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The principal of Brighton Secondary College has stepped down after a Federal Court judge found he failed to protect five Jewish students from antisemitic bullying.
In a letter to the school community, Ian Burrage, a regional director with the Education Department, informed parents of Richard Minack’s exit and said Leisa Higgins would continue as acting principal as the school advertised the principal position in term 1, 2024.
Richard Minack outside the Federal Court in June 2022.Credit: Justin McManus
Minack was not acting as principal while the matter was before the court and declined to comment when contacted by The Age.
In the landmark case, five former students of Brighton Secondary – Matt and Joel Kaplan, Liam Arnold-Levy, Guy Cohen and Zack Snelling – sued three staff members from the government-run school and the state of Victoria for negligence and contraventions of the Racial Discrimination Act.
Last month, the court found that Minack failed to systemically address antisemitic bullying and harassment and to take appropriate steps to discourage swastika graffiti. It also ruled that the state of Victoria must apologise and pay more than $430,000 in compensation to the students.
In court, the former students detailed seeing swastikas graffitied on school property, being sent videos of Adolf Hitler and being told that their father “must be burnt because he’s a Jew”.
Former Brighton Secondary College students Matt and Joel Kaplan leaving court.Federal Court judgement on the case of Kaplan vs Education department regarding antisemitism and the school’s response.Credit: Justin McManus, The Age
Anti-Defamation Commission chair Dvir Abramovich said: “History will not remember Mr Minack kindly.”
“There is no doubt that there will be many Jewish parents, of past and present students, and those brave young adults who sued BSC and won, who will breathe a sigh of relief at this welcomed news,” Abramovich said.
“Let’s remember that Federal Court Chief Justice Mortimer found that Mr Minack failed to systemically address antisemitic bullying and harassment and take appropriate steps to discourage swastika graffiti.”
The ex-students’ lawyer, Adam Butt, repeatedly put to Minack that he had failed to prevent and investigate incidents of antisemitism at the school – including name-calling, physical attacks and the drawing of swastikas – that had affected Jewish students.
In court last year, Minack apologised to Arnold-Levy, who had left Brighton Secondary after he said antisemitic bullying was not addressed.
“Knowing what I know now, as I said earlier, it would have been appropriate for me to apologise for the hurt that he felt he had experienced at Brighton,” Minack said. “I’m prepared to apologise to Liam for any hurt he felt he experienced at Brighton Secondary.”
Abramovich said for many students attending Brighton Secondary, it was “nothing short of a nightmare” and that Minack was “indifferent to their suffering”.
He said he hopes the departure of Minack will mark a new dawn and that Jewish students will be able to learn in a safe environment free from religious and racial harassment. He also said he hopes the Education Department ensures Minack will never lead another school.
“Many Jewish parents often wonder whether sending their kids every morning to class is safe. Unless the government addresses the epidemic of antisemitism, I fear that the proliferation and cumulative effect of the slurs, Holocaust taunts, and violence will lead to suicide,” he said.
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