Parents to rally over MLC decision

PARENTS plan to rally outside Melbourne's Methodist Ladies College on Monday to demand the resignation of the school board.

PARENTS plan to rally at the gates of Melbourne's Methodist Ladies College on Monday morning to demand the resignation of the school board after a mediated agreement in which sacked principal Rosa Storelli will repay the school $100,000, but will not get her job back.

Tracey Cocks, co-ordinator of a Rosa Storelli Fairness Group, said the "Monday mourning" rally would demand that a board of corporate high-flyers chaired by Melbourne University publisher Louise Adler "do the honourable thing and resign".

"We are asking the college community to join us in mourning this dreadful mess the board has forced upon MLC and our principal, Rosa Storelli," she said.

She said the MLC community had demonstrated strong support for Ms Storelli, the first female principal of the 130-year-old school, while the board had engaged in "bully-boy tactics" and should resign. A new board should revise the governance structure of the college "to prevent this awful and destructive episode ever occurring again".

In a joint statement yesterday, the board and Ms Storelli, who was sacked from her $510,000-a-year job on September 17 after allegedly being overpaid more than $700,000, announced the dispute "has now been resolved".

After a high-profile three-week dispute, there was an agreement Ms Storelli would repay the school $100,000 -- the amount she reported to the board after being told a "mistake" had been made in her pay.

"The board reiterates that it never accused Ms Storelli of any dishonest or fraudulent conduct," the statement said.

"Ms Storelli's employment was not terminated for serious misconduct. Rather, the relationship between Ms Storelli and the board has irretrievably broken down. Ms Storelli has a reputation as an educator of the highest calibre."

The statement said the board and Ms Storelli "had very different views and very different advice about the amount Ms Storelli had allegedly been overpaid".

"Both parties have recognised the need to resolve this dispute and to give the MLC community, especially the students and staff, finality."

The statement said Ms Storelli's overpayment "arose as a result of accounting errors made by the college over an extended period" and the board accepted "that Ms Storelli was not responsible for the errors". The board gave no ground on Ms Storelli's campaign to be reinstated.

The statement said: "Ms Storelli joins Ms Adler in acknowledging the damage caused to the standing of MLC over the past few weeks and both expressed the view that the next few months will see the restoration of the standing of the college.

"The board, notwithstanding the views expressed by some of the MLC community, remains of the view that it is in the best interests of the college that a new principal be appointed.

"Ms Storelli, for her part, acknowledges the board is the governing body of the college and responsible for determining who should lead the college."