FORMER Mowbray College students and parents are relieved that three former directors have been summonsed to appear in court over their role in the management of the failed school.
Mowbray’s three campuses at Melton and Caroline Springs closed last June after the school collapsed with debts of $18 million.
John Wallace, Tony Keirsten-Wakefield (pictured) and Kevin Yates will face questions about their involvement with the school, which had about 1200 students and 200 staff.
Mr Keirsten-Wakefield told the Weekly the summons was “somewhat of a surprise”. “I am surprised that three of the ex-directors have been identified and not all of the directors when there were upwards of 30 over a period of time.” Mr Keirsten-Wakefield served as principal early last year and was involved on the school’s volunteer board for more than five years. “In this instance, it [Mowbray’s voluntarily run board] proved not to be successful, but you can always point to exceptions of other schools who have succeeded with this model.”
Parent Sam Murgo said he was pleased former directors would face questioning. He said many parents had prepaid school fees for the forthcoming quarter, some in excess of $10,000.
“We probably won’t get that back, but even if we don’t get the money back it would be good to find out what happened,” Mr Murgo said.
He said his two children had settled into their new school, but it had taken time to adjust. As reported by the Weekly, in a letter last year, administrator Jim Downey said his preliminary view was that Mowbray may have been insolvent since 2007. Except for 2010, Mowbray recorded losses every year from 2007 to 2011, totalling almost $5 million.
The former directors will face the Supreme Court next month.
—Andria Cozza with Jewel Topsfield
