Schools’ security blitz to stop violent student outbursts

Victorian public schools are splashing cash on security to curb violence on campus. See which schools are spending the most.

Schools have spent at least $100,000 on hiring private security guards to curb students’ violent outbursts in the past two years, the Herald Sun can reveal.

According to figures obtained under Freedom of Information laws, static guards have been brought into 26 different public schools between January 2020 and May this year.

In 2020, they were deployed for 57 days at a cost of $48,000.

Twelve primary and secondary schools used static guards on 45 days of the year in 2021, totalling $35,952.

Between January 2020 and May 2022, $97,523 has been spent on external guards who were contracted to patrol schools on 116 days.

The former Shepparton High School spent $5,758 on guards before it merged with three other state schools to form the troubled Greater Shepparton Secondary College (GSSC) at the end of last year.

But the data does not include money spent by the Department of Education on security staff on permanent or ongoing contracts.

Guards were later deployed to deter verbal and physical fights among GSSC’s 2200 students, with several students carrying knives on campus.

Static security staff were tasked with helping teachers manage watch lists of the most hostile students at the school, where bullying and schoolyard fights are rife.

It is understood that guards were regularly stationed at Mooroopna Secondary College, McGuire College and Wanganui Park Secondary College before they closed down.

Greater Shepparton Secondary College spent nearly $6000 on guards. Picture: David Caird

The data showed that Newcomb Secondary College has forked out the most for private security.

In January 2020 alone, it spent $16,795 on hiring two guards per day throughout most of the month – before the pandemic broke out in Australia and various properties such as schools, community centres and car parks were turned into Covid testing sites.

The second highest amount sprung by a single campus on static guards was Sandringham Primary School, which spent $14,095 in the same year.

Four security guards were called to Victoria University Secondary College’s Brimbank campus on a single day in June 2020, with a total of $9,567 spent on external guards that year.

On two days in December 2020, four security guards were brought into Mount Alexander 7-12 College.

State schools also employ security guards on a contract basis when buildings damaged by floods or fires are at risk of being vandalised, or to ensure unwanted people do not attend large school events and use other measures such as CCTV.

A Department of Education spokesman said: “The safety and wellbeing of school communities is always our top priority.