High school failed to adequately support student who was allegedly sexually assaulted, ombudsman finds

A South Australian high school student who was allegedly sexually assaulted by two peers in 2021 waited almost a month before being offered counselling, the state’s independent watchdog has found.

In a report released on Tuesday, SA Ombudsman Wayne Lines stated the public school student was allegedly “indecently and sexually assaulted” by two other students.

Mr Lines did not name the school where the alleged assault took place, but he stated the principal “formed the view that the allegations of indecent and sexual assault were well-founded soon after they were reported”.

“Despite this, the school did not offer the victim counselling for almost a month even after significant escalation by the complainants,” he wrote.

“This was an inadequate response.”

According to Mr Lines, the two alleged offenders were “excluded” from the school, but he did not state for how long they were temporarily banned.

He wrote that the alleged victim, who has since left the school, and their parent were “particularly aggrieved” by the Department for Education’s decision to exclude the alleged offenders rather than to expel them.

A full investigation by Mr Lines found the department was unable to provide “objective recorded reasons” to justify its decision to exclude the alleged offenders, but the decision was “reasonably open to the department to make”.

The watchdog described the department’s suspension, exclusion and expulsion procedure as “deficient” and wrote that it “failed to provide holistic guidance to decision makers in relation to exclusionary discipline”.

He added that the procedure failed to require the department to put allegations of misconduct to the subject of a potential exclusionary discipline decision.

“Putting pointed allegations to the subject of an investigation is fundamental to good investigative technique and is central to the concept of procedural fairness,” he wrote.

The ombudsman has made six recommendations to improve the department’s handling around exclusionary discipline, including changing its suspension, exclusion and expulsion procedures to recognise “the impact and safety of an exclusionary decision on any victim”. 

When a school determines that exclusionary discipline is warranted, Mr Lines called for the principal to record detailed reasons outlining their decision and what information they have relied on and for suspension letters to include the allegations.

Mr Lines also wants the department’s procedures around responding to critical incidents of a sexual nature to include that government-funded counselling must be offered as soon as possible. 

The Department for Education has accepted Mr Lines’ six recommendations.

In a statement, the department’s chief executive Martin Westwell said he had prioritised supporting the wellbeing of students and responding to incidents in a timely manner.

“The department has since taken steps to amend our processes to ensure that is the case,” he said.

“The department has also begun reviewing the ‘suspension, exclusion and expulsion of students procedure’ in line with the recommendations and is working to ensure guidance provided is clear in order to support schools.”

Mr Westwell said the revised procedure would be released by the end of this year.