Yipirinya School, an independent school for kids from town camps in Alice Springs, will purportedly have a single teacher – and a single education assistant – watching over “40 to 60” students in a single classroom – a move which will be “profoundly unsafe,” Justin Colley said.

“There’s going to be fights, there’s going to be upset, it’s going to be unsafe for the staff and it’s not going to drum up numbers for the school – it’s going to be a sh-t show,” he said.

The increased student numbers in a classroom is part of a restructure proposal purportedly put forward by the NT government via the school’s appointed statutory manager, Stuart Reid, according to Mr Colley.

Up until Tuesday, Mr Colley was principal of Yipirinya, before he was “terminated” by Mr Reid – allegedly for speaking out against the classroom proposal, Mr Colley said.

“I’ve told people that if they go ahead with the proposed structure for next year, I refuse to guarantee the safety of staff and students, which is my core duty as principal,” he said.

“Before education, before any lesson, before anything, I have to guarantee that everyone at school is safe every day.”

But the proposed doubling of classroom sizes is just one allegation Mr Colley has levelled at what he says are intended changes overseen by Mr Reid, who has been in the role since June this year.

The School’s Aboriginal advisory council has also been sacked by Mr Reid – who has spent “very little time at the school”, Mr Colley alleges.

Mr Colley said the decisions were “numbers and money oriented and focused”.

“Why has a liquidator been given ultimate responsibility, ultimate management for the most complex education environments in the Northern Territory,” he said.

Mr Reid has denied the accuracy of Mr Colley’s claims.

Mr Reid was appointed by the government in order to implement 26 recommendations outlined in a now-public report into the school, which NT Education Minister Jo Hersey told parliament in March was commissioned last year due to a “number of complaints” at the school.

On Tuesday in Darwin, Labor Gwoja MLA Chansey Paech tabled a redacted version of the report to parliament and said the school was currently in “turmoil”.

“Parents, caregivers and staff have told me deeply disturbing allegations of corruption, of fraud, of conduct of sexual harassment, of misuse of funds,” Mr Paech said.

“At the end, the political representatives who knew of some of this behaviour, who stood by and did nothing because it wasn’t to their political advantage to call it out, should have the moral backbone to stand up and help this school in its fight for a future.”

The report, conducted by independent investigator George Zapcev, outlined allegations of bullying, misuse of funds, and that former principal Gavin Morris gave himself a $85,000 pay rise.

There were no allegations of any wrongdoing against Mr Reid.

Morris, found guilty of four out of five counts of aggravated assault in October this year, was being paid more than the NT Chief Minister during his time as principal of Yipirinya.

The assaults occurred when he was the leader of the school, which specialises in “two-way” learning: teaching kids in local Central Australian Indigenous languages.

Morris previously denied any allegations of bullying or misuse of funds under his tenure, and pleaded not guilty to his charges at the beginning of a judge-only trial in Alice Springs in September.

He will be sentenced December 8.

However, there are also allegations false student numbers were provided, which Morris has also denied, previously stating the school passed “multiple federal audits” when he was principal.

But, the school had to repay $3.7 million to the federal government due to an enrollment overpayment, Mr Reid told staff on November 12.

Yipirinya receives funding per students enrolled, and due to a drop in enrollments this year, Mr Reid has proposed 15-20 redundancies as a cost-cutting measure, which both Mr Colley and Mr Paech have opposed.

“Right now, over 20 Aboriginal people working in meaningful jobs are about to lose their job and no one in government seems to care … we constantly hear both governments talk about closing the gap, getting more Aboriginal people into work – but when 20 jobs are on the line, there is silence,” Mr Paech told parliament on Tuesday.

Minister Hersey has previously ruled out providing any emergency funding to Yipirinya School.

In the wake of the redundancy announcement, Association of Independent Schools NT executive director Cheryl Slater said the “reductions may be required at the school”.

Speaking in parliament on Thursday evening, Minister Hersey rebutted Mr Paech’s claims, saying the matter was being ‘misconstrued’ and reiterated the NT Government would not be providing emergency funding for the school.

“Yipirinya School is a non government school that is majority federally funded. It is important to note that the board asked for the registrar non government schools to conduct a special investigation in 2024. The report of the investigation made 26 recommendations including addressing financial management, school leadership and governance,” she said.

“The school board also asked for a statuatory manager to implement the recommentations of the report. The key focus of current statuatory management is to ensure ongoing financial viability and approprate governance of the school so it continues to provide education services for Alice Springs children.

“The goal of statuatory management is to ensure the school remains open, long term financial viability and sustainability of the school and that the school is well positioned to serve the Alice Springs community.

”Yipirinya School plays an important role for Aboriginal children in Central Australia and that is why we will continue to support the school through the Department to implement the recommendations of the report. Getting the school financially viable is our priority.”

Mr Colley believes “it’s a coup,” alleging high level collusion in the halls of government to take over control of the troubled school, as Mr Reid – whose tenure was supposed to end December this year – will now stay in the role of statutory manager until the end of 2026, Mr Colley said.

Meeting minutes show the school board agreed for a statutory manager to be appointed for a “period of six months” on June 25 this year.

When sent questions about each of Mr Colley’s claims, Mr Reid said the NT News had been “misinformed regarding each of the claims made, none of which are factual”.

While Mr Colley said he would like his job back, he also indicated he intends to file an unfair dismissal claim against the school.

He said he would like “reasonable compensation for the loss of my livelihood”.

“It is true that the April school has turned around in the last 12 months. It has gone from strength to strength to strength,” he said.

“I can’t take credit for that. It would be unfair. I was one of a team of leaders who made the decisions, did the hard work, picked up the pieces, worked as a united team on the same page and was doing a good job. And that’s all been hacked down.”