Staff, parents threaten action at city school

I, like many others before and after me, removed our children from Rotary Park School because of a teacher (not Carmel Casey).  Carmel taught my child and we were all extremely happy with her teaching and also with her as a principal but life changed dramatically when my child was taught by this teacher who was completely unapproachable for us as parents.  I personally believe that there is a lot more to this story than we are seeing on the surface here and sincerely hope the truth comes out.  I only ever found Carmel to be professional and kind hearted towards both the parents and children.

[Abridged]

I agree with most of what has been written in the article but don't believe any person should think it is okay to speak on behalf of all parents. Each family will make its own choice for their children. I imagine most of the families with children in the year 5 and 6 class have no reason to leave if teaching is the reason the middle school families are going.

I disagree with the comment by GM_Scam stating it is a small group of parents creating problems, as the reported roll of 66 at yearend last year and a starting roll of 33 shows that is clearly not the case, with many parents waiting until the last week of the holidays to make their decision and leaving in droves now.

After such a strong ERO report emphasising the engagement and opportunities for children but the weakness in management, it is no wonder people have waited so long for these issues to be resolved. It is such a shame that Mrs Casey took her sabbatical at the time when the school, community, children and staff so badly needed her to stay and work through the issues.

We are relatively new parents at Rotary Park school and have watched in concern as the school has fallen apart.  The teachers threatening to walk out, the board of trustees resigning in the last week of term are all symptoms of an obvious problem within the school.

We are trying to save our school because we feel that the teaching staff is absolutely wonderful.  

Our children love Rotary Park and the teachers, but we feel that the school has become an unsafe environment for teachers and students.  Our teachers and children deserve better, teachers should be able to approach the principal without fear and work in environments which are free from bullying.

We fully support our teachers at Rotary Park and the decisions that have been made after months of soul searching and discussion.  These haven't been made lightly as they are risking their careers by choosing to take leave at this time.

Support the school or we will no longer have it, it's that simple. [Abridged]

This parent makes some valid comments. However, they have a misconception of what is really going on on the inside at Rotary Park School. The school is a fantastic school and the statement of not 'all' parents will be leaving the school is also true.  

On the inside, though, allegations are not falsified and I believe they are very true.  You cannot ignore the facts and although the students like her there may be other underlying problems. 

One can only hope that a resolution will be sorted quickly, for the sake of our children's education, and that the investigation will bring the truth, once and for all. 

I am very concerned about some of the statements in this article.  On two occasions it is said "All parents planning on removing their children from the school".  That is completely untrue!

We are parents of a child who attend Rotary Park, and we do not have a problem with the principal, and knew nothing of these alleged planned actions.  We know of two other parents who are exactly the same as us.

I would also like to categorically state that we have no connection with Mrs Casey whatsoever, yet had much contact with her through school in the first part of last year.  We never had an issue with her, neither did our child.  In fact from our observations at the last school fair when Mrs Casey arrived to visit, several children ran up to her and hugged her and were almost fighting over who was to hug/talk to her next. 

The only issue we have ever had with this school are a small number of parents who seem to have taken it upon themselves that the school is just for them - and if things don't go exactly as they want, they make a huge fuss about it.  Also with our child reporting one of the teaching staff was using derogatory language towards students - not Mrs Casey.

I suggest ODT immediately make a retraction about the sweeping and untrue statements of "all parents" etc, as they are simply untrue and very upsetting to many of the children and their parents.

Rotary Park is an amazing school, and we have never had a problem with it, like many other parents - other than the issues I stated above.  I also think it is this small number of trouble makers who are misleading others and causing much of any problems that do exist. 

[Story intro amended. The second reference reads: A parent, who also declined to be named, said the parents of all remaining pupils at the school would remove their children from the school. - Editor]