australia, saying “the current situation means that the best way to achieve this is to resign”.
“I have always tried to put the school before self and the students’ wellbeing at the very top of my list of priorities,” he wrote.
“I have a deep and abiding passion for this school community and am very grateful for the 24 years of nurturing I and my family have received. I extend my best wishes and encouragement to the current student body to be ‘good people’, the way so many who went before them have been across the decades,” the letter to parents and guardians said.
Mr Russell was under great pressure to resign after he provided a court character reference for an athletics coach, Peter Kehoe, who was convicted of grooming a boy under the age of 16.
Mr Travers also came under fire for giving Kehoe a character reference and speaking in favour of him in court during sentencing.
Dr Wayne Tinsey, Executive Director of Edmund Rice Education Australia, wrote to the St Kevin’s community on Wednesday to announce John Crowley, principal of St Patrick’s College Ballarat as the acting headmaster in 2020.
Mr Crowley’s colleagues hadn’t yet been advised of his appointment as acting headmaster of St Kevin’s, despite a statement being released.
His letter pays tribute to Mr Russell: “It is important that we acknowledge the selfless contribution that Stephen has made and his commitment to St Kevin’s College and EREA over many years. We wish Stephen, his wife Kate and their family well as they move on to a new phase of their lives.”
The letter says Mr Travers “has been formally stood down from the College pending further investigations of issues raised during the Four Corners program”.
“EREA accepts the gravity of the matters raised in recent days. Business as usual is not an option for St Kevin’s in response to these issues, which need to be addressed as a matter of priority. It is clear that what has occurred has fallen short of what the community expects, and what we expect of ourselves,” the letter says.
“Importantly, it must be stated that we find the crimes of Peter Kehoe abhorrent and we strongly condemn all behaviour of this nature,” it says.
The letter also says two teachers currently under investigation by EREA are “not presently at the school until further notice, until those investigations are complete. I urge you to understand that details of any investigation, including the identities of those involved, must remain private to ensure natural justice occurs”.
The two teachers are also understood to be under investigation by teaching regulators.
The EREA said it will be initiating an independent cultural review of St Kevin’s “to further understand current issues, and importantly, how we can take action to address them. We will keep our community updated regarding the cultural review”.
In his resignation, Mr Russell wrote: “In departing, I also recognise and thank the many remarkable people who have worked alongside me at St Kevin’s. Their loyalty, diligence and astuteness have allowed us to create the fine school that St Kevin’s is today.
“My family, particularly my wife Kate, has been an integral part of this community and I wish to express my sincere and everlasting appreciation for what they have sacrificed at different times to allow me to be Headmaster. My family’s wellbeing and safety and long term happiness have also been factors in my decision.”
Mr Russell also thanked the Old Collegians, parents and friends.
“I am also honoured and humbled by the many offers of support and expressions of goodwill I have recently received,” he said.
One father said he was “relieved the school can move on now”.
Pressure was mounting on Mr Russell from within the school community, with a group of well-connected parents understood to be actively agitating for him to resign.
As recently as yesterday Mr Russell was vowing to fight it out, telling St Kevin’s boys at numerous assemblies that he had done nothing wrong and assuring them they were safe.
The senior boys responded angrily, with some refusing to stand for him and sing the school song.
INVESTIGATION
A St Kevin’s College teacher is being investigated by the teaching watchdog for alleged misconduct.
The Herald Sun understands the staff member, who is still employed by the school, has been the subject of an inquiry for months by the Victorian Institute of Teaching.
“The VIT is currently investigating a reportable conduct matter against a teacher employed at St Kevin’s College,” a VIT spokeswoman said.
“Until the investigation is concluded, VIT is unable to provide any further details.”
The Herald Sun understands the teacher’s registration has not been suspended as the teacher has not been deemed a risk to children.
In a separate matter, the VIT will demand information from St Kevin’s regarding allegations of grooming and social media use by other teachers.
The VIT first learned of the allegations when they were aired on the ABC’s Four Corners on Monday night.
Under legislation, schools must inform the VIT if any disciplinary action has been taken against a teacher.
The VIT will enlist the help of the Victorian Registration and Qualifications Authority to ensure information is forwarded.
The revelations came as a parent revealed students at St Kevin’s College on Tuesday were “rebelling and refusing to stand” for principal Stephen Russell in an apparent snub over his handling of a child-grooming case in 2015.
Many also refused to sing the school song, according to one parent source at the school.
One parent said the “students and student leaders are furious with Russell and the senior leadership”.
Another parent told the Herald Sun parents are “just about in open revolt. Whatsapp groups going into meltdown. They want Travers, Russell and the two teachers gone this week”.
Mr Russell and head of sport Luke Travers have come under intense scrutiny and criticism for giving character references in court for Peter Kehoe, an athletics coach convicted on one count of grooming a child under the age of 16 in 2015.
The school has confirmed two more teachers are being investigated over abuse claims.
In other developments, St Kevin’s will be investigated by the schools’ regulatory body over its handling of a child sex offence committed by an external coach against a student.
Education Minister James Merlino said if he was a parent he would be “demanding answers” from the school. He confirmed the Victorian Registration and Qualifications Authority (VRQA) will open a specific review into the school’s compliance with child safety standards.
On Tuesday also, St Kevin’s parents are reconsidering sending their boys to the school, with one on Twitter blaming the “attitude of the principal”.
Prominent St Kevin’s former student Joel Deane wrote to Mr Russell telling him he “should take the ultimate responsibility for the imperfections of the school you lead and resign”.
In addition, students travelling on public transport will be accompanied by staff this week due to safety fears amid public anger over the school’s handling of the incident.
Other students are fearful of being called names and spat on in public and are travelling to and from school without wearing their uniform.
The references given by Mr Russell and Mr Travers put them in direct opposition to the young St Kevin’s student who was Kehoe’s victim, who had to spend two days in court in 2015 defending his own character.
Mr Russell’s position now hangs in the balance at the $20,000-a-year private school.
He doubled down on Tuesday, saying his priority will be “the safety, pastoral care, wellbeing and education of your son”.
Mr Travers was absent from the school on Tuesday. The school confirmed he has not been stood down.
UNANSWERED QUESTIONS AFTER ST KEVIN’S SCANDAL
SAVAGE SECRET CLUB UNCOVERED AT ELITE VICTORIAN SCHOOL
UNIS BRACE FOR ‘CATASTROPHIC’ HIT FROM CORONAVIRUS
Mr Merlino said: “I can confirm the VRQA have advised St Kevin’s College’s Board of Management, Edmund Rice Education Australia in Victoria, and the Catholic Education of Commission of Victoria that it will open a specific review into the school’s compliance with Ministerial Order 870 – Child Safe Standards – Managing the Risk of Child Abuse in Schools, as is entirely appropriate”.
The victim told the ABC the abuse and the school’s treatment of Kehoe move left him “gutted” and he ended up in psychiatric care in hospital suffering anxiety and panic attacks.
Kehoe’s young victim was in year eight at the time the abuse started.