Rabbi Pinchas Ash fights Yeshivah College sacking at Fair Work Commission
A popular Yeshivah College Rabbi who was sacked over a string of child safety incidents at the St Kilda East school has taken his fight to be reinstated to his $90,000 a year job to the Fair Work Commission.
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Students at Yeshivah College were injured in schoolyard fights after a teacher failed to supervise his class.
Rabbi Pinchas Ash was sacked from the Orthodox Jewish School last April over a string of incidents, including repeatedly turning up late, missing breakfast and assembly duties and failing to supervise students.
Rabbi Ash, who had been a popular teacher at the St Kilda East school for 40 years, took his fight to win back his $90,000 a year job to the Fair Work Commission, denying he had left students unsupervised.
Nearly 500 parents last year signed a petition calling on the school to reinstate the much-loved teacher.
Commission documents show other teachers had to “drop everything” to cover his classes when they became aware boys had been left unattended.
In its termination letter to Rabbi Ash, tendered to the Commission, the school board wrote that on one occasion Rabbi Ash had “failed to attend for your rostered duty in the school cafeteria, resulting in the students under your care once again being unsupervised”.
On this occasion a student was injured and required first aid.
“Your conduct evinces a pattern of behaviour that has resulted in at least five separate incidents in the previous 12 months where you have failed to comply with the requirements of your role and follow the reasonable and lawful instructions of (the board),” the dismissal letter said.
The board told the commission it should “not have to tolerate a situation where a staff member, not for the first time, was not present supervising when an incident or potential incident affecting a student’s health and safety occurs or might occur”.
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Rabbi Ash told the commission his conduct had amounted to “minor infractions” and he had “immediately acknowledged his errors”.
He submitted a formal warning would be a more appropriate response than termination.
Fair Work Commission deputy president Amanda Mansini dismissed Rabbi Ash’s claims.
“The nature of the conduct, … the absence of an appreciation of the gravity or insight and the serious obligation of the school to protect the safety of its students and discharge its duty of care to the students are paramount to my consideration that the dismissal was not disproportionate to the conduct,” she said.