Brindabella Christian College principal resigns

The executive principal of Brindabella Christian College, Keturah Jones, has resigned, making her the seventh principal to depart the role since 2015.

It means the troubled private school will have nine principals in nine years.

In a letter dated 8 August to the school community, board chair Greg Zwajgenberg said Ms Jones had informed him of her intention to leave the school on Friday, 16 August, but did not give a reason for her departure.

The letter announced that Suzanne Power would be the next executive principal. She is currently the executive principal of the college’s virtual education platform, Connected Education, but was acting principal for two years from 2019 to 2021.

She will continue to develop the virtual platform for the time being.

Ms Jones will leave as the Community for Constitutional Reform at BCC group (CCR@BCC) prepares to take on ACT Planning in the ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal on 22 August over its decision not to issue a Controlled Activity Order regarding alleged development application breaches by Brindabella Christian Education Limited (BCEL), the company behind the school.

In an action that mirrors Lyneham Community Association’s action over the college car park, the reform group wants ACT Planning to enforce its own orders about two unapproved demountables known as Block C.

The school had been told its demountable Block C had to be removed from the site and permanently disconnected from all utilities before an occupancy certificate could be issued for the junior school building.

However, the reform group says the school had only relocated and recommissioned the block and questions its safety.

Ms Jones offered a period of relative stability for the school, which has campuses in Lyneham and Charnwood, serving for three and half years from Term 4 in 2021. All up, she had been part of the faculty for five and a half years.

The letter said that Ms Jones would remain a member of the community. Her husband also teaches at the school.

“She has successfully led and managed the significant growth and strengthening of our community through challenging educational times,” the letter said.

The letter said Ms Jones and Ms Power had been working closely together to ensure a smooth transition.

It said Ms Power had navigated the college through one of the most complex and challenging times in history – the COVID-19 pandemic. She will continue to develop the virtual platform for the time being.

Looking ahead, the college board intends to recruit a principal for both campuses and for Distance Education/Virtual Campus.

Before Ms Jones, the school had four acting principals: Melanie Spencer, briefly in 2015, after longtime principal Elizabeth Hutton departed in 2015, Carl Palmer in 2017, Peter Crimmins in 2018 and Ms Power – and two brief permanent appointments, Bruce Handley from 2016 to Term 3 2017 and Christine Lucas from 2018 to July 2019.

The reform group claims former principals among its members.

Former school executives, staff, teachers and parents set up the reform group in 2015, raising concerns about the conduct of the board, BCEL and how BCC is being run.

It says the board is unrepresentative and lacks transparency and accountability.

Last year, an agreement with the Commonwealth Education Minister reached in the Administrative Appeals Tribunal imposed a raft of strict conditions on the school’s governance, finances and reporting.

The school had appealed a 2021 finding by a delegate for the Minister that BCEL was not a “fit and proper person” to operate the school, which receives more than $10 million a year in public funding.

It was revealed at the appeal that BCEL owed close to $5 million to the Australian Tax Office.

The agreement stipulated that a payment scheme be entered into with the ATO.

In May this year, the Independent Education Union NSW/ACT was chasing BCEL for unpaid superannuation for teachers and other college staff.

The AAT had ordered the company to start paying back the unpaid super by April this year.

In November last year, ACAT ordered the unapproved car park to be closed and demolished, but the school appealed to the ACT Supreme Court.

In January, the car park reopened pending the outcome of the appeal.

A hearing has been listed for 14 September in the ACT Supreme Court.

Brindabella Christian College was approached for comment.