Members of Kildare Catholic College's school council have vowed to "keep fighting" to have former principal Rod Whelan re-instated, even after the independent review revealed he would not be returning.
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On Tuesday, the Archbishop of Canberra Goulburn Christopher Prowse issued an apology to the former principal for the mishandling of his resignation in August 2019.
But the Archbishop confirmed Mr Whelan would not return as principal.
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School council chairperson Mark Gray told The Daily Advertiser he would not recognise the decision as final.
"When the independent review was announced on 12 March [...] I was absolutely confident from the outset that Rod would be cleared from any wrongdoing," he said.
"Yesterday's [apology] by the Catholic Church confirmed this."
But, he said the announcement also represented a devastating culmination of a months-long fight.
"As parents, we are very protective of our children and we continually seek out what is best for them," Mr Gray said.
"This is why we have fought so hard for the last nine months to have Rod re-instated so that the quality education under his leadership would continue."
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Fellow school council member Bill Wood said he was seeking other avenues, including involving the Fair Work NSW ombudsman.
"We had a very fiery school council meeting last night, but we shouldn't be angry with each other," Mr Wood said.
"We have no confidence in the Archbishop's review. It wasn't independent, it was instigated by the Catholic Church."
When asked whether it would welcome the additional scrutiny of another independent review, a spokesperson for the Catholic Education Diocese of Wagga Wagga declined to comment.
Meanwhile, in concluding the initial review period, Mr Gray and Mr Wood praised the efforts of the school's "amazing" teachers under difficult circumstances.
"They are holding the place together and sheltering the students from all that's going on around them," Mr Wood said.
The CEDWW spokesperson told The Daily Advertiser the school has deployed additional counselling services and continues to operate with "the normal amount of casual teachers for a school day".
"Over the last few weeks, we have made sure that counsellors are available on-site at Kildare Catholic College particularly to support teachers and staff during this time," the spokesperson said.
"Our teachers today continue to provide excellence in teaching and learning to our students as they have continued to do throughout the year and at all times."