Parents told the best protection is prayer after school child-sex abuse claims
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The principal of a small faith-based school in south-east Melbourne has responded to concerns over a string of alleged child sexual abuse incidents involving students by telling families that the best protection for their children is to pray and perform religious rituals.
The parents’ concerns relate to the potential imminent return to Cheder Levi Yitzchok, a non-government school in St Kilda, of a student involved in an investigation by Victoria Police’s sexual offences and child abuse unit last year.
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| Cheder Levi Yitzchok president and principal Eliezer Kornhauser. |
Three separate Victorian government agencies – the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing, the Commission for Children and Young People, and the Victorian Registration and Qualifications Authority – are investigating aspects of the case, including the school’s approach to safeguarding students in its care.
Tensions were heightened last week when the school’s president and principal, property scion Eliezer Kornhauser, told parents via email that “the situation for the school and parents is anything but perfect” and that some were engaging in “unproductive and occasionally hysterical conjecture”.
Kornhauser told parents they should put the ultimate trust of their children’s safety in their faith, not in secular society or laws.
“Our best protection lies in our faithful adherence to what G-D [God] wants from each and every one of us, as clarified and amplified by the Rebbe [the founder of the Chabad movement],” he said.
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| Families of students at Cheder Levi Yitzchok school in St Kilda have been counselled over a string of alleged sexual abuse incidents |
“The best protection I can provide to my child is to daven [pray] appropriately … and perhaps most importantly, ensuring that my relationships with my fellow are based on compassion, sensitivity and love.”
Police initially investigated five reports of “sexualised behaviour” among students at Cheder Levi Yitzchok between May and October last year. The school has about 100 students – from the ultra-Orthodox Chabad-Lubavitch movement – from prep to year 8.
Three of the alleged incidents occurred at the Yeshivah Centre, a Jewish religious centre linked with the school on Hotham Street in St Kilda East.
Following investigations, students were given “education and guidance”, the police said.
The Age understands a student was referred to the South Eastern Centre Against Sexual Assault, a specialist centre that provides assessment and intervention for children with harmful sexual behaviours.
In the past week, Cheder Levi Yitzchok has received multiple complaints from parents concerned that the student is due to return and fearful about whether the school is doing enough to protect their children from harm.
The school has told parents that it had taken direction from South Eastern Centre Against Sexual Assault “in relation to the reintegration of any student who may have been absented from school in relation to allegations”.
The complaints and the school’s response to parents have prompted the education regulator to investigate.
“The VRQA is liaising with [Commission for Children and Young People] to find out further information on this matter and will take appropriate action in relation to the school’s compliance with the minimum standards,” a spokesperson for the regulator said.
Kornhauser emailed families last week regarding their “desire for reassurance about the safety of children attending the school” and counselled them that their ultimate trust should be placed in their faith.
“We may imagine that the secular world has the answers, but in my view, this is a terrible mistake,” Kornhauser said in the email.
“... [T]he secular solution – education about child safety, protocols and procedures, visibility and vigilance (all of which are followed and applied within the school) – while vital, are not the ultimate answer,” he said.
Kornhauser also warned families against “exposure to secular media” including newspapers, arguing it “leads to fear and hysteria which is then directly or perhaps inadvertently passed on to children”.
VoiCSA, a Jewish community advocacy organisation founded by a child sexual abuse survivor said it had been providing support to a significant number of children who attended the school.
“That has included arranging counselling and legal advice, assistance with reporting to police and liaising with government authorities,” a spokesperson said.
“What the parents all have in common is concern that their children not experience additional trauma from having to face their alleged abuser again at school and a desire to ensure the safety of other children.”
Kornhauser told The Age that Cheder Levi Yitzchok had updated its child safety and wellbeing policy in light of recent legislative changes in Victoria and that the new policy would be presented for ratification by the school board next week.
He said the school was subject to the same child-safety standards as all schools.
“Our school has been established at the behest of parents who wish to send their children to a faith-based school where they are taught the precepts of Judaism, including ultimate trust in and reliance on G-d [God],” he said.
“The school is required to, and indeed does, conform to all secular laws. Families who send their children to the school are aware of this.”
The Department of Families, Fairness and Housing declined to comment.