A New South Wales public high school principal has been fired by the education department and placed on its “not to be employed list” after an investigation found she “engaged in misconduct” following a claim she sexually abused a student.
The dismissal comes after Guardian Australia last year revealed the woman was being investigated by the department and police over a claim she abused a 17-year-old when she was in her late 40s.
The alleged abuse was only discovered after the boy died in an accident in his 20s and his mother accessed conversations on his mobile phone.
“The employee has been found to have engaged in misconduct,” a department spokesperson said.
“They have been dismissed from their employment with the department and their name placed on the Not To Be Employed List. The safety and welfare of children and young people is of paramount concern.”
The news was welcomed by the alleged victim’s family, despite them first being made aware of the decision by the Guardian and not the NSW Department of Education.
“It’s a lot of mixed feelings for both of us,” the young man’s father said. “It’s a bit of justice in one way but it doesn’t bring our son back.”
The woman was first investigated by the department’s professional and ethical standards directorate from December 2016 until May 2018.
At the time the teacher was cleared. The student’s mother subsequently discovered fresh evidence and asked the department to begin investigating again in 2022.
Police last year dropped their investigation after the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions advised there was “insufficient admissible evidence” to proceed to trial due to the alleged victim having died.
The female school leader was informed of the decision to sack her this week.She had been banned from interacting with students by the department while the investigation was undertaken.
As first reported by the Guardian last year, concern was raised when the student’s mother discovered hundreds of messages between the pair dating back about a decade, when he was in year 12 and she was a deputy principal.
The young man died in 2021. His mother then gained access to his social media accounts and discovered the communications, which she reported to police, the education department and the then education minister Sarah Mitchell.
The principal was immediately stood down and moved into administrative duties while the child abuse squad and detectives assessed the messages and spoke to potential witnesses.
The woman, by then a principal of another school, declined to be interviewed by police.
Messages seen by the Guardian appear to show that the teacher added the student on Facebook in April during his final year of school.
Within months, the conversations transitioned away from school matters and appeared to show the pair arranging to meet outside school hours, speaking about kissing and discussing that the teacher’s husband “knows about us”.
Messages hinted at physical encounters but it is not known whether the pair had a sexual relationship.
In one message, the teacher reflected that women of her age “don’t go around falling in luv with 17 yr olds”.
At one point she messaged him to say he was “very fine, very young, very bad”.
She said she had been “hanging out to get a kiss out of you today and next minute …”.
She also said she would marry him “when I get out of jail for corrupting you”.
In March police told the boy’s family the investigation would only be reopened if new evidence came to light.
“[District police] sought legal advice from the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) in relation to these matters,” a police spokesperson said.
“Following recommendations made by the DPP, there is insufficient admissible evidence to proceed with charges.”
Police last year told the family that an anonymous report was also lodged the year after the teenager finished school. He had signed a statement denying anything untoward had happened.
The Guardian has contacted the teacher for comment.
