The Herald Sun (Melbourne)
THU 03 OCT 1985
Ed: 3
Pg: 6
Words: 294
A FORMER Melbourne High School teacher said yesterday that he was victimised and ostracised by the school's principal and other teachers because of his political beliefs.
Mr John Connaughton, 53, told the Equal Opportunity Board he was physically attacked twice by another teacher while working at the school.
Mr Connaughton - a member of the Victorian Unidentified Flying Object Research Society - also said a school member tried to make out he was teaching pupils about space and UFOs during English classes.
The board, chaired by Ms Jan Wade, is hearing seven complaints of alleged discrimination against Mr Connaughton by the Melbourne High School Staff Association, the principal, Mr Louis Barberis, and teachers Mr Campbell Bearlin, Mr Colin Green, Mr Geoffrey Miller and Mr Peter Henry.
In a list of complaints read to the hearing, Mr Connaughton, who was employed at the school for 11 years, claimed he was ridiculed by teachers and students.
He alleged that the school had sought to have the Education Department investigate his private life.
Mr Connaughton, who said he had received superannuation since retiring last March because of ill health, attributed the development of an ulcer to stress resulting from the discrimination.
He claimed staff at the school had broken the "three unions agreement," setting out procedures for the discipline and removal of teachers, in a bid to force him to retire.
"The only way they could get me out was to ostracise me ... by making me sick," he said.
Mr Connaughton said he was discriminated on political grounds because he acted out the policies of the Victorian Secondary Teachers' Association.
He said there was an "inner group" of teachers who belonged to the Right-wing VAT (Victorian Affiliated Teachers' federation).
