New bill to ban angry parents
Aggressive and violent parents may be banned from entering school grounds under a new Victorian government bill.
A new bill has been introduced in state parliament that would empower school principals or other authorised persons to issue School Community Safety Orders to parents or carers.
Failure to comply with a Safety Order could see matters taken to a Magistrate's Court.
Schools would be able to ban harmful, threatening or abusive parents and carers, as well as those that use communication or social media in an abusive or threatening way.
The bill allows bans to be reviewed by the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal
Education Minister James Merlino said there are a number of parents who engage in inappropriate behaviour.
“No-one should be threatened or intimidated at work or at school – that’s why we’re introducing these new laws to protect staff, students and their families,” he said.
“These vital new measures will empower our senior school leaders to take necessary actions when inappropriate behaviour is being levelled towards people in the school community.”
The bill is based on a recommendation from the 2018 Protective Schools Ministerial Taskforce and a recent survey that found four in 10 school principals had been subjected to violence at work in the past year.
The state’s opposition has said it is likely to support the bill.