Protection from threats and abuse for principals

Victorian schools now have the power to ban aggressive and violent parents from entering school grounds to protect students and staff.

The Education and Training Reform Amendment (Protection of School Communities) Bill 2021, delivers on a key recommendation from the 2018 Protective Schools Ministerial Taskforce and will help empower authorised persons, such as school principals, to issue School Community Safety Orders to parents, carers and other people who engage in harmful, threatening or abusive behaviour.

The new laws will also allow schools to ban parents that use social media and other channels to engage in threats or abuse.

Schools will be able to stop parents, carers or other adult members of the school community interacting with the school or school community – including stopping them from entering school grounds or other locations where school events are occurring, if reasonably necessary. 

If a person fails to comply with a School Community Safety Order, an application can be made to the Magistrates' Court for an order requiring compliance, a civil penalty of up to 60 penalty units, or any other order that the Court considers appropriate. 

Schools must ensure people issued with the new Orders are still able to communicate with the school and be informed about the child's education, and make arrangements to ensure the child's attendance at the school and school activities.  

The changes build on existing legislation and will provide greater procedural fairness to parents, carers and other adult members of the school community. This includes internal merits review, and external review at the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal if the person doesn’t agree with the outcome.

The Bill is part of a broader strategy targeting the small minority of parents, carers and other members of school communities who engage in such inappropriate behaviour. It will also include an ongoing school-based communications campaign to address parent and carer aggression, 

The Government undertook targeted consultation with stakeholders including teacher unions, school associations, parent associations, Victoria Legal Aid, Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service, Foundation House, Victorian Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, and the Victorian Multicultural Commission before instating the new law.  

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