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Speaker 1: We know that police have arrested a fifteen year old

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Speaker 1: male following an assault that occurred at a high school

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Speaker 1: in Tenant Creek on Monday. So just after midday they

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Speaker 1: received a report that a staff member at the high

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Speaker 1: school on Stuart Street had been arrested, sorry, had been

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Speaker 1: arrested after well, sorry, the staff member had been assaulted

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Speaker 1: by a student. That fifteen year old was then arrested.

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Speaker 1: As I understand it now, police attended, They conveyed the

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Speaker 1: victim to the hospital for assessment, and shortly after three

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Speaker 1: pm that offender was arrested then at a residence on

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Speaker 1: Ambrose Street. Now, as of yesterday, he remained in police

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Speaker 1: custody with charges expected to follow. It's a shocking situation.

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Speaker 1: No person should have to go to work and be assaulted,

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Speaker 1: but our teachers certainly should not be subjected to this

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Speaker 1: kind of behavior from students. Now joining us on the

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Speaker 1: show is Miranda what, the executive Director of Schools and

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Speaker 1: Regions with the Department of Education and Training.

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Speaker 2: Miranda, Good morning, Katie, thanks for having me on.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, thank you so much for your time. Can you

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Speaker 1: tell us from your perspective what happened at the high

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Speaker 1: school and how that staff member came to be assaulted.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. Look, I can just start by saying that it's

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Speaker 2: not okay. As you said before, it's not okay for

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Speaker 2: our teachers to be assaulted and experience any violence and

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Speaker 2: aggression within our schools. On the day that it occurred.

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Speaker 2: On the other day that it occurred, the staff member

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Speaker 2: was outside the classroom. All other students were inside the

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Speaker 2: classroom speak using their going through their lessons. There was

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Speaker 2: a conversation that was occurring between the staff member and

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Speaker 2: the student, and that's where the incident occurred.

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Speaker 1: I mean, you feel, I really really feel for this

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Speaker 1: person to be at work and you know, being assaulted

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Speaker 1: is one thing, but to be a school teacher and

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Speaker 1: a student assaulting you is it would be absolutely horrifying.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely, I completely agree with you, Katie. It is unacceptable

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Speaker 2: for our staff member, a teacher, or a staff member

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Speaker 2: of our schools to attend their workplace and have this occur.

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Speaker 2: After the incident occurred, our chief executive did check in

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Speaker 2: with the staff member to make sure that she was okay.

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Speaker 2: She felt supported and was thankful that she had checked

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Speaker 2: in with her.

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Speaker 1: What for the support is being provided to her and

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Speaker 1: to other staff since Monday's incident, because I would imagine

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Speaker 1: that it's you know that it's rocked the school to

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Speaker 1: some degree.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. Absolutely, So we've been in regular contact with the

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Speaker 2: staff member, making sure that her well being is as

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Speaker 2: best as it can be in the circumstances. She has

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Speaker 2: been at home this week resting, and as with any

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Speaker 2: incidents that occur across our schools of this nature, we

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Speaker 2: have our employment assistant program that is available to staff member,

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Speaker 2: but also just the wraparound service of her colleagues and

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Speaker 2: other members of the department that we'll check in with

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Speaker 2: her personally. Also reached out to her as well, and

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Speaker 2: she appreciated those text messages and phone calls. Just that

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Speaker 2: way of supporting. I think from a community perspective always

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Speaker 2: makes you feel better when something like this has happened.

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Speaker 1: What I mean, what does this incident say about safety

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Speaker 1: inside Territory schools right now? Are our teachers and support

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Speaker 1: staff adequately protected?

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Speaker 2: Look, these incidents are unfortunate. They don't happen every day,

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Speaker 2: but they do happen. Our schools have ways of managing

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Speaker 2: and working through situations like this and working with our

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Speaker 2: students that may respond unfortunately in the way that this

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Speaker 2: student has. It isn't okay for it to happen, But

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Speaker 2: our teachers do work very hard at preventing these things

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Speaker 2: from happening, and we've got policies and frameworks that the

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Speaker 2: schools use, principles teachers and staff and people within our

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Speaker 2: department used to manage and work through these circumstances should

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Speaker 2: they occur.

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Speaker 1: So, what's happened with that student? Has the student been

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Speaker 1: expelled or suspended? What's the you know, what is the

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Speaker 1: consequence to those actions?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, well, obviously you touched on one of the consequences

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Speaker 2: in your introduction in terms of what that looks like

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Speaker 2: as a police matter. But the student has also been

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Speaker 2: suspended from school for.

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Speaker 1: What period of time?

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Speaker 2: Look, I'm not sure of the period of time. That

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Speaker 2: our suspension guidelines have different different lengths of times that

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Speaker 2: we work through, and the school will work with the

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Speaker 2: department to determine what that length of time will be.

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Speaker 2: As we do with all suspensions, the circumstances of each

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Speaker 2: individual student and the incident are taken into consideration and

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Speaker 2: then work through. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: Look, I'm not privy obviously to all of the details

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Speaker 1: surrounding this incident, but I know you know, as a

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Speaker 1: parent of teenage kids that if my kids were at

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Speaker 1: that school, I'd be thinking, how on earth is this

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Speaker 1: child not been expelled.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, look, that's something that sits within the Education Act.

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Speaker 2: But I can't make any comments on that at the

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Speaker 2: moment in terms of what that might look like.

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Speaker 1: And was the student known to the school or you know,

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Speaker 1: in any sort of behavior management program or anything like

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Speaker 1: that prior to Monday.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. Look, I can't really talk about the individual circumstances

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Speaker 2: of a student. But what I can talk about is

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Speaker 2: that students different students in terms of incidents that may

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Speaker 2: occur on a repeat basis, we do take those seriously,

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Speaker 2: and we do continue to work with families and the

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Speaker 2: student in terms of trying to mitigate any risks that

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Speaker 2: that continued behavior might be. In terms of this individual

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Speaker 2: young person, I can't really make any comments in terms

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Speaker 2: of what that's looked like.

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Speaker 1: Miranda. I know that parents are going to be pretty

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Speaker 1: concerned hearing this, whether they're in Tenant Kreeg or whether

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Speaker 1: they're at you know, they've got children at schools up

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Speaker 1: here in the top end. What assurances can you give,

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Speaker 1: you know, families that schools are a safe place for

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Speaker 1: their kids and also for staff.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. Look, schools are a safe place for our young people.

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Speaker 2: We know that being at school is really is a

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Speaker 2: preventative way of making sure that we can engage successfully

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Speaker 2: in the community as we grow older and move into

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Speaker 2: the workplace. They are safe places. Incidents like this do

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Speaker 2: occur from time to time, and when it does occur,

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Speaker 2: what we do is we manage that situation through our frameworks,

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Speaker 2: through our guidelines, through our policies to support the rest

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Speaker 2: of the school community to continue to be safe and

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Speaker 2: work out what we can do in relation to continuing

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Speaker 2: to engage successfully in a positive and productive way with

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Speaker 2: students that might need some additional support in that area.

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Speaker 1: Miranda Whatt, the Executive Director of Schools and Regents with

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Speaker 1: the Department of Education and Training, really appreciate your time

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Speaker 1: this morning. Thank you for speaking with us.

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Speaker 2: You're so welcome, Katie. I appreciate the time being able

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Speaker 2: to speak about it.

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Speaker 1: Thank you, and please, if you are speaking to that

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Speaker 1: teacher and tenant Craig, let her know that you know

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Speaker 1: everybody is thinking of her. I think it's an absolutely

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Speaker 1: terrible situation that she's had to endure, and I really

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Speaker 1: do hope that she's okay.

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Speaker 2: Thank you, Katie. I appreciate that and I certainly will

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Speaker 2: pass it across to the staff member.

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Speaker 1: Thank you, thanks so much,