St Kevin's headmaster Stephen Russell resigns over character reference for paedophile

The headmaster of St Kevin’s college in Melbourne has resigned after it was revealed he wrote a character reference for a school’s athletic coach after he was convicted of grooming a student.

In a letter to parents, headmaster Stephen Russell said he would resign immediately for the wellbeing of the school and students.

“I have a deep and abiding passion for this school community and am very grateful for the 24 years of nurturing I and my family have received,” he said in the letter.

“I extend my best wishes and encouragement to the current student body to be ‘good people’ the way so many who went before them have been across the decades.”

Former coach Peter Kehoe was convicted in 2015 for grooming then year 9 student Paris Street. According to the ABC when Kehoe was coaching Street, he sent him messages via Facebook which eventually escalated to the coach taking Street to his house and inviting him into his bed.

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Russell and the school’s dean of sport, Luke Travers, came under fire after the ABC’s Four Corners program revealed Russell had provided a reference to Kehoe during sentencing, and Travers had provided a character reference before the trial.

Street’s lawyer, Judy Courtin, told ABC RN Breakfast on Wednesday that after the sentencing, Street was “forced” to have a meeting with Travers at the school, despite Travers being a friend of Kehoe. Courtin said Travers allegedly told Street in the meeting that he didn’t think he should have been convicted and would continue to be friends with Kehoe.

“That happened at school.”

Victorian education minister James Merlino has said the state’s education regulator, the Victorian Registration and Qualifications Authority, will review the school’s management of child abuse risks in the wake of the ABC report.

Courtin said she wasn’t convinced the review would recommend any changes.

“Here we have the Old Boys sticking by each other ... Have all the policies you like, it doesn’t seem to stop this terrible culture that is psychiatrically harmful for the children.”

Blue Knot Foundation, the national centre of excellence for complex trauma, welcomed Russell’s decision to resign.

“His resignation hopefully represents the beginning of a critical change in child safety and accountability at St Kevin’s moving forward,” its president, Cathy Kezelman, said.

“It is not acceptable to ever ignore the suffering of victims and the impact of the crime of child sexual abuse in favour of institutions and their hierarchy.”

In a statement provided to the ABC last week, St Kevin’s College said Kehoe’s actions were “completely unacceptable” and strongly condemned. Kehoe was banned from entering the school after he was convicted.

Edmund Rice Education Australia, the governing body of St Kevin’s, said in a letter on Wednesday that Russell would be replaced by St Patrick’s College Ballarat principal John Crowley as acting headmaster for 2020.

Travers was also formally stood down pending further investigations of issues raised in the ABC report.

“During Monday’s Four Corners program, we heard from young people who shared their disturbing accounts of distress, pain and disempowerment,” executive director Dr Wayne Tinsey said in the letter.

“They made a plea for an education that empowers them to challenge what is dehumanising and wrong. As educators, we hear these voices and commit further to this empowerment of the young through the education we provide them.

“For most members of the St Kevin’s community, watching the program was a distressing and challenging experience.”