


The parents of a boy with autism, ADHD and anxiety are slamming the teachers at his school for apparently mocking their son in a video.
Leah and Vince, from Melbourne, said the “disgusting” video that was shown to the entire school staff and posted on YouTube showed pictures of their son, Max, as well as 12 other boys from Rosewood Downs Primary School.
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School staff created the video in December 2022 as a farewell to the school’s principal, who has since left the school.
The boys were dressed in their school uniforms in the video — which was filled with sexual innuendos.
“It made me feel sick, it was just disgusting. I don’t even have the words because I’m so angry about what I’ve seen,” Vince told “A Current Affair.”
“Those teachers were not showing us respect,” Leah added.
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Max was just one of the students who were “hand-picked” to be mocked in the video, some with learning difficulties — and the couple said they never gave permission for use of their son’s photo.
“I don’t understand why someone could even make a video with all this sexual innuendo and then add children to it,” Vince said. “What’s going through their mind? For someone to think about that and then add the faces of the children and of our family in there is so disrespectful.”
Max has moved to another school after finding out how he was treated, and the video on top of other incidents at school affected his mental health.
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“Well, long story short, it was horrible,” Max told host Ally Langdon. “No one was kind there. They didn’t care much about helping me.”
Leah shared that the school was “too much” for Max, and the video left them “broken.”
“He started walking around saying, ‘I should be normal, I shouldn’t have autism, I should be normal,’” Vince said of his son.
The Victorian Department of Education has launched an investigation into the video, and the school’s welfare coordinator who was reportedly behind the video was suspended.
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“The incident at Rosewood Downs Primary school is unacceptable and the Department is currently investigating, as is appropriate,” Education Minister Natalie Hutchins said in a statement. “The incident does not reflect the department’s commitment to inclusive education and supporting all students to fully participate, learn, develop and succeed at school.”
Parents are hoping for a “shake up” and want the staffers who worked on the video to not work at a school in the future.