Westbourne Grammar students expelled, banned from deb ball
Two students have been expelled and banned from the deb ball in a dramatic week of incidents at an exclusive Melbourne school. But not everyone agrees with the punishment dished out.
Education
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A year 11 student expelled from Westbourne Grammar has launched a scathing online attack on the school’s handling of the issue.
Overnight Noah Kaddour’s Change.org petition garnered almost 2,000 signatures, many of them saying the expulsion of him and another student Sidney Njovu went too far.
In a separate action, a group of Year 11 students have compiled a two-page letter to present to the principal Meg Hansen saying the expulsions were over the top.
Ms Hansen has defended the school’s actions, saying it was in line with the documented student code of conduct.
In a week of drama, the two students have also been banned from taking part in the school debutante ball on April 18. Deb practice ended in tears with the partners, who have been preparing for their deb for weeks, now trying to find new partners for the event, considered one of the year’s highlights.
It is understood the expulsions were the culmination of a verbal clash between Mr Njovu and a female class member in a health class last Thursday.
One student captured the out of control class on their phone. While there is no physical confrontation, you can hear that many students are laughing.
You can hear the teacher saying. “Enough. At what point … the behaviour of some of you boys …. You are like you are in Year 8.”
The incident is understood to have led to the suspension for two days for both of the boys.
It isn’t clear why Mr Kaddour was involved but it is understood the school claims he captured the incident on video which he denies.
In the Change.org petition, Mr Kaddour has included a medical certificate indicating how the events of the past week have rocked him.
“I am extremely distressed writing this letter, but this must be done to raise awareness of how I am being treated at Westbourne Grammar School while being involved in the so called “community”.”
Mr Kaddour said there were “roughly 10 other people laughing” about the dispute between Mr Njovu and the unnamed girl who has been escorted and ushered into the school bus on at least one occasion since the incident.
Mr Kaddour claims that the teacher said she was “feeling distressed about the boys’ attitude towards women and no longer wants to teach the class”.
Mr Kaddour claims in his Change.org statement that when his parents went to the school they were told that the internal suspension was only related to the events in the health class and the discussion was around improving behaviours. He claims assertions about other wrongdoings by him were not prosecuted by the school.
He said things took a turn for the worse when he was told to complete a health booklet in the library during the first of the two day internal suspension. He went to the class, standing outside for the teacher to come to him to answer a query. He was then told he was on indefinite suspension.
Yesterday he was expelled.
“If I am only in trouble for what has occurred in health class, then why is this occurring? Why am I being expelled? How is being a bystander in a small dispute worthy of an expulsion?”
“The school has not dealt with this issue in a professional and just manner and this needs to be addressed in order to seek justice for the discriminatory and biased treatment I have received.”
In a statement to the Herald Sun, Ms Hansen has defended the school’s actions.
“ As a priority, Westbourne Grammar always seeks to safeguard the safety and wellbeing of everyone in our community,” she said.
She pointed to the school’s code of conduct which ‘aims to provide a safe, inclusive, supportive and emotionally and physically secure learning environment for every member of the school community”.
“The code also includes a strong focus on respectful behaviour, a key aspect of which is to ‘prevent, reduce and respond to bullying and harassment,” she said.
“The school takes any breaches of the code extremely seriously.”
She said following a series of reports and complaints, the school instigated an investigation, gathered evidence and determined the authenticity of the reports and complaints.
“As a result of the investigation, the decision was taken to expel two students whose behaviour involved … the disruption of student learning,” she said.
“This decision was not taken lightly and came at the end of a number of very serious issues involving the two students.”
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She said the “school’s leadership team is confident there was a case to answer with respect to the matter and has taken appropriate action. In this context, Westbourne Grammar reiterates that its responsibility is to provide a safe environment – one that ensures the best learning outcomes for students”.
Ms Hansen did not answer a number of specific claims about the incident.
However, a parent of a girl in the year level told the Herald Sun the students were amazed that the events had escalated to such a level.
“Isn’t this the sort of thing that a school manages with Restorative Justice?” she said.