Child Protection Allegations Against PSA Members in Schools

Central Council, 12 December 2005

Report adopted

These allegations have been on the increase since 2004 and have become a grave concern for our members.

DET does not appear to have any support mechanism in place for our members during an Employee Performance and conduct unit (EPAC) investigation which can take months, sometimes longer.

Our members are advised to ring the Employment Assistance Program (EAP) for counselling but are only entitled to six free sessions, they are then left to cope on their own. Below are some examples of recent incidents.

1. A TAS (Teachers' Aid Special) in a high school was accused of tipping a student off a table because he wouldn't sit down. What really happened was the student who was continually in trouble was facing expulsion and tried to avert the trouble from himself to another source. The PSA was successful in having this cleared at a local level without EPAC. But our member still suffered anxiety and trauma.

2. A TAS in a preschool was a contributing witness in the investigation of a teacher. She was accused by the same teacher of manhandling a student. The reality was he ran from the sandpit onto the grass without shoes and had bindies in his feet. Our member picked up the child who was screaming, and carried him to a chair to remove the bindies and put on his shoes. Our member was so traumatised by this allegation her mother had to come and pick her up at District Office and her husband collected her car later. The PSA was once again successful in having it cleared at a local level, but at what expense to our member. She has had to be retrained due to panic at the thought of working with little ones in a preschool.

3. A TAS on playground duty had been trained in the correct procedure of communicating with an autistic student (put one hand under the chin, the other on the forehead, tilt back the head to make eye contact when speaking). A student who witnessed this reported that she pulled his hair. The parents wanted to escalate this issue against the Principal's recommendation. It went to EPAC and our member lost 7 kilos in a few weeks from the trauma. The PSA intervened on our member's behalf and she was cleared by EPAC. She now suffers loss of confidence and is terrified of interaction with students. Our member still receives counselling.

4. A SAO (School Admin Officer) was asked to collect a kindy student each day and escort her to the office where her mother picks her up. Her mother has full custody, and due to the constant threat and trouble caused by the father in the school and the community, the Principal has taken a Lands Act out on him. On this day the father sent his mother up to try and collect the child. It was raining and the student was under her umbrella. The grandmother called out, so our member held one point of the umbrella and indicated that they needed to go to the office where the child's mother was waiting. There is now a Lands Act out on the grandmother also. A few days later the student's father appeared at our member's home and served her with papers for a court hearing. She had been accused by the grandmother of assaulting the child on the way to the office. Our member is traumatised and off on Workers Comp. DET's legal branch will represent her in court.

In a meeting with the DET solicitor and the principal we were told it could drag on for two years. PSA has requested psychiatric treatment and counselling for our member. We issued a letter to the principal stating no PSA member was to have any interaction with this student unless two members were in attendance at all times. PSA has requested legal branch investigate our member's right to take out an AVO on the father since he knows where she lives and has a history of domestic violence. The PSA has had meetings with the area director and the staff welfare officer to seek alternate schools for our member when she is fit to return to work until a complete resolution has been reached.

To cap off our member's problems, DET told her that it would be sick leave and not Workers Comp because the incident that caused the trauma happened at her home. After a few phone calls the PSA was successful in gaining Workers Comp for our member and having her sick leave reinstated. This case is still pending.

The PSA has been able to take the sting off these events for our members and helped them to feel supported. They still however have to go through the trauma of an investigation. Since we are dealing with so many more of these issues, we need to have discussions with DET on a process to protect our members or prevent future escalation of this problem.