St Kevin’s College forced to cancel leadership team talk

A St Kevin’s College event where parents were charged to hear leaders discuss the school’s future has been cancelled, with some parents saying they “shouldn’t have to pay”.

St Kevin’s College in Toorak has cancelled an event where the leadership team was set to talk about the school’s future. Picture: AAP

St Kevin’s College has cancelled an event which charged parents to hear the leadership team talk about the future of the school due to lack of interest.

A special “fireside chat” at Amora Riverwalk in Richmond was promoted last week at $80 per person, including dinner and beverages.

But less than a week later, the school announced a price reduction to $40 per person for the event, to be held on October 29.

The dinner, subsidised by the Fathers’ Association, was designed to celebrate the school’s first anniversary since its separation from Edmund Rice Education Australia.

The invitation to the St Kevin's College event, which was subsequently cancelled due to lack of interest.

It featured talks from a panel of school leaders: principal Deborah Barker, chair of the college board Evan Dwyer, member of the college board James Darcy and deputy principal of student engagement Carolyn McCarthy.

The invitation said it was a “special opportunity for you to hear from the college leadership about the strategic plan for the school for 2025 and beyond”.

“There will be open discussion and an opportunity to ask questions,” it said.

A letter cancelling the event was sent to parents on Thursday saying that “many people expressed an interest in attending (but) could not confirm their attendance due to pre-existing end-of-year commitments, we have decided to postpone the event”.

It’s understood that organisers are blaming “event fatigue” and admitted that attempts to boost attendance numbers by dropping the price were not successful.

But several parents contacted the Herald Sun about the event, with one saying they “shouldn’t have to pay for information”.

“This should be a community forum, not a dinner event,” another said.

“Clearly they dropped the price as no one wanted to pay $80 for this.”

The event will be rescheduled for 2025. It’s not known if the same format will be followed.