Fallout over Scotch College sacking continues

The fallout over the controversial sacking of former principal Matthew Leeds from the top job at Scotch College has taken a new turn.

Scotch College is still feeling the fallout following the sacking of former principal Matthew Leeds. Picture: Tony Gough

Upheaval is continuing at Scotch College as old scholars agitate for the removal of the elite school’s council chairman.

The fallout over the appointment of former principal Matthew Leeds is now centring on the role of the principal and members of the school council involved in the selection process.

Pressure is also mounting on the council’s chairman Alex Sloan, who is a third-generation old scholar who sent his son to the school and has his grandsons booked to go in 2028 and 2030.

Mr Sloan’s grandfather, father and uncles are all alumni, and Scotch College on Monday restated its support of him.

Mr Leeds was controversially sacked in January this year before he started the prestigious position after a whistle blower revealed he was investigated over alleged misconduct at his former school, Geelong Grammar.

Although the investigation did not find any evidence of wrongdoing by Mr Leeds, Scotch decided not to pursue the appointment.

The school told the Herald Sun that there were “multiple interviews and extensive reference and background checking for all candidates. The process included interviews conducted by the search firm and Scotch”.

Mr Sloan is understood to continue to meet with “old boys” to discuss their ongoing concerns about the process and the role he played.

He is a former president of the Old Scotch Collegians Association.

Attention is also centred on the council’s executive committee.

The school has started the search for a new principal but the recruitment company hired to find Mr Leeds - Fish and Nankivell - is not involved.

“We are concerned that the person best qualified to assist in appointing a new principal – the current principal Tom Batty – was not part of the process,” an old scholar told the Herald Sun.

“There is a level of division over the appointment. The feeling is that the school is disdainful of the media coverage because the waiting list is so large.”

The concerned old scholar - who did not want to be named - said the deal to release Leeds was “inked in the billiards room of the Melbourne Club” without adequate consultation.

Old scholars have even found a copy of the Scotch College Articles of Association

and Certificate of Incorporation as a Public Company in 1980 to use in its bid to remove Sloan.

It comes as another alumnus, Peter Yunghanns, has already demanded Mr Sloan’s resignation and the resignation of members of the council involved in the hiring of Mr Leeds.