After many wonderful years leading South Sydney High, I'll be moving forward to lead an exciting new community at Gosford High from Term 3. I'm grateful to the Department for the opportunity. I leave South Sydney in capable hands and look forward to the next chapter. To the parents and students of South Sydney: thank you for the trust.
Another meeting. Another parent. Another raised voice in a corridor I'm meant to feel grateful for. My office is not a soft landing. Behavioural standards are reasonable. When a child is suspended it is because a child has, by definition, breached the boundary. The aggression a parent then directs at staff is, by definition, harassment. We have procedures. I have used them.
Spent forty minutes this afternoon with a parent who escalated. Documented. The word that protects us — and I say it plainly because I've been in education long enough — is 'harassment'. It is a magic word. It changes what a meeting was, what a tone was, what a parent thinks they can demand. We are not punching bags. We are professionals.