‘Beacon of hope’ Yipirinya Indigenous school torn apart by assault case
Yipirinya in Alice Springs, which caters for some of the most vulnerable children in Australia, may not survive amid a principal’s assault case, allegations of bullying and bribery, and falling enrolments.
When Alice Springs school principal Gavin Morris was arrested and charged with assaulting five of his young Indigenous pupils, it sent shockwaves through the school community.
As an independent schools investigator arrived to look into complaints made against the principal, and the governance at Yipirinya, the school faced further allegations of bullying and bribery by staff members. The fractured institution was put into administration for the second time in five years.
On Wednesday, the polarising Yipirinya School head was found guilty by an Alice Springs judge on four of five counts of aggravated assault against students.
The court heard graphic accounts from students that Morris had choked them to the extent that their breathing was restricted, and removed them from a classroom by the ears, causing “pain and fear”.
Judge Anthony Hopkins was clear that he accepted as credible the central evidence of three of the four boys who told the court they were assaulted by their principal, and that the use of force did not constitute “appropriate discipline management”.
Those close to Morris believe he was an easy target because of his tough approach to dealing with kids more likely to be stealing cars than sitting in class, while his detractors claim he was too focused on his “political ambition” and not enough on operating a school.
Since arriving in town, the outspoken principal had repeatedly thrown the spotlight on the crisis engulfing Indigenous children in the Northern Territory, including at his own school, where 11-year-olds were sometimes returned to class in handcuffs or, in one case, led teachers on a wild pursuit through the town in a stolen school minibus.
Members of the school’s Indigenous board have said they believe the school was doing well under Morris, with many more students enrolled and new programs launched for the kids.
Yet, for the Yipirinya School – often described as “a beacon of hope” for the vulnerable kids of the town camps around Alice Springs – this chapter could be a disaster from which it may not survive.
In 2025, enrolments, which are linked to funding, plummeted by a third and a financial crisis threatens to potentially close the school completely.
“It’s just gone downhill,” council treasurer Patrick Nandy said. “At a meeting last week, they said ‘we’re running out of money’. It’s affecting me because I want it to keep running for Aboriginal kids … Aboriginal kids like to be together.”
Association of Independent Schools of the NT executive director Cheryl Salter said the school was “in a pretty sad place” after Morris’s arrest.
“There were those that felt it was a good thing it had happened, and those very supportive of Gavin and very much in shock,” Salter said.
“There was a feeling at the school that it was bad, pretty toxic. There was a lot of mistrust. The Gavin supporters were feeling very vulnerable, some were probably treated very badly. They left or were terminated.”
A number of staff members who have spoken to The Weekend Australian claim they were pushed out in the wake of Morris’s arrest on August 8 last year, partially because of their friendship with, or perceived support of, the accused principal. Some alleged bullying by the school’s business manager, Christopher Tee, who along with other staff members, the court heard, first spoke to the kids and reported the allegations of assault to police.
Morris pleaded not guilty to all charges ahead of a nine-day trial last month.
Investigators come in
Gavin Morris started making waves at Yipirinya almost as soon as he was appointed in 2021.
The new principal was intent on getting more kids to the school, and had plans for a contentious $12m boarding facility on campus to boost attendance and keep at-risk children off the streets – a proposal backed by Coalition senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, but opposed by Labor’s Marion Scrymgour.
Labor, in October last year, offered a $6.3m grant for the boarding facility, which the school rejected. The school has since indicated it was risky and never aligned with the ethos of Yipirinya, which is to educate local kids from the town camps.
In the same month Morris was arrested, a number of complaints were made from within the school to the Registrar of Non-Government Schools.
On August 28, 2024, the school was told that independent investigator George Zapcev, appointed by the Registrar, would investigate a range of allegations, including the governance skills of the school council, Morris’s staffing practices and financial management.
A 65-page draft report in November included “verbal complaints” about Morris’s “political ambition”, his outward focus on attracting enrolments to increase funding rather than on operational aspects of the school, and suggestions that he called staff after work hours “and recipients often felt that he was aggressive and intoxicated”.
The NT government repeatedly refused to make public the final report, handed down in December.
The investigator found that Morris had employed many mothers of children he wanted enrolled at the school as teacher assistants, some on nearly $80,000 per year, “while recognising they did not have the skills or experience to perform the required work”, and there were claims some teachers who did not have current teacher registration were asked to “misrepresent the truth about their employment status”.
Senior staff told the investigator “at least four staff members resigned because of their interaction with the principal”, that others took stress leave, and that “the principal has terminated the employment of a number of people, primarily because they did not agree with an action proposed by the principal (eg, get children off the streets and enrol them)”.
The investigator wrote in the November 2024 report: “There have been over 60 complaints of bullying in the workplace in 2024, which reflects on the current culture at the school. The culture does not reflect a healthy and safe work environment.”
It is not clear from the report how many of those complaints relate to Morris, but it is understood allegations of bullying continued once Morris left.
Morris said the claims were “outrageous … with no substance”.
He said he employed close to 100 additional staff, mostly Indigenous, in his time at Yipirinya, and that he would employ mothers if he had the capacity. He said he had “no political ambitions at all” and denied being intoxicated while calling staff.
Twenty-six recommendations were put forward in the report across financial management, governance, curriculum enrolment and attendance, which the NT government last month said the school “continues to address” during the current statutory management period.
Further allegations
After Morris left, Tee, in the executive role of business manager, was exercising considerable influence over Yipirinya – and it appeared numerous staff were unhappy about it.
One of those who complained about Tee’s behaviour was Bess Nungarrayi Price, the mother of Nampijinpa Price and, until recently, the Yipirinya School’s assistant principal in charge of language and culture. She was dismissed from her job in November last year.
Price gave evidence in Morris’s trial after a teacher’s assistant approached her following the ear-pulling incident.
In October last year, Price had sent a letter to then interim principal Oliver Tuau, claiming Tee had “engaged in a campaign of bullying and intimidation” towards her and other members of staff. Tee resigned from Yipirinya earlier this year.
In the letter, seen by The Weekend Australian, she said Tee had come to her office with a copy of an old email from Morris from July, of which her daughter was one of the recipients, pointing out that Nampijinpa Price’s name appeared on it.
“He claimed he’d found it on the printer … I find that very unlikely,” she wrote. She questioned whether Tee was “going through Gavin Morris’s old correspondence looking for items that he feels might be of use against me”.
Price said Tee’s behaviour included “aggressive shouting and the liberal use of obscene language”, as well as using indecent language about her to other staff members.
“Other members of staff, and even of the school council, including some of my own relatives, have been told not to talk to me, and seem to be effectively intimidated. I do know that staff members have been induced to report on my conversations with others to Mr Tee.”
Price was not a fully qualified teacher and needed authorisation to teach – which requires the annual sign-off of the Teacher Registration Board. It was renewed by Tuau and her employment ended in November.
Following her termination, Price wrote to the school board saying “this is not the way an Aboriginal elder like myself should be treated by anybody”.
“(Chris Tee) didn’t like me because he thought I was mates with Gavin,” she told The Weekend Australian. “I wasn’t mates with Gavin. I was passionate about making sure I was there for students and the community.”
Price is not alone in believing she was targeted because of this perceived support.
Former long-time community engagement co-ordinator Sherry Lowah, who also attended Yipirinya as a child, claims she was accused in October last year by the then principal of misusing Morris’s credit card and fuel card. She denied the claims but said she did not return to the school after that.
In a complaint letter to the interim principal, seen by The Weekend Australian, Lowah claimed Tee had tried to bribe her in a private conversation, saying: “If you (and the board) get rid of (then co-principal) Angela Ross, I’ll get you a car.”
She responded “No, you can’t do that and no, I don’t care about that”, and quickly left the room, she outlined in the letter. She recalled the same events to The Weekend Australian.
Lowah wrote that she was told by Tee not to hang out with certain people because they were “Team Gavin”, and that Tee had told others she was “Team Gavin” and that he wanted her out.
The Weekend Australian has seen another complaint letter addressed to the school board alleging “sustained bullying and exclusionary practices” by administration manager Lisa Watts and Tee.
Neither Tee nor Watts responded to The Weekend Australian’s repeated requests for comment.
Running out of money
When Morris was appointed principal in October 2021, the Yipirinya School was under statutory management, with fewer than 110 students enrolled. By 2024 that had more than tripled to 364 students.
The Weekend Australian understands enrolments in 2025 have fallen again – by about 120 students – with the school enrolling 223 students and asking for special consideration for 20 more. This means the school will need to pay back possibly hundreds of thousands in school funding dollars over the next five years.
Several programs, including an after-school program and a basketball competition, have also been cut.
“They’ve had a massive drop in enrolments. In non-government school funding tied to enrolments … financially that makes it tricky for the school. I can only read between lines, they’ll need to make staffing cuts, program cuts,” Salter said.
The special investigation report recommended an ongoing training program for the school council focused on governance, financial management, legal requirements and understanding of education of children. It also recommended financial management presented to the school council be redesigned.
Someone with knowledge of the board, but who didn’t want to be named, said some of the board members who lacked understanding about the functions of the board, “were being used for authority to say ‘yes’ to everything being brought to the table”, or weren’t being consulted at all.
In the 14 months since Morris was stood down, the school has had at least five principals and interim principals, some of whom lasted for a few days or weeks, with instability cited as another reason the school had shed employees.
Current interim principal Justin Colley was appointed on June 16. Ten days later the school was put into administration.
‘Nobody wants it to fail’
Colley said he was “absolutely” dedicated to ensuring Yipirinya doesn’t fail.
“I’ve only been working at the school since March. I’m absolutely dedicated to making the Yipirinya School stronger and also changing the narrative about the school in Alice Springs and the wider community,” he said. “I’m determined that people will see it in a more accurate light … Yes, we are working to fix all sorts of problems, but there are lots of good things happening.
“Nobody in the commonwealth or NT governments wants to see the school fail. The Alice Springs community doesn’t want to see the school fail. Aboriginal elders don’t want to see the school fail.”
Colley said his main priority was to “go back to the school’s roots”, making it a “culturally safe environment for Aboriginal children living in town camps and surrounding outstations”.
Colley was unable to comment further.
Morris said he was exploring options to appeal the verdict.
