Victorian schools set to be given power to ban parents

Schools will soon be able to ban violent and aggressive parents.

Principals are set to be given sweeping new powers which will allow them to ban parents for 14 days.

The new laws would also allow schools to ban parents who engage in threatening or abusive communication online.

Parents who breach the bans could face fines of up to $10,000.

The proposed laws will be introduced into parliament today.

President of the Victorian Principals Association, Andrew Dalgleish, welcomed the changes.

He says “schools certainly need to have the authority to be able to step in” when parents are behaving badly.

“I don’t believe it’s going to be used all the time,” he told Ross and Russel.

“In most cases school leaders will work with parents to resolve their concerns and so on.”

Mr Dalgleish says the number of applicants applying to become principals has fallen in recent years, and he believes bad behaviour from parents has contributed to falling interest in the job.

“It may be due to workload pressure, but it is also due to the behaviour that they face, sometimes on a daily basis.”

Press PLAY below to hear why Mr Dalgleish welcomes the move