The lawyer for the family of murdered teacher Stephanie Scott has called for more stringent screening of staff working at schools, after the family settled a civil case over her abduction and killing by a cleaner at her Leeton school.
Ms Scott, 26 — who grew up at Canowindra in New South Wales' Central West — was last seen alive in April 2015 when she went to Leeton High School in the Riverina to prepare lessons ahead of taking leave for her upcoming wedding.
School cleaner Vincent Stanford was arrested four days later and Ms Scott's burnt body was found by police in the Cocoparra National Park — about 70 kilometres from Leeton — five days after her disappearance.
Stanford is serving a life term in prison for the teacher's killing and his twin brother was also jailed for being an accessory after the fact to the murder.
Wagga Wagga-based lawyer John Potter represented Ms Scott's fiancé, mother and siblings in the civil action against the NSW Education Department and Colin Joss & Co, which employed Stanford.
Mr Potter said details of the settlement remained confidential but the family hoped it would lead to change.
"The primary reason for taking the action was to ensure that the sort of risk that Stephanie Scott was exposed to is not repeated in the future, and that more stringent screening procedures are in place for employees who work at public institutions, such as schools," Mr Potter said.
Mr Potter said no further legal action was expected.
In a statement, a spokeswoman for the Education Department said companies that performed services at the school were required to inform their personnel of standards of conduct required, and that all cleaning staff underwent a police records check.
"We ensure and will continue to ensure that companies contracted to perform services at schools only employ staff who have passed a working-with-children check and police records check," the statement said.
The spokeswoman added that changes had been made to the department's working alone guidelines.
"The guidelines have been strengthened to support the health and safety of teachers and staff when working alone in workplaces."
