Parents at a Canberra school deemed dangerous due to violent incidents and teacher shortages were not told about a damning prohibition notice issued by the workplace safety regulator when a number of students were sent home last Friday.
Parents and carers of students at Calwell High School received an email on Friday notifying them that students in years 7 and 8 would transition to remote learning for the final week of term 1, with the email citing COVID-19 disruptions and "other challenges associated with maintaining a safe learning environment for all students and staff."
But it has since been revealed that WorkSafe ACT had issued a prohibition notice to the school in Canberra's south, citing multiple examples of violence on campus.
In that notice, banning some students from returning to school "unless for the purposes of a pre-arranged school excursion", the workplace safety regulator detailed a litany of incidents, including a school fire alarm being activated and students ignoring teacher requests, wandering in and out and classrooms.
The notice revealed that while waiting for ACT Fire and Rescue to give the all-clear as a result of the fire alarm, one inspector witnessed a staff member approach another staff member and hand her half a pair of steel scissors.
"This staff member said, 'One of the students was wandering around the hallway with this'," the inspector wrote in their report.
The WorkSafe prohibition notice also detailed how a teacher had reported being assaulted by a student the previous week, which resulted in a dislocated shoulder, several broken teeth, welts to the teacher's lower arm and bruising to their back.
Other alleged incidents told to WorkSafe ACT inspectors included a staff member locking themselves in the cupboard and crying uncontrollably, "a growing number of student mobs forming and displaying a pack mentality to physically target and assault other students", and fire extinguishers being used as weapons by students.
The WorkSafe ACT notice ordered, in light of the incidents, and in addition to staff shortages, it was necessary to send two grades home.
Parents found out about extent of school violence through media
One mother, who agreed to speak with the ABC on the condition of anonymity, said she only learned the full extent of what was happening at her child's school through media reports.
"I had no idea … that there weren't enough teachers in there, I had no idea."
She said she had not seriously considered moving her son to another school, saying she had only had positive interactions with the teachers and did not want to unsettle her child.
"On one hand it's like 'oh, well I don't want to send him back', but on the other hand it's like 'no, he likes the school, the teachers are great'. We've had nothing but good experiences with his teachers. They're very supportive, happy to chat about concerns and issues, and work with us," she said.
The mother said it was confronting to hear how teachers were being treated by students.
"[Teachers] are there to help us bring our kids up to be model citizens and if they don't feel like they can even sit in their classrooms safely, or if they're not able to deliver their lessons because they're dealing with heaps of behavioural issues in the classroom, then it's really sad."
'We don't understand how things could have got to this point'
Australian Education Union ACT branch secretary Patrick Judge described the situation as "absolutely awful".
Mr Judge added that it was "incredibly upsetting" that less than a year on from a previous industrial dispute, the school was once again staring down staffing problems."
ACT Education Minister Yvette Berry said the violent incidents reported at Calwell High school were "rare in ACT public schools".
"Unfortunately the staff shortages and now COVID has impacted on the ability to move into a more positive framework for that school community."
Ms Berry said more resources were being directed towards the school to support staff and students.
"The main thing that has been done is to provide additional staff from the Education Directorate — highly qualified expert teachers and leaders who are able to in and support the school principal and school leadership team," she said.
"We've also put in additional Telehealth services for students and their families to access ... we've got a senior school principal across one of our schools on-site assisting that school community through this last week of this term and as long as she's required.
But Opposition Education spokesman Jeremy Hanson accused Ms Berry and the Education Directorate of attempting to hide the extent of the issue at Calwell High.
"Kids are in a violent situation, teachers are being assaulted, you've got roaming gangs, and the directorate didn't think that they should tell parents that there was an issue going on at their school?" Mr Hanson asked.
"The letter that went out from the directorate to parents doesn't mention any of this. They hid it. The WorkSafe notice was on March 31, the letter to parents came later with no mention of this."
As of Tuesday afternoon, COVID-19 related staff shortages had forced two additional schools in Canberra to move to partial remote learning.
As well as Calwell High, MacGregor Primary had previously announced a return to at-home learning for some year groups, with Gordon Primary now closed to years 4 to 6 and Namadgi School to years 3 to 6.
Last week, 1,040 cases of COVID-19 were reported to 114 ACT schools.
