Testimonial From the 2000s

Our family is really sorry about the situation and admire your sticking to your guns. Most parents who have been, or are in your position are too reluctant to stand up and rock the boat for fear of being branded as a troublemaker. We have done it - for the best of intentions around some issues and found ourselves marginalised in the parent community of TRSS. That was some years ago! Parents dont seem to like these kinds of truths being told, or being made to look at things that make them uncomfortable. Celebrating what is great about the school is good - and there are many good things, but at what cost if we ignore issues of justice and truth!! I have to say that it is also a very common immigrant experience at the school and you soon learn that "shut up and dont rock the boat" is the overriding culture of the day - 'get over it', 'she'll be right'. That's one thats bigger than the matter of school governance and management. I am aware of a whole list of people who have had run ins with the school in the last few years, not all but the vast majority being immigrants. But thats another untold story!

We returned to the school recently after an absence of a number of years - after some well publicised staff changes which we felt were positive and because our child really flourishes in and sorely missed a steiner education. We fully support your concern around bullying and after our own similar concerns 4 years ago offered to arrange for parents to help out supervising at break time. The offer was refused and seen as unnecessary - apparently nothing has changed!

This issue aside (and it is no small issue!) - what your experience (and the experience of a number of other parents who have been excluded from the school - whether justified or not) - demonstrates is that the way the school is run, there is no process of appeal, no Governance Board that can be asked to review the decision and to protect the rights of parents. The College has vested itself with both the Management and the Governance functions that in any healthy organisation are split because you cant be both player and referee - except at TRSS.

Many parents over many years have seen this and tried to work with the school around this issue and it has at times ended up as a power struggle between parents and teachers - largely because teachers refuse to be accountable to anyone but themselves We were part of a whole group of parents (most left now) who tried to work with college around these things, progress was made - but whenever we mentioned 'transparency' and 'accountability' it was like we just hit a brick wall! This issue doesnt appear to be fully appreciated by parents (unless they end up like your family and its too late) - and until they do and until parents are prepared to take a bigger picture look at the school - this gross and unfair anomaly will continue. Goodness knows we gave it our best shot. We are only some of many professional and well intentioned people who have got burned out wrestling with College around TRSS governance issues.

The way the Trust was recently configured - its just a property management group - not a Governance group. It technically has the ability to sell the school resources, fire teachers and close the school, but in actual truth when the last Trust investigated these options they found that these options couldnt be followed even if it wanted to! Its a toothless sham!

So - when you talk about parent support - there are many who have been through the mill with the school and who like us have committed to only concern ourself with our child and to ignore the disfunctional aspects of the school - it truly is a basket case - and its designed as such in the constitution which the College protect and no-one can change! We would support a parent group calling for these changes and nothing less - as long as there was majority support by parents. Until this can happen the school will continue with its autocratic pseudo spiritual arrogance and be accountable only to itself. That is why the teachers oppose integration and in fact even sabotaged efforts some years ago when it was an option! As an integrated school they would have to demonstrate accountability for its decisions and allow parent involvement in real Governance, and they couldnt just randomly just exclude families.

Thats the bigger picture context that you are working with - and these conclusions are drawn from 5 years of involvement at TRSS.and from working with many others who have struggled with these same issues before and after our family did. You are challenging the core culture of the college and thats what they see as being irreconcilable! At this moment it probably is - you will not get transparency and they will not be held accountable!