By KATH GANNAWAY
FORMER employees of Cire Services in Yarra Junction and Mount Evelyn have spoken out about their concerns for the welfare and future of ‘at risk’ students at the Cire Community School in the face of recent staff cuts.
In a statement from Cire, however, Committee of Management President Ric Butler said the organisation’s sole concern was for the students’ welfare and advancement.
Mr Butler said the recent changes had been carefully considered, designed and implemented to advance student outcomes.
The redundancy of two full-time welfare workers and four support workers came after Upper Yarra Community House rebranded as ‘Cire’.
The community school was established under UYCH to accommodate students who have not engaged with mainstream schooling.
Teacher Andy Stuart resigned after the cuts saying the lack of support for teachers in the classroom made his job untenable.
Mr Stuart said people had enrolled thinking they are getting critical welfare and teacher support.
“That is no longer the case,” he said.
“It’s a challenging environment and it seems counter-productive to pull out the staff who are essential to what the school aims to do.”
Support worker Tony Aulich’s position was also made redundant.
He has been involved for more than 20 years as a volunteer, paid worker and board member.
“I am very much in touch with the heartbeat that the organisation had,” Mr Aulich said.
“It still has a lot of wonderful people working for it, but anyone on the staff will tell you that for a lot of these kids, just adjusting and readapting to a classroom setting is difficult, and it puts the teachers under a lot of strain.
“They have to be very caring and patient, so for teachers to do that on their own, and not have welfare on hand to support kids who are dealing with a whole range of different issues in their lives, leaves the cupboard pretty bare.”
Another employee who asked not to be named because of the possible impact on their future employment said she was devastated to be told with just a few days’ notice that her job as a student wellbeing officer at Mount Evelyn just didn’t exist anymore.
She said the range of issues students faced, ranging from poor literacy, mental health and substance abuse to homelessness and pregnancy, made the welfare and support roles critical to helping them stay in education.
“It was my job to work out what their actual needs are, hook into services and, if needed, take kids to those services,” she said.
All three were critical of the lack of prior consultation on the changes, and short notice of the redundancies, saying there was no opportunity to prepare the students, or remaining teachers, for the impact of losing people that both groups had come to rely on.
Cire declined to comment of a number of claims made by former employees and put to the organisation by the Mail.
They included claims that there was no prior consultation or input into the changes, that Cire’s vision was for a ‘school of choice’ rather than a school of last resort – which they say it had been for many, that the redundancies were financially motivated, that the current CEO had never visited classrooms at either campus, that the current management was out of touch and that there had been resignations from the board.
The Independent Education Union has confirmed to the Mail that it took Cire to the Fair Work Commission over failure to comply with obligations under the award “to engage in meaningful consultation”.
Mr Butler rejected concerns about the vision of the organisation, but did not comment on other matters raised citing ‘privacy of students and staff’.
He said despite the structure and name change, the organisation’s vision and commitment to high quality education, with a focus on young people for whom mainstream education systems are not achieving outcomes, remained unchanged.
“What we have done is ensure that our structure, processes and staff are all aligned to achieve our vision,” he said.
He said the changes were based on a thorough review based on advice from people with expertise in working with young people like those enrolled at the school and added that a comprehensive transition process had been implemented to ensure that students, their families and staff were fully supported.
Mr Butler said consultation with Fair Work and the Independent Education Union had concluded in a way that met all their obligations and that all legitimate entitlements had been paid.
“Cire Services is committed to a thorough and rigorous recruitment process, hiring people with the qualifications and aptitude to align with the specific vacancy,” he said.
