18 June 2024

'Review should happen': Questions raised over Brindabella Christian College student safety during a fire

| Claire Fenwicke
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Brindabella Christian College sign

Fresh concerns have been raised about Brindabella Christian College – this time over whether it’s fire code compliant. Photo: File.

Serious concerns have been raised about whether Brindabella Christian College (BCC) is safe for staff and children in the event of a fire.

During a recent ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal hearing, advocacy group ReformBCC expressed concerns that there appeared to be issues with the school’s fire engineering report, that it was potentially “compromised” and could be void as information (which had been relied upon for the assessment) was “not accurate or current”.

“There’s an immediate risk to life and safety issues at the school that ought to be addressed,” group secretary Jodie Jayatilaka said.

A further statement from the group said that without the proper checks and balances, the status of some classrooms and student occupancy remained unknown to the fire brigade, utility providers and relevant authorities, which was compromising the “physical safety of staff and students”.

“How can the fire brigade be confident there is sufficient access and hydrant provisions, or even know the correct number of children to evacuate if the students these new buildings will occupy haven’t been counted or drawings relied upon aren’t complete and accurate?” the group asked.

“What if an emergency actually happens?”

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Region spoke with a leading ACT fire engineer who has knowledge of the site and explained the fire code had stringent requirements for the distance between buildings for evacuations and fire protections to stop spread at a site with multiple buildings.

He described the school as being on a “tight site” with a custom hydrant system. The code has additional rules around the distance allowed between hydrants, coverage of the hydrants and accessibility for fire brigades.

“If things are moved … if they are changed, it needs to go back to square one [in terms of the review],” the engineer explained.

“You might think, ‘It’s one metre here, one metre there’, but that’s all it takes to disturb the level of compliance and make it so a brigade cannot access a fire.

“Changes can … compromise people’s safety.”

The fire engineer explained that reviews of buildings could occur retrospectively and that an audit could find that a site is still compliant, but the details in documents need to be updated.

He personally could not say if there was a problem at the school site, but stressed it was important for people to ask such questions if they had concerns.

“If everything is OK, at least you then know … especially when we’re dealing with children. With schools, it never hurts to express those concerns,” he said.

ACT Fire and Rescue does have the ability to audit buildings for safety and to make sure firefighters can fight fires on site. If that’s satisfied, there can then also be reviews by fire engineers into any technical breaches of the fire code.

This fire engineer felt that “ultimately a review should happen” at the school.

“There definitely seems to be enough concern to warrant a review,” he said.

“I don’t think these questions should be left unanswered.”

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The school has also come to the attention of Senate Estimates.

Independent ACT Senator David Pocock questioned Education Department officials about where the school and its governing board were up to regarding fulfilling Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) orders around payment of superannuation and board appointments. (A delegate for the Education Minister had found in 2021 that BCEL was not a “fit and proper person” to operate the school.)

The Independent Education Union (ACT branch) has launched Fair Work Commission proceedings against the school for unpaid superannuation.

Education Department Assistant Secretary Robyn Beutel said while superannuation payments to staff fell within the Treasury portfolio, it was expected that the school and BCEL would “comply with those conditions”.

“They are non-compliant with some of the conditions imposed,” she confirmed.

Ms Beutel said the department had written to the board about its ongoing non-compliance and also to the ACT Education Directorate to find out what actions it was taking or considering.

Mr Pocock doubled down, stating the school was “under scrutiny” and questioned what other powers the department had so it could “ratchet this up” and ensure the school community was “protected”.

“We have been taking incremental action for non-compliance against the governing body of Brindabella,” Ms Beutel replied.

“There are probably only two options left available … [they] would be to pause [Federal] funding or cease funding.”

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This comes after the school’s executive principal, Keutah Jones, announced in the newsletter that the school was successful in its registration renewal from the ACT Education Directorate and Office of ACT Non-Government Schools in May.

“I would like to acknowledge the collective efforts of all staff in maintaining high standards of excellence across the College,” she said.

But in light of the above concerns, a Non-Government Schools Registrar spokesperson stated it would now consider this new information and urged anyone who had concerns regarding “potential unsafe emergency management or practices” to get in touch via NGS.concerns@act.gov.au.

They also stated it had been communicating with BCEL over its non-compliance with Commonwealth orders.

“Non-payment of tax and superannuation is a risk factor of insolvency,” the spokesperson said.

“The Registrar is reviewing the issue and if an alleged breach is engaged, the proprietor will be afforded natural justice as set out in … the [Education] Act [2004].”

They also clarified that the new annual registration review model was targeted at specific requests for how a school performed to certain standards, not the “full scope” of each.

In the case of BCC, the school was asked about its governance structure, policies and procedures, and student movement register.

“Due to … changes to the way non-government school registration is managed, claims relating to registration ‘renewal’ at Brindabella Christian College are inaccurate,” the spokesperson said.

“The Registrar for Non-government Schools has written to the school about this matter.”

Region approached the school and board for further comment.

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Solomon Kaddu7:07 pm 19 Jun 24

The parents, I am sure have made a cautious decision to send their children to this school despite all the issues raised in this and other fora. I am not convinced that some of the commenters here have more interest in the well being and future of the children than the parents who pay the additional fees. Surely the parents aren’t fools who need to be protected by the well meaning commenters.

Let the processes run their course instead of resorting to mob justice.
Otherwise, it all appears like there is an agenda being pushed here and may be there is.

George Hastings10:22 am 19 Jun 24

Why is this school being bullied by gov and media so much? what is the real reason?

The Canberran media are obsessed with this school. I wonder why?

Solomon Kaddu5:25 pm 18 Jun 24

There isn’t one organisation that is perfect. When there are inspections, there is a possibility that the inspection will turn up issues. The logical approach is to come up with an action plan and a time line for review. A

Solomon Kaddu5:06 pm 18 Jun 24

Stop already. It is getting ridiculous!

Is this another ACT attack on a religious entity? And sour grapes from some who want to take over the Board. Or both? I have no
past, present or future interest or role in the school. But continuing sniping and media plants don’t seem helpful, especially this one. Surely building approvals can’t be obtained without compliance. The paperwork can be updated

From what I can gather based in the media stuff, it is both. Getting quite ridiculous and petty really.

This is not about religion. Most private (and Christian) schools manage to appropriately pay their staff entitlements (including superannuation) and, amazingly, deal with their tax obligations. This mob is thumbing their nose at any requirement to do either and then trots off (including with the Chairman of the Board) to the US to buy a robotic dog. Not sure how a robotic dog can be afforded when their obligations are not being met and I’m sure I’m not alone in wondering what possible purpose was served in having the Chairman of the Board there. The Board seems to have a problem with governance. It’s also quite accident prone.

Brindabella College – nothing very Christion about them when workers aren’t paid super entitlements and yet they buy an expensive robot dog. Maybe the word “Integrity” should be removed from their little sign. It would be wise for gov funding to be removed.

Time to stop all taxpayer funding to this organisation, which seems to only do what it wants to do, with no regard for legal or moral commitments to the student, parent of local communities.

Stanleyhistory3:33 pm 18 Jun 24

Yes! The disgrace of BCC must stop. At the least the ACT and the Commonwealth governments should stop wasting tax payers’ money on it. One root and scandal after another! If it was a commercial business it would have deservedly gone broke!

Until now, I hadn’t thought of Brindabella College as BCC which in medical terms is a basal cell carcinoma. Mm..

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