The State School Teachers’ Union has called for a number of immediate measures to be put in place at Kalgoorlie-Boulder Community High School to ensure the safety of students and staff.
The school has been at the centre of a number of violent incidents, and new classrooms were vandalised on the weekend, causing $100,000 damage and forcing the school to be closed.
The SSTUWA’s General Secretary Mary Franklyn is in Kalgoorlie meeting with union members today, and said there are a number of steps that need to be taken.
“The physical safety of staff and students must be the number one priority,” she said.
“Until the school’s security fence can be finished and the CCTV cameras fully installed, our members want security guards to be onsite 24/7, not rostered on and off as they have been in the past.
“We also hope that the Department of Education can work with the local police to ensure that the security guards have back up if they need it.”
Ms Franklyn said it had become clear that there were a small core group of students who were posing a risk at the school.
“The majority of students at Kalgoorlie-Boulder are well behaved and want to learn, but there are a core group who have become completely disengaged,” she said.
“They simply cannot be left in the school, they are a risk to staff and student safety and they disrupt the learning of other students. They must be removed from this environment.”
Ms Franklyn said the Department needed to transfer the students to the school’s Engagement Centre where they could receive specialist staff intervention and intensive support.
"The SSTUWA calls on the Education Minister to urgently employ an additional behaviour management specialist to provide the training and support required to develop the skills and programs needed to ensure the safety of students and staff," she said.
“Currently, the nearest specialist is based in Esperance, which is not workable in this circumstance. We want a specialist based in Kalgoorlie where they are needed.”
Ms Franklyn said the union also wanted two full time relief teachers at Kalgoorlie-Boulder to backfill and provide assistance to existing staff, and to work with students one on one.
“The Department needs to show teachers at Kalgoorlie-Boulder that it’s willing to support them at the chalkface and in the classroom,” she said.
“There is great support already being shown by parents, the community and the teachers from the neighbouring primary school.
“Members of the school community were so positive about the new classrooms that were built at Kalgoorlie-Boulder, and were very upset when they were vandalised.
“But they banded together and got involved in the clean up, and they’re really committed to providing a good learning environment for the students.
“Today, union representatives and members from the Kalgoorlie-Boulder schools have come here to show their support and to work with the school to ensure staff and student safety are enforced as a non-negotiable by the Education Minister Peter Collier.”
