2 weeks Ago By Jason Walls
A Top End primary school principal is suing the Northern Territory government for removing him from his post in the wake of "systemic and institutional issues" including "serious problems with pupil behaviour management". Katherine South Primary School principal Amit Kundu is seeking compensation in the Federal Court after what he claims was "a very damaging but baseless whispering campaign" along with "ongoing harassment" from other staff and school council members. The government has denied the allegations in a defence filed with the court.
In court documents seen by the ABC, Mr Kundu claims it was only after he started in the role in July 2023 that he learned of "significant issues with staff retention" and a lack of assistance from the Department of Education "with the school effectively being left to its own devices". The documents also allege there were "serious problems with pupil behaviour management, particularly years 3 through 6", "a paucity of pupil data" and "no formal functioning communication system". Mr Kundu claims he and other senior staff were "met with a barrage of ill-tempered questions" at a school council meeting.
Mr Kundu claims those "systemic and institutional issues" were "exacerbated" throughout the school year by a lack of support from the department and regional senior director Warren Giles. He says further issues included ongoing difficulty in maintaining adequate teacher numbers and Facebook comments by parents about "alleged poor communication", "some of the teachers at the school" and "the introduction of an Indigenous-focused STEAM subject". In the documents, Mr Kundu claims he and other senior staff were "met with a barrage of ill-tempered questions" about the STEAM subject and "disparagement of their character" at a school council meeting in October 2023.
Mr Kundu says "parents recommenced harassing [him] in the new school year" including one who asked for his resignation, to which Mr Giles' "unhelpful response" was "to ignore it". He claims that after Mr Giles "finally revealed" he had met with the school council, the director explained he had been "trying to 'shield'" Mr Kundu from "further pressure". The NT government says it is "unable to properly respond" to the "deficient" claim.
"The applicant reasonably formed the opinion that there appeared to have been a very damaging but baseless whispering campaign against the applicant including a tangible lack of support for and ongoing harassment of the applicant from some leading staff members and some members of the school council," the documents read. Following publication of " ", Mr Kundu claims Mr Giles emailed him seeking a meeting "to discuss ongoing concerns" at the school. In the meeting, Mr Kundu claims Mr Giles "made it plain to the applicant that the applicant's position at the school was untenable but no reasons of any kind were provided".
He says he was then directed to cease work as principal, "offered alternative employment" in Tennant Creek or Darwin and "a staff member who Mr Giles knew was involved in the agitation" was appointed to replace him. Mr Kundu says he "bore the brunt" of negative media interest in the school in Katherine, 300 kilometres south of Darwin. In a response filed with the court, the government denied "any of the alleged adverse actions (which have not been particularised but are not admitted) were taken because the applicant exercised a workplace right".
The government says Mr Kundu "cannot claim compensation for loss of income arising from an alleged breach of contract and alleged breaches of the act" as he is "currently receiving compensation ...
for a workplace injury arising from the same set of events". "In the circumstances where the claim remains deficient, the respondent is unable to properly respond until such time as the applicant particularises his claim," the defence reads..
