St Kevin’s new principal says ‘serious mistakes’ were made at the school

As a further two teachers leave St Kevin’s, 7.30 host Leigh Sales grills the school’s new principal about its culture of ‘hyper masculinity’.

Leigh Sales has grilled the new principal of St Kevin’s College about the school’s hyper-masculine culture and whether it discouraged mandatory reporting of questionable behaviour.

Acting Principal John Crowley appeared on 7.30 after telling reporters earlier today that there would be a review of the school’s child protection policies and procedures, and a new Director of Safeguarding would be appointed.

The move comes after former headmaster Stephen Russell resigned following reports on ABC’s Four Corners that he provided a reference for former sports coach Peter Kehoe after he was found guilty of grooming Year 9 student Paris Street.

The former dean of sport Luke Travers, who also provided a character reference for Kehoe, was also formally stood down from his position pending an investigation.

Deputy head Janet Canny was stood down following allegations she responded inappropriately to a teacher’s complaints about further child-grooming allegations.

Mr Crowley today refused to give further details about why a further two teachers, Gary Jones and Simon Parris, had both concluded their employment at St Kevin’s.

Sales asked Mr Crowley whether the school may have discouraged mandatory reporting.

“Would it be fair for a reasonable person to assume that at times St Kevin’s has been more concerned about its reputation than the wellbeing of every student?” the 7.30 host said.

“Well, look, the gravity of the mistake speaks for itself,” Mr Crowley responded. “What is clear is as a school community we need to respond to that”.

7.30 host Leigh Sales grills St Kevin's new principal John Crowley.

Sales also noted the departure of the two teachers Jones and Parris and asked: “the question that some parents might have, I’m sure they’d be feeling very rattled, is how far does the rot go?”

Mr Crowley said he had only been at the school for three days but his first impression was that it was an “incredibly vibrant community”.

“I understand that with the announcement that three staff have concluded their employment, there will be questions about that.

“What I would say is this, that I hope that people will understand that there’s an integrity of process with regards to any matter involving child safety and I need to be clear that it’s not appropriate for me to talk about those matters.

“What I think it’s absolutely critical for me to reassure parents in our community is that when there are – when there is the need for me to investigate matters around child safety, as I have always done and always will, that I will do so in a way that involves all of the relevant bodies, including police, including the Commission for Young People, to make sure that in the end the only thing that matters is the care of the students.”

Sales also questioned Mr Crowley about whether there was a broader cultural problem at the school with “hyper masculinity”, pointing to a video of St Kevin’s students changing an offensive rant about women.

7.30 host Leigh Sales grills St Kevin's new principal John Crowley.

“I spoke to the boys about that very honestly,” Mr Crowley said.

“I said to them that community perception is that we have fallen below the standards that the community will accept, and we need to respond to that openly and honestly, and with integrity.

“I think it’s really important to stress that when you work with young people, when you work with young students, that we are in the business of education and we need to work with those students in terms of helping them to understand the issues that are at play and helping them to learn how to respond differently when they’re in that situation again.

“I don’t stand back from that responsibility to engage in some fairly hard conversations with the students around what is appropriate behaviour, what does respectful behaviour look like to all people, particularly women, and to engage them in that conversation very honestly.”

Mr Crowley expressed sympathy for how former student Paris Street, who was groomed by a former teacher, and his friend Ned O’Brien had been treated.

“I really felt for those two boys, Paris and Ned, particularly around the fact that their voice was lost, the fact that they weren’t listened to, and that broke my heart.”

RELATED: Headmaster gave reference to coach who groomed student

Former sports coach Peter Kehoe was found guilty of trying to groom Paris Street (pictured) at St Kevins school. Picture: Four Corners

Peter Kehoe. Picture: Supplied

Earlier, Mr Crowley told reporters he had reached out to students who shared their stories of sexual abuse on Four Corners and held up former student Paris and Ned as role models to Year 11 and 12 students he met with recently.

“When I met with the senior boys last week,” Mr Crowley said, “I made it clear to them that it was really important for us to acknowledge the bravery and the courage of those young men, Paris and Ned, who stood up and used their voice to be able to say what had happened to them.”

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St Kevin's College new principal John Crowley says changes will be made at the school. Picture: Nine News

Mr Crowley said he had “zero tolerance” for any risk to children.

“It’s very clear some serious mistakes were made,” he said.

“We need to respond to those with honesty, integrity and acknowledge that we need to move forward into the future with a child safe culture.”

He has also had conversations with students about their behaviour in public after footage of students chanting a derogatory chant on a tram last year went viral and drew widespread criticism.

As the principal of St Patrick’s College in Ballarat for 23 years, Mr Crowley took action to remove the name of Cardinal George Pell from a school building and alumnus honour roll after the senior cleric was found guilty of abusing two choirboys.

St Patrick’s was also the first school in Victoria to sign up to a child protection curriculum that teaches children how to recognise child abuse.