Schoolyard battle

Mark McGowan has called on the Education Department to conclude its investigation into Eaton Community College’s deputy principal, who allegedly assaulted a student, as efficiently as possible.

Premier Mark McGowan called on the Education Department to conclude its investigation into Eaton Community College’s deputy principal as efficiently as possible.

Premier Mark McGowan has urged the Education Department to wrap up its investigation into the actions of a deputy principal who allegedly physically assaulted a student as quickly as possible.

Mr McGowan told 6PR Radio he sympathised with the teacher after video emerged of the incident involving Eaton Community College associate principal Grant Walton and a group of boys.

He said he was concerned when he saw the footage, which showed Mr Walton pinning a boy to the ground and then showed the same student squaring up to him with fists raised while others milled around and shouted obscenities.

Mr Walton was stood down in March.

“There’s an investigation going on,” Mr McGowan said.

“I’ll let it run its course but all I’d say is I feel a great deal of sympathy for him and the fact he had to confront that situation.

“And the way those students behaved I thought was unacceptable, surrounding him and shaping up to him and the like.”

Mr McGowan said he hoped the investigation could be wound up soon.

“I would urge them to conclude it as quickly as possible because our teachers need to know they’re supported,” he said.

“I just thought it was awful to watch how that teacher was treated by those kids and it was unacceptable.”

Mr McGowan said the Education Department had recently made it easier for public schools to suspend or expel violent students.

“So if they engage in violent behaviour against a teacher, they’re expelled,” he said. “If you film an incident of that nature you are suspended.”

Kylie, the mother of a boy seen pushed to the ground in video footage, said her 13-year-old son had gone to a local oval after school hours to watch a fight.

She said two teachers told bystanders to move on but as her son walked off he was “grabbed from behind... for basically no real reason”.

Originally published as Schoolyard battle