Victorian schools are to have the power to ban aggressive and violent parents from entering school grounds, to protect students and staff.
Minister for Education James Merlino said the new Education and Training Reform Amendment (Protection of School Communities) Bill 2021 delivered on a key recommendation from the 2018 Protective Schools Ministerial Taskforce.
“The Bill will help empower authorised persons, such as school principals, to issue School Community Safety Orders to parents, carers and other people who engage in harmful, threatening or abusive behaviour,” Mr Merlino said.
“The new laws will also allow schools to ban parents that engage in threatening or abusive communication through social media and other channels,” he said.
“Schools will be able to impose requirements on the way parents, carers or other adult members of the school community interact with the school or school community.”
Mr Merlino said schools must ensure people issued with the new Orders were still able to communicate with the school; be informed about their child’s education; and make arrangements to ensure their child’s attendance at the school and school activities.
The Minister said the changes built on existing legislation and would provide greater procedural fairness to parents, carers and other adult members of the school community.
“This includes internal merits review, and external review at the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal if the person doesn’t agree with the outcome,” he said.
Mr Merlino said the Bill was part of a broader strategy which targeted the small minority of parents, carers and other members of school communities who engaged in inappropriate behaviour.
He said the strategy would also include an ongoing school-based communications campaign to address parent and carer aggression.
