A Canberra public school worker who was repeatedly attacked and bitten by one of her kindergarten students is in a mental health facility more than two years later due to the psychological damage it caused.
For six months from the beginning of 2016 the learning support assistant, who the ABC will refer to as Melanie, was injured on a weekly basis by a child with a disability.
"Right from day one, I was trying to get this student to unpack his bag … he launched himself at me," Melanie said.
"I was bitten on the arms, I was bitten on the stomach and I was bitten on the leg. That was day one."
She reported 34 incidents of injury to the Education Directorate over six months, but said she received no advice, and was reportedly told the student did not have a behavioural problem.
She said the directorate gave her compression bandages to reduce the impact of the biting.
"[He] just bit through it," she said.
Melanie had almost a decade of experience in disability education and previous experience in nursing, but the incidents were so traumatising, she developed severe tics and became depressed.
"She just broke down. She couldn't go to work anymore," Melanie's husband said.
"Children would come up to her … and she would freak out.
"She has [nightmares] of being eaten by crocodiles."
In August — after considering suicide — Melanie was admitted to a mental health facility, where she remains.
Directorate's response in Melanie's case 'inadequate'
The case was one of three investigated for two years by the ACT's work safety watchdog, which on Monday issued a $10 million penalty to the Education Directorate for what it called a failing in health and safety duties to staff.
In Melanie's case, it found she reported injuries on multiple occasions, but proposed changes to behaviour management plans offered to her were "inadequate" and did not protect her from injury.
Melanie also noted that the investigation suggested she was compensated for psychological damage, but she claims to have only received regular payment for time off work due to injury.
The Education Directorate would not comment on individual cases, but said injured persons identified in Worksafe’s report were supported through workers compensation arrangements.
The ACT Government agreed to Worksafe's enforceable undertaking, and has already spent almost $8 million since 2016 developing a plan to deal with violence against teachers.
Since that plan was launched in July of last year, the directorate heard 1,500 incidents of occupational violence in Canberra public schools — double what was being reported previously.
Melanie said she was glad the investigation had led to changes that could help prevent another worker suffering the sustained harm she received, and that she was grateful to the union and Education Minister for being proactive in addressing the issue.
A spokeswoman for the directorate said it could not comment on particular incidents but it "sincerely regrets" incidents of violence in some ACT schools.
"[The directorate] extends its sympathy to the affected workers and any others who may have been affected by these incidents," she said.
