Mrs GR - Acting Principal and Labor Party Campaign Manager. - Bad Apple Bullies
A teacher's story: Victoria
Help Robina
The Labor party destroys people. If you are thinking of joining the Labor party - be warned - the Labor party will destroy you. It is in their DNA - whatever it takes.
The "whatever it takes" agenda made famous by Graham Richardson is now deeply embedded in Labor's DNA.
It justifies calculated dishonesty at the highest levels about matters of great importance.
After all the lies, to come clean on Kevin exposes Labor's rotten core, The party stands for nothing other than the pursuit of power for power's sake, Janet Albrechtsen, P. 12 Commentary, The Australian, 29 February 2012: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/after-all-the-lies-to-come-clean-on-kevin-exposes-labors-rotten-core/story-e6frg7bo-1226284420371 Historical link preserved from the original page.
Mrs GR: Deputy Principal / Acting Principal at Lynch-Mob State College and Labor Party Campaign Manager.
Mrs GR and I were both active members of the Labor Party.
On Sundays during 2008 I would often support Lesley Clark by organising groups of local Labor Party members to go out around the Barron River electorate, asking people if they had any concerns.
I was quite good at this - people would talk to me, tell me their concerns, and I would pass on this information to Lesley.
I enjoyed meeting local people and I had the feeling that we were really helping them, because Lesley often seemed to be able to get something done about their problems.
During this time I often rang Mrs GR, who was listed as a Labor Party supporter and was working as a Library teacher in 2008, to ask her to help - but Mrs GR never did agree to help with this work.
Mrs GR and I first met at the Labor party function to celebrate Lesley's election as Local Member in late 2008.
When I first arrived to work at Lynch-Mob State College in 2009, I found that Mrs GR had been made Deputy Principal of Lynch-Mob State College.
This was quite a big promotion, as Mrs GR had only been working for Education Queensland for one year.
While I was an active member of the Labor Party, Mrs GR supported me at work effectively -
A couple of weeks after I arrived at Lynch-Mob State College, Mrs GR called me into her office.
I found two Grade 6 girls already sitting in her room.
Mrs GR told me that the girls had made certain allegations concerning me.
A few moments earlier I had walked past a group of about six Grade 6 girls standing under one of the outdoor walkways.
I had stopped and said a few friendly words to the girls and then walked on.
Apparently, as walked away, I had put my hand on the arm of one of the girls!
The two girls had gone directly to Mrs GR to report my behaviour.
Because Lynch-Mob State College was a "no-touch" school.
Nobody had told me that it was a "no-touch" school.
I had never heard of such a thing.
I learned the hard way.
I said that I could not actually remember touching the girl's arm, but I accepted her word that this was what I had done.
Mrs GR asked the girl if she had felt unsafe when I touched her arm.
I waited while the girl thought the situation over.
My whole professional reputation depended on this child's answer.
Finally the girl said that no, she had not felt unsafe.
I said that I regretted upsetting her and that I would certainly be very careful not to touch a student at Lynch-Mob State College again.
Later her Grade 6 class teacher told me that the girl and her friend often played "touching" games in the class together.
And I myself watched the two girls taking turns to touch each other on the leg and saying "You touched me! - No, you touched me! - No, You touched me! " during my Indonesian lessons.
This was a really horrible experience that made it difficult for me to feel at ease with the children at Lynch-Mob State College.
The students seemed to have been trained to complain about their classroom teachers for really trivial reasons.
And this culture of encouraging trivial complaints against classroom teachers - and of not telling the teachers anything about these 'no-touch' rules - seemed to have created an unsafe working environment at the school.
It was not a pleasant start to my work at the school.
But, while I was a member of the Labor Party, Mrs GR had supported me reasonably effectively - I had been allowed to hear the student's allegation against me, and I had been allowed to respond to her allegations.
Mrs GR had not 'beaten up' the situation to cause me harm.
While I was an active member of the Labor Party.
During the early months of 2009, Mrs GR and I would often sit together at lunchtimes and discuss our Labor party activities.
We worked on a stall together at the local "show" and we joked about being the Lynch-Mob State College Branch of the Labor party.
Then Mrs GR organised a dinner for Judy Spence at the home of the Local Member.
I spoke to Judy Spence about a Body-Corporate issue.
I was not very happy with Judy Spence's response.
( She advised me to tell somebody else. )
For this and other reasons -
- the Republic was a big issue at the time, and it was presumed that if you were Labor, you were pro-republic and anti-Brit.
There was a level of Labor party hostility to the Queen and to middle-class British people, middle-class British values, etc.
This was quite upsetting to me because, having been born in England, I respected the Queen and I respected middle-class British values -
- I looked around the group of people at this event, realised that I really had nothing in common with them, and decided to become less involved with the Labor Party.
I told Mrs GR that I had decided to become less involved in the Labor party.
When I told her this, Mrs GR urged me several times to join her own branch of the Labor party.
She told me that they met in a pub, the meetings were very social, etc
But I didn't want to drive out to the beaches to sit in a noisy pub.
And I found meetings boring.
So I did not joined her branch, and Mrs GR's behaviour towards me became increasingly aggressive.
I had requested a transfer to another school in 2000 because I was worried by Mrs GR's increasing aggression.
I told the principal of my base school - White-Wash State School - that there were "problems" at Lynch-Mob State College and that I did not want to work there full-time the next year.
I did not explain the "problems" to him because I felt that it would be unprofessional.
He arranged for me to go to the District office and discuss a transfer to Brisbane with the Staffing Officer.
I wanted to move out of LOTE (teaching Indonesian) and back to ESL (English as Second Language) in which I had very good qualifications.
But the Staffing Officer told me that a transfer would be very difficult.
And Lynch-Mob State College usual principal Mr EL spoke to me twice, very charmingly, and persuaded me to stay at Lynch-Mob State College in 2000.
He assured me that he would deal with the problems at the school.
During one school lunchtime in early 2000, I was rabbitting on about Judy Spence -
- there is a possibility that I may have been rabbitting on about Judy Spence rather too much at this time -
- when Mrs GR suddnly turned on me in a very, very aggressive manner.
She told me what Judy Spence thought about the situation.
I was startled to realise that Mrs GR seemed to know exactly what Judy Spence had said to me.
I was very, very shocked to realise that my acting principal had been discussing me - and presumably the fact that I had been rabbitting on about her at school lunchtimes - with Judy Spence, a Queensland government Minister.
I was very shocked by Mrs GR's aggression.
I decided on the spot never to discuss anything to do with the Labor party with Mrs GR again.
And I never did.
When Mr EL went on leave during Term 4 2000, I felt very exposed to Mrs GR's aggression and to (what seemed to me to be) her irrational and impulsive behaviour.
Unsupervised groups of Grade 7 students had been roaming about the school, disrupting the other classes, for at least the past two terms.
During Term 3 2000 I had discussed the problem with usual principal Mr EL.
He told me that several other teachers had complained to him about the number of children who were wandering about the school, disturbing their classes.
He spoke to the staff at a staff meeting, asking teachers not to send so many students around the school on "messages".
During Term 4 2000, after usual principal EL had gone on leave, it became clear to me that the Grade 7 teachers were not actually sending these students "on messages".
The students were simply roaming about the school in unsupervised groups.
And when I arrived at the Grade 7 classrooms to take LOTE, many students were missing from some of the classrooms.
I had no real way of knowing where they were.
I did not know who was responsible for their safety.
I asked Lynch- Mob State College acting principal Mrs GR for her support in dealing with the situation.
She advised me to discuss the situation at a staff meeting on 10 November 2000.
She put it on the white-board agenda for the staff meeting.
She moved it to the top of the Staff Meeting agenda.
But Mrs GR spoke before me at the staff meeting.
Mrs GR seemed to defame me to the staff - at considerable length.
This had not been on the Staff Meeting agenda.
Mrs GR made me ill with the shock of her irrational comments to the staff concerning me.
I had never had to deal with such (seemingly) irrational and unprofessional behaviour by a school principal.
Lesley McFarlane, the Queensland Teachers Union research officer, advised me to ask for a meeting of the School Behaviour Management Committee to discuss my concerns with the school behaviour management policy.
So, as soon as I arrived at school on Monday 20 November 2000, I put my request (see details below) for a meeting with the School Behaviour Management Committee on Mrs GR's desk.
I put another copy on the acting deputy principal's desk.
The Cairns District Office Staff Welfare Officer also advised me to ask for a meeting of the School Behaviour Management Committee.
And she advised me to ask the Lynch-Mob State College QTU rep to organise another meeting - a 'mediated meeting' - with Mrs GR to discuss the breakdown in our professional relationship.
So as soon as I arrived at work on Monday 20 November 2000, I asked the school QTU Rep. if she would be willing to attend a meeting with Mrs GR.
She agreed and offered to organise the meeting herself.
I gave her a list of times when I would be free.
Exact copy of the letter given to Mrs GR, acting principal, on Monday 20 November 2000.
To Members Of The Behaviour Management Committee,... State School.
I request that a meeting of the committee is convened to discuss concerns that I have about the implementation of Behaviour Management at... State School.
I am particularly concerned about the way in which "Yellow Slips" are processed.
(These were the slips that teachers filled in after giving students three warnings about poor behaviour. They were sent to the acting principal's office for her attention.)
I have spoken at a previous meeting about my observation that at the end of Term 3 and the start of Term 4 the children in one Grade 7 class were laughing and jeering when I filled out a yellow slip. They would call out, "Scarey! " and snigger.
We discussed the fact that some slips were simply mislaid and action was never taken on them.
We discussed the need for improved management of the processing of the yellow slips.
I have become aware that when children are actually spoken to by the administration about their behaviour it is possible for them to make untrue statements to excuse their behaviour. These statements are not discussed with the teacher concerned.
In my opinion this rewards children for misbehaving. They have all the fun of talking their way out of the consequences of their behaviour. They are able to tell lies about a teacher and damage his /her professional reputation. the teacher does not realise what is going on because she is not told what the children have said.
I understand that children have to be 'listened to". But non-critical listening passively supports poor behaviour. Children also need to be questioned, facts need to be found out and the values of truth and honesty need to be upheld.
At a recent staff meeting a statement was made that there was a person on the staff who had been humiliating children. We were told that it must stop. As I knew that I had not humiliated any children I was not concerned.
The next day I heard a rumor that I was the person concerned. I had apparently told a child to "put her nose to the wall".
I was very distressed. Either the child had deliberately told a lie or the principal had misunderstood the situation.
This child was sitting cross-legged in the middle of the carpet. She had been told to turn away from the class towards the wall because she was totally disrupting the class laughing, joking and calling out, "Show off! " when other children were acting in a play. She was the centre of attention.
At no time was this child close to the wall. There was never any suggestion that she should put her face close to the wall.
She continued to giggle and disrupt the class. If anybody was humilitated it was me. She was cheeky and quite unrepentant at the end of the elssson so I filled in a Yellow Slip describing her behaviour.
The situation was not discussed with me. I could have clarified the situation in a moment. Instead an announcement was made to the whole staff and a rumour was started.
In my opinion the manner in which Yellow Slips are processed teachers children to manipulate the truth to mislead the administration and to avoid the proper consequences of their behaviour. They learn that telling lies is a fun activity and very smart. I believe that children who lie their way out of the consequences of disruptive behaviour are regarded by theri peers as heroes and role models. I believe that the system teachers them that they can tell lies with impunity because the teachers have no way of findng out.
In my opinion this situation has serious long term implications both for individual teachers and for the Education Department.
(The Cairns District Staff Welfare Officer had suggested this wording to me.)
I am fortunate that I have found out about this particular misunderstanding at a time when it will be reasonably easy for me to demonstrate that I am telling the truth. It would have been a great deal harder in five years' time:
The children would hear the story repeated and would very soon agree that it was true. even twelve-year-old children rapidly believe in the truth of a lie, once it has been told by one oft their friends.
The teachers would have heard the rumour and would suppose it to be true.
The principal would believe it to be true.
Who would believe that it had never actually happened?
Further Points
- I am not alone in my concerns about the behaviour of this child. Other specialists have asked for support in the management of the behaviour of the Grade 7 classes and this child in particular.
One other specialist described at the last meeting how she felt, after taking the Grade 7 classes, like going home, getting into bed and pulling the covers over her head.
- The "Buddy System", in which a teacher sends children who repeatedly misbehave to another class, does not work very well for the LOTE (Indonesian) teacher. By the time that you have been through the process of giving three warnings the thirty minutes that you have for the LOTE lesson are almost over and the class has been really disrupted. there seems to be little point in sending a child to another teacher for five minutes.
The 'Buddy Teacher" is often on non-contact time.
You cannot be sure that the child will go where he / she has been told to go.
At the end of the lesson you have to go and collect the child and return them to their class. This takes time. (And the next teacher is waiting for you to arrive at his or her class.)
But when I asked for mediation, Mrs GR refused to meet me for mediation.
She "span" the mediated meeting ( that I been advised by the QTU and the Staff Welfare Officer to request ) into a meeting to discuss putting me on Diminished Workplace Performance.
And two days after this "mediated meeting", Mrs GR gave me a letter to advise me that she had spoken to the usual principal, Mr EL -
- who was on leave at the time, and who had not discussed the situation with me -
- and that "he is in agreement that the ( DWP ) process is warranted".
No principal had ever spoken to me with the malice that Mrs GR spoke to me during the "mediated meeting".
Her behaviour towards me seemed to be totally irrational.
The only reason that I could think of that would explain Mrs GR's feelings of malice towards me, was that she felt angry with me because I would not join her branch of the Labor party.
I told the local QTU organiser that I was going to make a Grievance that "she is doing this to me because I would not join her branch of the Labor party".
The local QTU organiser had told me that I should be careful not to say anything that I could not prove.
Labor Party women behave like fishwives. They howl personal abuse and refuse to listen.
As usual, when rattled, she behaved like a fishwife.
... Some Labor backbenchers were seen to cringe, and no doubt many more cringed inwardly but managed to conceal the fact.
Christopher Pearson describing Labor women's role-model Julia Gillard in Bungle on Bob's Job spoils chance for clean air, P.22, Commentary, The Weekend Australian, 3 March 2012. Historical link preserved from the original page.
Members of the Labor Party learn to deal with problems by creating 'self-delusional narratives'.
Labor Party members create self-delusional 'false narratives' built on their own spin about policies, politics and personnel.
Critics are undermined and isolated, gross mistakes are passed over and excused, policy and implementation failures are blamed on others, and myths are created to cover fundamental flaws as part of the grand public deception.
The public discourse is skewed by those who accept and prop up these false narratives, either because they are dim or because maintaining a gutless silence is the easiest thing to do, and is well rewarded.
The myths of Labor's grand public deception, Dennis Shanahan, Political Editor, The Australian, 3 March 2012: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/opinion/the-myths-of-labors-grand-public-deception/story-e6frgd0x-1226287718495 Historical link preserved from the original page.
Madmen in authority hear voices in the air.
Madmen in authority, who hear voices in the air, are distilling their frenzy...
Vested interests... John Maynard Keynes, The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money, 1935, quoted in Uncovering the plot: we reveal the faceless man behind the Carr for Canberra campaign, Cut and Paste, P. 23, Commentary, The Weekend Australian, 3 March 2012.
It is hard to deal with people who are liars.
The bottom line is it is really hard to fight people who will do or say anything.
Campbell Newman quoted in Poll Call: March 7, Edited by Georgia Waters and Danielle Cronin, The Brisbane Times, 7 March 2012: http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/state-election-2012/poll-call-march-7-20120307-1uizo.html Historical link preserved from the original page.