Leadership tensions behind Lyndale Secondary College drama, music staff walkout

The entire performing arts faculty at Lyndale Secondary College walked off the job in protest last year. Now a formal complaint to the Education Department has revealed why.

Nine music and drama staff from Lyndale Secondary College left in protest at the end of last year. Picture: Brooke Grebert-Craig

Leadership tensions at a state high school once attended by legendary singer John Farnham led to a mass walkout of the entire performing arts faculty.

Nine music and drama staff from Lyndale Secondary College left in protest at the end of last year, with one claiming they were all “bullied out of their jobs”.

A formal complaint has been sent to the Department of Education claiming some staff are now facing retaliatory ethical complaints from the school.

“The fact that an entire department’s staff felt compelled to leave their positions is alarming and indicative of severe issues in the school’s leadership and climate,” the complaint says.

“Multiple staff members have felt targeted or afraid to voice concerns and innovate for fear of retribution. This punitive atmosphere has devastated staff morale at Lyndale Secondary College.”

A formal complaint has been sent to the Department of Education claiming some staff are now facing retaliatory ethical complaints from the school.

The Herald Sun has been given the name of nine teachers who have left, although it’s understood the school says it is only five.

Many of the music and drama staff who left are highly regarded and some had been at the school for more than a decade. All are now working at other schools.

“They have been treated abominably,” one of the former teachers alleged.

Staff are unhappy about the treatment of one of the music teachers, with school managers bringing an ethics complaint against her after her husband offered to give two students a free session at his professional music studio with their parents present.

The session was not organised through the school or the teacher, and was done with full parental consent, the source told the Herald Sun.

“Another teacher faced a complaint because his voice was supposedly too loud and another put the wrong date on a flyer. We were also told there were too many concerts.”

Many of the music and drama staff who left are highly regarded.

Other longstanding teachers in other fields have also left under the school’s current leadership. The letter of complaint calls on the Department of Education to hold a formal investigation.

The Herald Sun is not suggesting the school’s leadership has engaged in any wrongdoing, only that a complaint has been made.

It comes as the school has long promoted its performing arts program, with the annual report calling it “second to none”.

A world-class performing arts theatre and arts hub was also opened at the school in August 2023. The school also has a performing arts scholarship which is “dedicated to providing an environment which promotes Performing Arts as an essential element in life”.

In recent years the school has received $28m from the state government to modernise its facilities, which included the new performing arts hub.

John Farnham’s online biography says he and two other school friends from Lyndale Secondary College formed The Mavericks and “regularly played at school concerts and at the Dandenong Town Hall”.

A Department of Education spokeswoman said the school’s principal had followed guidelines in ensuring expectations of school staff were clearly communicated.

Originally published as Leadership tensions behind Lyndale Secondary College drama, music staff walkout