School’s bullying dispute escalates
A STRIFE-torn Gold Coast Christian college has been plunged into more turmoil after sacking its chief operating officer, whose daughter is the school captain.
Ray Deetlefs, who was one of two staff members recently stood down by Hillcrest Christian College over allegations of misconduct, was told yesterday he had been issued with a termination notice.
He said he had been sacked over “totally trumped-up’’ allegations of bullying levelled after he raised concerns with the college board about the school’s multimillion-dollar operations.
An emotional Mr Deetlefs said he and his wife were “in tears’’ and vowed legal action.
“I intend to fight this vigorously and have engaged lawyers,” he said.
“This is not going to go away. I won’t let this go unchallenged. This is going to explode spectacularly.
“My lawyers have told me this case is very winnable. We are going into this gunfight with all the ammunition.”
Mr Deetlefs said he was stood down in May over 13 ‘bulls--t’ allegations of bullying after raising concerns with the school board about issues including the establishment of a controversial private company headed by college principal Jeff Davis and senior board members.
The company, I Love Reading Pty Ltd, was set up to commercialise a phonetic reading program with the help of hundreds of thousands of dollars in loans from school funds. The Baptist Church-run school recently announced the $1 million-plus sale of ILR to a Hong Kong-based company “to recover its investment in developing the program’’.
The sacking is the latest scandal to rock Hillcrest after Mr Deetlefs and another staff member were stood down in May and bullying allegations were made against Mr Davis.
The State Government’s Non-State Schools Accreditation Board launched an inquiry and the Independent Education Union called for the appointment of an independent investigator to look into allegations of staff bullying. The school’s former chairman was dumped at a heated annual meeting in May.
Mr Deetlefs, who daughter Chloe is a senior school captain at Hillcrest, said he and his wife had to remortgage their home. “(The sacking) wasn’t unexpected but it still came as a shock. It’s unbelievable.”
Mr Davis was contacted for comment.