The Advocate - Tasmanian Education Department 'protected paedophile teachers'

By Sean Ford for The Advocate

Documents obtained under Right to Information laws detail a disturbing history of how the Department of Education repeatedly moved LeClerc to school after school amid a flurry of complaints.

Despite the allegations failing to reach criminal proceedings, rumours among the North West community had become “rife” despite LeClerc’s protests that his “particular philosophy of education” was simply misunderstood.

By the time the Department of Education tried to forcibly transfer him into a fifth school that strongly opposed the appointment, a letter in 1987 detailing “very serious allegations” had caught the attention of the Office of the Commissioner for Public Employment.

The transfer was cancelled. There simply weren’t any schools left on the North West coast that hadn’t heard about him.

But as far back as 1983, the department had been dealing with claims about its senior employee.

In that year, LeClerc was accused of taking a class to the pool for nude swimming, photographing children in the shower, then displaying the picture in the classroom on a slide machine.

Other allegations were raised of serious sexual assaults, while another child described LeClerc repeatedly calling him to his office, sitting him on his lap, kissing his forehead and saying “I love you”.

Police were notified but didn’t lay charges, with LeClerc denying any sexual intention.

A senior education department staffer demanded a written explanation from the teacher over the swimming pool conduct, which LeClerc admitted was true.

In January 1984, that staffer later recorded a “severe and serious reprimand” on LeClerc’s file, removing him from his post and transferring him into a teaching role at a “large primary school”.

In June that year, he sent LeClerc a congratulatory letter noting his positive integration at his new post, but again moved him to another school in December 1985 following concerns over his performance.

Seven months later, the department was notified of a serious sexual assault allegation from a student during an “anatomy lesson”. Police were notified but no charges laid due to “insufficient evidence”.

LeClerc was moved to a non-teaching role in a fourth school during January 1987, with the department scrambling to find him a suitable appointment on the North West despite internal concerns his “past history and reputation” would make that impossible.

After the fifth transfer was cancelled, an investigator in February 1988 found him not “temperamentally suitable” for his profession, recommending he be transferred out of teaching roles or to another agency, called on to resign or be dismissed from state service altogether.

A solution was reached when LeClerc was sent to work at Hobart’s technical college a few months later, where he remained on the education department’s payroll until 1993.

At that time, he became officially employed by TAFE and received a payrise.

EDUCATION STAFFERS IN LAWYER’S SIGHTS

WHEN former priest Anthony LeClerc was finally sent to jail, the 72-year-old was described as both a “deeply religious man” and as a person who was sexually attracted to children.

Leaving ecclesiastical life in the late 1960s for a career teaching in North West Tasmanian schools, LeClerc’s proclivities naturally meant he was clouded by scandal.

His employer, the state’s education department, was aware of several scandals and complaints involving the police, but decided it best to move the teacher from school to school whenever his position became untenable.

Now, the department could soon find itself in court, explaining why it managed its problem teacher in an almost identical fashion to fellow paedophile teacher Darrel George Harington.

Lawyer Sebastian Buscemi is currently preparing civil action on behalf of 10 plaintiffs abused by LeClerc, Harington and several other paedophile teachers.

Mr Buscemi said he had documented evidence that some senior departmental staff were aware of child sex complaints over years, and litigation could soon reach the Supreme Court that examines their alleged lack of action.

ailing from Sydney, LeClerc moved to Tasmania after discovering his teaching diploma — issued by the Christian Brothers order — wasn’t recognised in the NSW education system.

Tasmania’s education system, however, had no such qualms, and employed him for decades across Burnie, Devonport, Ulverstone, King Island and Hobart.

LeClerc was ultimately jailed in 2015 for six years, with a non-parole period of three, when he finally admitted to molesting 14 children from 1973 to 1983, after allegations were raised at the royal commission into institutionalised child sex abuse.

LeClerc mainly molested young boys in his office, but he also abused children while helping out with Scouts or after he called them into a shed on school grounds.

One of LeClerc’s victims said he wanted the education department to be investigated, noting the system was “broken”.

“All I’ve asked, forever, I want the Education Department to be investigated.

“I wanted to know whether they knew he was a paedophile,” he said.

“This has taken a lot out of me. It’s shaped my entire life … I feel like I’ve been jumping through hoops of fire.”

A spokesperson said the Department of Education would not comment on individual cases for “privacy reasons”, and because many matters were being addressed through the National Redress Scheme or other legal proceedings.

They said it was “well understood” that “grave abuses” were uncovered by the royal commission and that Tasmania’s government was working hard to implement its recommendations.

“The department co-operates fully with police … in respect of historical sexual assault matters and has processes in place for the management and investigation of any new allegations that are raised,” the spokesperson said.