Brisbane Times
ANGELA HARPER
September 7, 2009
A teacher is suing the Queensland education department after allegedly
suffering years of bullying from her superior at a special needs school.
A teacher's aide at the same south-eastern Queensland state school has also
come forward with similar allegations against the same boss.
The 49-year-old female teacher alleges she suffered a nervous breakdown
as a result of working with the "abusive, volatile and manipulative" boss.
"She would yell, she would scream at you in front of other staff and students,
she would slam her hands on the desk and she would write highly critical notes
and put them in your pigeon hole," she said in a statement issued by Trilby
Misso lawyers. "People were frightened of her."
When she took stress leave, the superior came to her home and continued to
contact her, the teacher says. "She was trying to intimidate me."
The teacher and 44-year-old female teacher's aide, who wish to remain
anonymous, had both complained to the school principal and Education
Queensland.
But both had turned a blind eye, the teachers' lawyers say.
Lawyer Gillian Klanke said the teacher had suffered a complete breakdown
after years of verbal abuse and intimidation over a number of years at the school.
"The teacher and one of her colleagues have suffered psychological injuries as
a result of the mistreatment from the head of special education services at the
school," she said.
The law firm is preparing a notice of claim against WorkCover as the insurer of
Education Queensland for one of the women, while a teacher's aide is assessing
whether she is able to make a claim.
Both women raised their problems with the school principal and officials from
Education Queensland, but nothing was done, Ms Klanke said.
The teacher's aide said they were often asked to perform duties outside their
job description and were left alone to deal with violent children. One boy had to
be handcuffed by police. "We weren't given the proper support and suffered
injuries as a result of trying to control sometimes violent children on our own,
" she said in a statement. "But I don't blame the students - being injured
wasn't the issue. "It's just the total lack of direction and consideration from
the department head - she didn't make sure staff were safe and she just didn't
seem to care."
The women had not been offered alternative duties while the department head
at the centre of the alleged problem remained at the school.
Ms Klanke said the behaviour of the department head went unchecked because
the principal, who recently retired, turned a blind eye to the situation.
Representatives from Education Queensland also attended a meeting with staff
and were told about the alleged bullying but they did nothing, she said.
A spokeswoman from Education Queensland said it would be difficult to go into
any detail about the case because of privacy issues.
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