A multi-billion-dollar body overseeing seven Catholic schools in Victoria, including Melbourne's St Kevin's College, has written to apologise to parents after receiving a notice that it has failed to carry out its obligations under child safe standards or to demonstrate appropriate oversight of child safety.
The process began in 2020 after St Kevin's and its governing body, Edmund Rice Education Australia (EREA), were referred to the Victorian Registration and Qualifications Authority (VRQA) following a Four Corners investigation, Boys Club, into the school, which alleged a toxic culture that prized reputation over child safety.
The notice to EREA means it must now urgently reform its governance structure and ensure its schools undergo a review by the Catholic Education Commission of Victoria.
The Four Corners investigation revealed that when St Kevin's student Paris Street was abused by an athletics coach, the school's then-headmaster wrote a reference for the coach to be read to the court after his 2015 conviction for grooming.
St Kevin's then-dean of sport also gave character evidence for the coach, but Paris Street and his friend Ned O'Brien, who gave evidence in support of him, were not supported by the school when they appeared in court.
Within a week of the story airing in February 2020, the headmaster, his deputy, the dean of sport and the dean of studies had all stepped aside from their roles and since then, many other teachers have also had to resign.
After the fallout of the story, the trustees of EREA were required to enter into an enforceable undertaking with the VRQA that they would address the shortcomings in the organisation's governance, which did not meet minimum standards under Victorian law.
The letter from EREA, sent to St Kevin's parents on Wednesday afternoon, said "these shortcomings were not adequately addressed by the Trustees of EREA within agreed timeframes".
That resulted in a notice being sent to EREA in January this year, because, the letter to parents from EREA Chair Philomena Billington said, EREA had not "carried out our obligations under the required Child Safe Standards … or structured our governance in a way that met our legal responsibilities, including providing a duty of care to students".
It said EREA had also not complied with timelines in the 2020 enforceable undertaking and "had not demonstrated appropriate oversight of child safety at Victorian schools".
"I would like to apologise on behalf of [EREA] to each of you and to the Victorian schools," Ms Billington wrote to parents in the letter.
"As the governing body of EREA schools in Victoria, it was [our] responsibility to make the necessary changes with focus and urgency within the required timeframes.
"While we made changes, these were not enough."
Speaking to Four Corners, Paris Street welcomed the VRQA's decision.
"When child safety policies aren't properly followed in schools, it can have terrible consequences," said Mr Street, who is now 23.
"I have suffered those consequences, and I continue to do so, many years down the track."
The VRQA notice requires conditions to be imposed on EREA including a restructure, that all EREA schools be reviewed by the Catholic Education Commission of Victoria and if they are not compliant with minimum standards, they must fix them within three months.
EREA or a new proprietor set up following the notice is also required to provide the VRQA with minutes of all of its board meetings and to hand over financial information including fee structures to the Catholic Education Commission of Victoria.
EREA is an extremely wealthy organisation – with an annual report from the end of 2020 showing the body, which took over all the old Christian Brothers schools, had $3.27 billion in cash and cash-equivalent assets.
The other schools run by the organisation in Victoria include St Patrick's in Ballarat, St Bernard's in Essendon, St Joseph's in Geelong, St Mary's in East St Kilda, Parade College in Bundoora and St Joseph's Flexible Learning Centres in North Melbourne, Geelong and Colac.
Ms Billington said EREA was satisfied that the individual schools were "taking actions to embed a child safe culture specific to their school environments".
"[EREA] regrets that its lack of effective oversight and governance led to the imposition of the conditions – the Victorian schools deserved better," Ms Billington said.
"We are working hard to correct this."
It is, ultimately, a bittersweet development for Paris Street.
"I won't experience the effect of this change," he told Four Corners.
"But I hope it prevents what happened in my past from happening again."
