Staff at the Conservatorium High School claim the Department of Education has failed to protect them from bullying.
In the NSW Industrial Relations Commission yesterday, teachers said the department had failed to carry out a risk assessment of workplace bullying at the prestigious music school, which the Teachers Federation said had been promised as early as November 2005.
Two teachers have complained to their union of their treatment by the school's principal, Robert Curry. The federation said one of those allegations had come before the commission last year.
One of the complainants, Allan Scott-Rogers, was dismissed by Dr Curry on the final day of term last year.
Dr Curry said yesterday he could not comment and he had been instructed to send inquiries about the case to the department's media office. The department said it was unable to comment because the matter was before the commission, but it said at the time of Mr Scott-Rogers's dismissal that his termination was the result of subject changes.
The federation's industrial officer, Joan Lemaire, told the commission that members had asked the department for a risk assessment and risk management plan following the commission complaint last year. But the department resisted until Tuesday night, after the federation had lodged a dispute with the commission.
"There was no risk management plan or risk assessment conducted at the conservatorium either in 2005 or during 2006 or in 2007 and it now finally appears after our dispute notification that there may be a risk assessment and development plan in relation to workplace bullying," Ms Lemaire said.
But Bev Charlton, appearing for the department, said the organisation had fulfilled its legal obligations and taken several measures to prevent bullying at the school, including implementing mediation, professional development sessions and communication protocols. [The organisation met its legal obligations!]
Justice Schmidt ordered the parties to report back to the commission next month. "We will find an agreed way forward and through that process find a way of settling this school down, because all of these exhibits show me that things have become unfortunately unsettled," she said.
From: Sydney Morning Herald
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