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A Catholic college principal is standing by his board’s refusal to apologise to the family of a student he excluded for marijuana use despite the Ombudsman ordering him to do so.
“Marijuana buying and using is an illegal activity – we hold the view, as many schools do, that this has no place in our schools. We’d hoped the Ombudsman would have supported us on this but, unfortunately, he took a different approach” St Peter’s principal James Bentley says.
The Year 11 St Peter’s College pupil had admitted buying marijuana as part of an alleged drug trade at the school. He and several other students were later excluded or subjected to disciplinary action for gross misconduct.
Bentley says the board’s decision was conveyed clearly and fairly to the students’ families.
He also refutes the Ombudsman’s claim that the school did not engage with him.
“This happened two years ago and we spent two years engaging with the Ombudsman and … certainly explained our reasons for why we wouldn’t apologise.”
Bentley says although some people don’t see marijuana in schools as a big deal these days, St Peter’s Board of Trustees does.
He said they saw it as serious and stand by their exclusion decision.
Ombudsman disagrees
Chief Ombudsman Peter Boshier says St Peters failed to act fairly. He says that its board did not properly record how it arrived at its decision to exclude the boy.
That was why Boshier consequently decided they acted unreasonably and must apologise to the student and family.
Boshier claims St Peter’s refused to engage and give any good reason why they wouldn’t adopt his recommendation that they apologise to the student’s family for all of the inadequacies in their communications.
“They just wouldn’t give any good reason and essentially thumbed their nose up at our jurisdiction” he said.
Two years of engagement
Not so, says Bentley.
He reiterated the fact that St Peter’s board spent two years engaging with the Ombudsman and have explained why they wouldn’t apologise.
Furthermore, the board did so when the Ombudsman told St Peter’s that more accurate notes about the decision must be kept.
“We complied with that and [his request…] for the decision to be attached to the student’s file.”
But the board said they would not be apologising to the parents.
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