St Kevin’s ‘facing hard questions’ after grooming scandal, says acting principal
One week after St Kevin’s was hit with scandal, its new acting principal is vowing to face the music. But John Crowley’s promise doesn’t extend to explaining the mysterious “conclusion” two teachers’ employment.
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St Kevin’s College’s new acting principal has admitted the embattled school is preparing to “face hard questions” following its grooming scandal, in his first full week on the job.
John Crowley made the comments in an address to the media on Monday morning, telling them serious errors were made.
Adding to the school’s woes is the “concluded” employment of two of its most senior VCE teachers — Gary Jones and Simon Parris — less than a week after child-grooming allegations at the elite school were aired.
“We need to do things differently in the future,” he said.
However, Mr Crowley fell short of telling reporters why Parris and Jones were “concluded”.
Standing in front of the college’s multi-million dollar playing fields, he said he intends to find out and respond to the serious mistakes that were made.
He admitted the school “had fallen behind what the community expects”.
Mr Crowley went on to say St Kevin’s “has the interests of the boys is at the fore front of everything we do” and would “face hard questions with honesty”.
“The students’ wellbeing is at the centre of every decision we make and we are working with the relevant authorities where necessary,” Mr Crowley said.
The comments come two days after students and parents were again left reeling on Saturday when Mr Crowley announced “recently, the employment of the following staff members concluded” before naming director of studies and English teacher Gary Jones and advanced maths teacher Simon Parris.
Mr Jones hadn’t been at the school this year and his absence had not been explained by the school. Mr Parris taught at the school until 13 February 2020.
In a letter to parents seen by the Herald Sun, Mr Crowley did not give any reason for their employment ending.
The letter also said the employment of director of sport Luke Travers had ended. He was recently stood down for giving anemployment reference at a court hearing for Peter Kehoe.
Kehoe was an athletics coach who was facing a charge of grooming a boy under 16. He was convicted of the charge in April 2015.
Former principal Stephen Russell resigned last week for giving a similar reference to the court for Kehoe.
Mr Jones was widely acclaimed in the school as “the best teacher in Australia” for his 24/7 approach to his job.
One parent said he regularly held “ad hoc invitation-only study groups” that were very popular. “It’s really disappointingbecause he’s a magnificent educator,” one parent of three boys told the Sunday Herald Sun.
Mr Jones was known to be very good friends with former students and would regularly socialise with them.
Mr Parris had been a maths teacher for nearly 30 years and was involved in the school’s annual drama shows. He is a regular social media commentator about the theatre.
He was “known as being good with the younger kids”, the parent told the Sunday Herald Sun.
Mr Crowley wrote to reassure parents that VCE subjects taught by Mr Jones and Mr Parris would be covered to minimise the disruptionto students.
He said the school would release more information in the coming days.
The Victorian Institute of Teachers is investigating one of the two teachers stood down.
Mr Parris’ teacher registration expired in September 2019 but he has a registration extension that enables him to teach until 30 June 2020.
On Saturday, anti-violence campaigners hung ribbons at the school in support of victims of child sex abuse.
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Last week, former school counsellor Marie Keel launched court action claiming the school punished her for raising allegationsunder mandatory reporting measures three times in 2019. This included mishandling claims about the behaviour of a staff member.
Her claims centred on the response of former deputy principal Janet Canny, who was asked to step aside during the investigation.