Teachers at a western Sydney school have spoken out about how some students are making death threats against staff and bringing knives and drugs to school.
NSW Teachers’ Federation president, Maurie Mulheron, called on the Department of Education to investigate the claims, which involve serious threats made against the lives of teachers at Granville Boys High School (GBHS).
“Any concerns that have been raised where safety is compromised, we expect the department to investigate the allegation,” Mulheron told The Parramatta Advertiser.
One teacher, citing anonymity for fear of retribution, said some staff – male and female – walked to their cars in groups, fearing students would carry out their threats.
“They make threats, they say they’ll kill us, they’ll bash us. They say things like, ‘I’ll meet you down a dark alley and rape you’; ‘Wait ’til I see you after school, Miss’. And it’s males and females that they say that to: it’s not just the female staff,” she said.
However, a NSW Department of Education spokesman said possession of any illegal drugs or weapons was not tolerated, adding that since recent reports of a knife amnesty, no teacher at the school had raised weapons issues with the principal.
“No question of personal safety involving the behaviour of students has been raised with the principal by any staff member,” the spokesman said.
The revelations by the GBHS teachers follow a string of incidents at the school over the years, the most recent being two students suspended for carrying knives on school grounds.
In 2011 a 16-year-old student was stabbed six times in the stomach in a schoolyard fight between two other students.
Three years earlier, a group of five Granville Boys High School students rampaged through Merrylands High School attacking students and staff with baseball bats and machetes, leaving 18 students and one teacher in hospital.
NSW Teachers’ Federation president, Maurie Mulheron, called on the Department of Education to investigate the claims, which involve serious threats made against the lives of teachers at Granville Boys High School (GBHS).
“Any concerns that have been raised where safety is compromised, we expect the department to investigate the allegation,” Mulheron told The Parramatta Advertiser.
One teacher, citing anonymity for fear of retribution, said some staff – male and female – walked to their cars in groups, fearing students would carry out their threats.
“They make threats, they say they’ll kill us, they’ll bash us. They say things like, ‘I’ll meet you down a dark alley and rape you’; ‘Wait ’til I see you after school, Miss’. And it’s males and females that they say that to: it’s not just the female staff,” she said.
However, a NSW Department of Education spokesman said possession of any illegal drugs or weapons was not tolerated, adding that since recent reports of a knife amnesty, no teacher at the school had raised weapons issues with the principal.
“No question of personal safety involving the behaviour of students has been raised with the principal by any staff member,” the spokesman said.
The revelations by the GBHS teachers follow a string of incidents at the school over the years, the most recent being two students suspended for carrying knives on school grounds.
In 2011 a 16-year-old student was stabbed six times in the stomach in a schoolyard fight between two other students.
Three years earlier, a group of five Granville Boys High School students rampaged through Merrylands High School attacking students and staff with baseball bats and machetes, leaving 18 students and one teacher in hospital.