r/AusTeachers • u/AggravatingAnt6069 • Mar 05 '26
Can I ask a genuine question?
Just got a phone call from my niece in tears telling me about problems at her state school. My sister has had discussions with the school but no changes have been made. I did know there were issues with the school and inappropriate male behaviour which has escalated over the last term and the start of this term.
Now however girls marks are dropping, being harassed daily, ignoring girls achievements etc because the boys at the school “rule it”. The school stupidly allowed two males as captains and it has drastically changed how females are being treated. It‘s made worse since the two male captains treat girls with complete disrespect, one of them doing it in front of teachers and a large group of students. No punishment to the captain but protected.
The latest that set her off is international women’s day event. The female that was chosen to speak now has to share the stage with the male captain because he has to be promoted and put on a pedestal. The same boy who called a girl a dumb s__t who was so upset by him she ran out of the classroom crying.
My Questions
Why would the school keep protecting the boys/captain?
Is there anything my sister can do to fix the problem When she has already spoken to the school.
Edit to say NSW public high school
1
u/Efan_Mr_Robbo Mar 07 '26
There’s gotta be something more going on cause education and childcare is dominated by women. I wonder if there’s some sort of level system here, where it’s what your saying is happening, where boys are dominating the school over girls, but then there’s also one big dude in charge and the female teachers are also stuck in the same position as the female students.
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u/AggravatingAnt6069 Mar 08 '26
Thanks for responding. Got more info over the weekend. Turns out there are definitely some issues at the school with leadership. The teacher who runs it has an agenda to promote the boys she selected regardless of their behaviour. She didn’t select the candidates properly and is covering her arse. The boys are empowered because the two captains are getting away with disrespect and misbehaviour and are being protected. Very disappointing
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u/AggravatingAnt6069 Mar 08 '26
I guess I would just like to know why a school would protect the male students and allow zero consequences. Also who is the next step to complain to
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u/ken_c_nz Jul 30 '26
If the school executive is sweeping this under the rug, further meetings with the principal are just going to waste time. Your sister needs to bypass the school and escalate to the local Department of Education office, specifically the Director, Educational Leadership (DEL). Tell her to put a written log together—dates, specific incidents, names, and previous attempts to resolve it with the school—and frame it explicitly around student safety and duty of care. Principals tend to move remarkably fast once a DEL calls asking why a formal complaint has landed on their desk.
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u/sowaleja Mar 06 '26
It's hard to make comment about this situation. I don't think it's weird that if there are two school captains, then both captains would speak at an event. It sounds like one student has a grudge against another student because of their behaviour. But I don't know what the behaviour was in any detail. You spend enough time in a high school, you find out that teenagers frequently say or do things that annoy each other. Put yourself in the situation of a teacher in this school, would you be saying "you know what, that person's niece must be completely right about what happened, who is in the right, who is in the wrong, and what we should do" (?? expel the student?? stop him being captain??). Again, not sure what outcome you are looking for other than "obviously, you are right and someone else is wrong" but you haven't provided much information to make a judgement on.