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Speaker 1: Now joining me on the line is the senior director

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Speaker 1: for the Top End Region for the Department of Education,

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Speaker 1: Miranda What good morning to you, Miranda.

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Speaker 2: Good morning, Katie.

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Speaker 1: How are you Yeah, really good. Thank you so much

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Speaker 1: for your time this morning. Miranda. I'm not sure if

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Speaker 1: you've just heard the concerns that Beverly Ratahi, the chair

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Speaker 1: of to Midman College, has raised about that new bloc

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Speaker 1: fifteen to mid Men about the airflow out there and

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Speaker 1: the safety of the teachers.

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Speaker 2: Yes, I did, thank you for that, So I'm aware

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Speaker 2: of the concerns that have been raised by the school

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Speaker 2: and the board as well the school's then we're working

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Speaker 2: really hard with both the Department of Infrastructure and us

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Speaker 2: AS Education to put in measures around fixing the problem.

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Speaker 2: So I think Beverly mentioned that there has been some

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Speaker 2: progress made with that. So the issue has been identified

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Speaker 2: and there's a solution being worked on right at the moment.

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Speaker 2: In terms of seeing the problem, which is great.

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Speaker 1: Is it a safe situation for our teachers and how

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Speaker 1: is it a situation? I guess where you know three

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Speaker 1: weeks in that this is just being identified once the

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Speaker 1: school year's already started.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I think look in terms of it being a

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Speaker 2: safe environment for teachers. It is a teacher planning area,

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Speaker 2: so there are other places in the school where teachers

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Speaker 2: can go and do that planning time. It's not ideal,

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Speaker 2: but there are some other places where teachers can plan

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Speaker 2: and that has been offered both while it was being

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Speaker 2: investigated and again after. I understand today from the principle

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Speaker 2: that some teachers have taken up that offer to work

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Speaker 2: in a different location where it is air conditioned. It's

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Speaker 2: obviously got some portable air conditioners in there at the

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Speaker 2: moment that they can be noisy, so I think some

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Speaker 2: of the teachers have decided to go and work in

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Speaker 2: a different location. And it is really important to note,

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Speaker 2: like Beverly just mentioned that it isn't affecting students and

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Speaker 2: the teaching and learning that's happening between the teacher and student.

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Speaker 2: It's just their planning time. Still really important and certainly

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Speaker 2: something that we want to get on and fixed really quickly.

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Speaker 1: How come that airflow though, wasn't factored in before the

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Speaker 1: works commenced, Toll like, how come you know it wasn't

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Speaker 1: sort of done beforehand.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, look, I'm not obviously an expert in air conditioning, However,

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Speaker 2: I understand it's a fault rather than a factor of

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Speaker 2: the you know, the airflow. There's a fault being that's

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Speaker 2: identified in the system and that's what's being worked on.

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Speaker 2: But I'd have to double check that with the Department

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Speaker 2: of Infrastructure because I'm obviously not the experting air conditioning.

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Speaker 1: No fair enough, I don't expect you to be an

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Speaker 1: expert in air conditioning. I guess the main concern here is,

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Speaker 1: you know how the teachers have ended up in this situation,

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Speaker 1: and you know why when you know, when sort of

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Speaker 1: putting block fifteen in, we've now got this very serious

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Speaker 1: situation with the airflow, and why it wasn't sort of

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Speaker 1: sorted before school went back.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it's definitely unfortunate, Katie. And you know,

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Speaker 2: it wasn't identified until school had gone back, so until

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Speaker 2: the space was being used. So in that time, obviously

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Speaker 2: it's been we've tried to identify the school that tried

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Speaker 2: to identify what the actual issue was. They've now identified

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Speaker 2: that and are trying to rexcite in terms of the

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Speaker 2: safety of teachers. We absolutely take that extremely serious and

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Speaker 2: I think that's why the school sort of straightaway implemented

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Speaker 2: the opportunity to go and work in different spaces. There

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Speaker 2: was no expectation for teachers to remain in that building

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Speaker 2: and work.

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Speaker 1: All right, But from your perspective, this is being worked

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Speaker 1: on as a matter of urgency.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely all right.

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Speaker 1: I want to move on and talk talk about this

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Speaker 1: situation that we've got where students wishing to use the

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Speaker 1: toilet during class time must now request to pass from

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Speaker 1: their teacher. This is out to me, men, they've got

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Speaker 1: to sign out to the next available bathroom to get

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Speaker 1: that key from reception and return the key again before

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Speaker 1: they then returned to class. Now, I know that from

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Speaker 1: some of the feedback we're getting this morning on the

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Speaker 1: text line, lots of peeople saying they think that this

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Speaker 1: is a good thing. You've got to stop, you know,

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Speaker 1: people from doing the wrong thing and they should be

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Speaker 1: in class. What led to this situation from the Education

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Speaker 1: Department's perspective, Yeah.

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Speaker 2: Thank you, great question, because I think that's really important

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Speaker 2: in terms of how we've got here. So last year,

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Speaker 2: I think it was in about term three, students raised

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Speaker 2: their concerns around the use of toilets with school staff.

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Speaker 2: So they raised concerns around how clean they were, how

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Speaker 2: often they were being damaged and how safe they felt

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Speaker 2: within that space. And so there was a survey that

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Speaker 2: was conducted with both students and staff, and through that

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Speaker 2: survey there was a plan created in terms of to

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Speaker 2: trial a different approach, which was that the toilets were

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Speaker 2: available for use before and after school, during recess and

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Speaker 2: lunch breaks, and then between class changeover. Now, obviously classes

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Speaker 2: in a secondary setting are around fifty minutes, so every

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Speaker 2: fifty minutes they're opened up again, and the students wishing

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Speaker 2: to use the toilet between during learning time during class times,

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Speaker 2: they would obviously access the pass like you've described, which

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Speaker 2: is not uncommon in any school. Most schools have a

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Speaker 2: system where students are required to indicate through a pass

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Speaker 2: or through a process that they are wishing to go

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Speaker 2: to the toilet during class times for obviously bobbyous reasons,

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Speaker 2: duty of care. We need to know where all students are.

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Speaker 1: I mean, look, what kind of behavior was going on,

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Speaker 1: what kind of thing was happening in the toilets to

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Speaker 1: sort of warrant this band during those hours.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, look, I'm not completely across examples of what that

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Speaker 2: behavior would look like, but I think the main concerns

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Speaker 2: were around, you know, how the toilets were being used

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Speaker 2: in terms of the cleanliness of them and damage and

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Speaker 2: those sorts of things, and students feeling safe in there.

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Speaker 2: In terms of us I suppose sometimes you know that

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Speaker 2: you know, if they weren't feeling safe in there. Are

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Speaker 2: a number of reasons. The school did identify that vaping.

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Speaker 2: I think in their communication out to families that vaping

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Speaker 2: was also one of the concerns that students had, So

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Speaker 2: that's obviously something that was a problem in there and

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Speaker 2: that they're now hoping to reduce with the plan that

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Speaker 2: they've got in place. The plan is obviously due for

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Speaker 2: a reflection and some feedback, and there's lots of suggestions

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Speaker 2: being provided through lots of different platforms at the moment,

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Speaker 2: but the school will develop a servil. They've got a

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Speaker 2: survey ready to go next week to students and families

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Speaker 2: to seek that feedback and that'll help with all voices,

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Speaker 2: so all voices of students being heard through that process

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Speaker 2: to then look at what their next steps will be.

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Speaker 1: Miranda, is it unfair on students who are doing the

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Speaker 1: right scene.

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Speaker 2: Look, I think that all students need have the need

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Speaker 2: to feel safe and if this is one of those

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Speaker 2: ways that we can make all students feel safe. I

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Speaker 2: think that's the important thing to focus on.

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Speaker 1: Do you reckon, I mean, have you got a situation

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Speaker 1: with this is a concern at other schools as well,

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Speaker 1: like what's happening the likes of Darwin Middle School? Is

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Speaker 1: it a similar process or does it need to be Look.

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Speaker 2: I can't comment directly about Darwin Middle School because it's

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Speaker 2: not in our region. However, you're concerned for all schools,

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Speaker 2: not just in the Northern Territory, but across Australia. All

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Speaker 2: jurisdictions have a similar problem around toilets and the use

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Speaker 2: of them. And it's also not a new problem. So

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Speaker 2: you know, toilets have been used in different ways over

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Speaker 2: the years. You know, from time to time about different things,

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Speaker 2: and schools will always look to look for ways to

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Speaker 2: improve the way things are run within the schools. And

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Speaker 2: at the moment that it can be me in they're

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Speaker 2: focusing on their toilet.

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Speaker 1: Well and I reckon fundamentally, you know, if it's about

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Speaker 1: keeping all students safe and making sure that kids that

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Speaker 1: too genuinely need to go to the toilet are able

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Speaker 1: to go there without having to worry about any kind

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Speaker 1: of other anti social behavior. I really don't have a

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Speaker 1: problem with.

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Speaker 2: It, yes, and I don't. Look Katie, you know, I

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Speaker 2: have injury kids of my own, and it's certainly something

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Speaker 2: that I would want for them each day, to be

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Speaker 2: able to safely go to the toilet each day. And

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Speaker 2: that's what obviously the school's trying to work with. And

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Speaker 2: again it will look at ways to refine what they're doing.

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Speaker 2: You know, nothing works out perfectly to start with, so

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Speaker 2: finding the things to improve will be an important part

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Speaker 2: of their reflection and refining process.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, Senior Director of Education for the Top End

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Speaker 1: Region for the Department of Education, Miranda what. I appreciate

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

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Speaker 2: You're so welcome, Katie, have a great day you too,