An eastern suburbs primary school principal has vowed to fight allegations of assaulting and intimidating a fellow senior staff member, but will wait eight months for her next court appearance as she remains on leave.
Woollahra Public School principal Kylie McKinnon has been charged with one count of common assault and one count of intimidation over the incident at Woollahra at 1pm on October 8 last year, court documents show.
The documents allege McKinnon attempted to intimidate the staff member with intent to cause fear of physical or mental harm.
McKinnon was not arrested but rather handed a court attendance notice to appear at the local court, the documents show. Her case was briefly heard at Downing Centre Local Court on Friday, when a hearing date was set for December 16.
Her lawyer told the court the hearing was likely to take around three hours and that an extra witness was to be called.
McKinnon, who lives in Cronulla and joined the school in 2023, is currently on leave. Botany Public School principal Heather Strachan has been acting as relieving principal since March 16.
A NSW Department of Education spokesperson said the school “continues to provide support to staff and students as needed”.
In May last year, NSW Department of Education secretary Murat Dizdar thanked McKinnon for her “expert guidance” when Woollahra Public School became the first public school to win the Da Vinci Decathlon since it launched in 2002, praising the achievement of students and staff.
The Da Vinci Decathlon is an annual academic competition where Australian students from years 5 to 11 compete in team challenges.
McKinnon previously taught at Hurstville Grove Infants School. In 2018, she retweeted a post on X by then-premier Gladys Berejiklian, showing the former premier and Liberal MP Mark Coure visiting Hurstville Grove Infants School and observing students as they learnt how to code.
Documents were ordered to be served by the police and defence throughout April and her case is listed for a brief mention at Downing Centre Local Court later on Friday.
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