By Beck Eleven
The Age
March 15, 2008
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2008/03/14/1205472085372.html
THE lawyer for an ultra-orthodox Jewish school said yesterday that no representative had yet spoken to the former principal accused of molesting students.
Parents say the Adass Israel Girls' School in Elsternwick paid for its principal, Malka Leifer, to return to Israel after sexual molestation allegations emerged against her last week. She left Melbourne 24 hours after being investigated and sacked by the school's board.
The Adass community is a small, ultra-orthodox and reclusive group of about 150 families based in Elsternwick and Ripponlea. The school monitors its own curriculum, down to morals and dress code.
All comment yesterday was referred to Mr Rosenbaum.
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| Norman Rosenbaum, lawyer for the Adass Israel Girls' School in Elsternwick, says the school has the "best interests of those affected at the forefront". Photo by Pat Scala |
He said outside the school's grounds that he would not discuss the allegations, citing legal bounds and respect for the confidentiality of those affected.
But Mr Rosenbaum gave assurances that issues were being dealt with by professionals.
A police spokeswoman said yesterday that Victoria Police had not received a complaint.
Mr Rosenbaum said: "People are devastated because even the mere allegation is something which goes to the very core of the principles and the morals and ethics which this school intends to inculcate in its students.
"Certainly we have the best interests of those affected at the forefront and we are fully cognisant of the other issues, legal and otherwise, which go with that," he said.
"It is small community, a close-knit community. Not only are the children with one another at school but their parents are invariably close friends."
Mr Rosenbaum said neither he nor the school, to the best of his knowledge, had spoken to the former principal since she left.
"I don't know first hand but there is popular rumour around that she went back to her home of origin," he said.
A security guard stood watch and staff guarded the private school's gates yesterday after the allegations against Mrs Leifer, a mother of eight, appeared in The Age and The Australian Jewish News.
Parents approached by media representatives were unwilling to talk, and one woman who wanted to speak was whisked inside school grounds by a staff member.
Australia has an extradition treaty with Israel, but Israel does not extradite its citizens.
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