Assistant Principal's Report

WHPS School Values

Strongly underlying all of the WHPS wellbeing programs are our five school values:   

Our SWPBS (School-Wide Positive Behaviour Support) program is based upon these values, and each of our expected behaviours is connected to one of these values. The values are proudly displayed in many areas around the school and our students pledge allegiance to them during our school assemblies.

I am proud of my school and Australia my home

I will care for my belongings and the environment

I will be honest and responsible

I will show respect towards others and accept their differences

These values will help me be a resilient member of my community

Values Award

Every school Assembly, members of the SRC (Student Representative Council) will draw two winners of the WHPS Values Award - one winner from the junior school (P-2) and one from the senior school (3-6).

Students are encouraged to identify a fellow student who has demonstrated one or more of our school values and to nominate them for the values award. Students complete a nomination slip and place it in the box in the corridor opposite the sick bay. The two students whose names are drawn from the nomination box at Assembly will take home a special Values Award certificate and a special WHPS school badge, which they can wear proudly on their uniform.

Katrina Spicer

Assistant Principal for Wellbeing and Inclusion

katrina.spicer@education.vic.gov.au

ROBLOX IS A **** HELLSCAPE

That’s what I said on Parental Guidance when we discussed the platform – on national television.

And it caused a stir.

I’ve agitated against Roblox for years. Poor parental controls, anyone gaining access to kids, content that’s extreme in violence, and astonishingly sexual. Plus the bullying, allegations of sexual exploitation, trafficking,  and a range of other extreme concerns that make me absolutely anti-Roblox – even if you’re monitoring your child.

So I was surprised to receive a call from Roblox last week.

An invitation. A one-on-one meeting with CEO and co-founder, David Baszucki.

WHAT WOULD YOU ASK THE CEO OF ROBLOX IF YOU HAD A ONE-ON-ONE?

There were some informal rules:

• No quotes (basic notes were allowed).
• No one can know he’s in the country until he’s left.
• You’ve got 30 minutes

David Baszucki is a busy guy. He’s worth at least US$5 billion. He was here to meet with some high-powered people.

Getting time with him, his chief of civility, and his head technical safety guy was a generous offer and a legitimately big deal.

Truth be told… I was tempted to say “no”.

Why?

I have no desire to get to know the CEO of a tech firm whose business model harms children at scale, globally. I don’t want to hear his vision for how his platform is going to change the world, or give parents the secure knowledge that Roblox really is safe.

And I knew what to expect: a charismatic, intelligent, well-spoken, CEO who knows how to show up. I expected someone respectful, considered, knowledgeable. I was right.

I also knew nothing I said would meaningfully impact how Roblox operates.

But they wanted “to hear what’s happening on the ground, what parents are worried about, and what we can do to help”. So… I said yes.

The reality is… these people are really, really nice.

HERE'S HOW IT WENT DOWN:

David Baszucki is charming, likeable… and defensive

Tammy Bhaumik (VP of Civility – yes that’s the role) is warm and diplomatic. And genuinely lovely.

Matt Kaufman (Head of Safety) is reassuring and technical.

David (“call me Dave”) told me about what Roblox is. I already knew the platform so we moved on quickly.

He shared ideas about the platform’s future while acknowledging it isn’t perfect. He explained their recent safety improvements. I acknowledged the age-gating steps are welcome, but mentioned they were inadequate.

He responded saying their safety focus is to “design for the absentee parent” because many children play Roblox unsupervised. He said Roblox is being held to a “higher standard” than other platforms… because it’s big.

I suggested this was appropriate. And that their standards were still too low.

The temperature in the room shifted.

I raised the approximately 115 lawsuits currently in the courts against Roblox because their standards aren’t as high as David suggested. I pointed out the Brisbane man in court this month facing 529 charges (many of which are related to his alleged sexually exploitative conduct on Roblox).

“Well, we can’t know it was on Roblox. We need to be very careful here. We need the police forensic report before we can say anything about that”, was the reply.

Tammy stepped in to smooth things over. Matt offered reassurance about continual safety improvements.

But here’s what I couldn’t shake: this platform – like so many others (probably most others) – will continue to prioritise engagement and growth over safety. If new safety policies and protocols risked reducing user numbers, I don’t think they’d implement them.

MY IMPRESSIONS?

The team asked if I had anything else to discuss. I had a list of recommendations to make Roblox safer.

They’re smart people. They already knew what I was going to recommend. Smarter people than me have flagged these ideas. And they are developing and implementing some of them.

But fundamentally, my position is unchanged.

We cannot trust Big Tech, whether Roblox, Meta, ByteDance, Snap, or any of the others, with our kids. They’re not looking out for our children… they’re looking out for their shareholders’ net worth. And that means growth, growth, growth.

It was a privilege to receive the meeting invite. I felt pretty important.

But my ego isn’t why I said yes. I said yes because parents deserve to know what these platforms are doing – and what they’re not doing – to protect kids. I said yes because transparency matters. And I said yes because I felt compelled to be there to say the uncomfortable things directly to the people in charge, even if it doesn’t change anything (immediately).

WHAT SHOULD PARENTS DO?

If you’re reading this and thinking it’s too late – the toothpaste is out of the tube and it’s not going back in – here are my top 5 tips on any platform:

1. Talk to your kids about what they’re experiencing. Ask specific questions: “What’s the weirdest thing you saw today?” “Has anyone been mean to you or your friends.”
2. Use parental controls – but don’t rely on them. They’re inadequate but they’re better than nothing. Check settings regularly.
3. Play with your child. Jump into their account and see what they’re actually doing. It’s easy. And you’ll learn fast.
4. Set time limits and boundaries. Have non-negotiables. No gaming in bedrooms. No screens in bathrooms or at the dinner table or during family time.
5. Trust your instincts. If something feels off about the platform, it probably is. You don’t need my permission to say “no”. But how you say it is as important as that you say it.

WHAT SHOULD ROBLOX DO?

And if, by chance, Roblox folks are reading this, here’s my full list of things you can do to perhaps, maybe, possibly change my mind about your platform.

1. Keep kids out of adults only contexts.
2. Get the age-gating locked down properly. No more “trust the system”.
3. Improve default parental controls. Currently even with safety settings on, kids experience harm, obscenity, depravity, and abuse.
4. Integrate or link parents and children so that activity summaries will show parents where kids have been and what they’ve said.
5. Stop “off-platform” contact sharing. Kids shouldn’t be able to leave Roblox for Snap or Discord to continue interacting with strangers.
6. Improve content monitoring and moderation to eliminate sexualised, violent, and abusive content out of kids’ lives.
7. Allow independent researchers access to data so we can see what’s actually going on – without the PR spin.
8. Mandatory parent verification for accounts under 14.
9. Real consequences for users who violate safety policies. Not just a day or a week of suspension. Use IP addresses, AI, and other identification procedures to keep violators off for good.
10. Mandatory reporting to police of illegal activity.

11. Prioritise safety over engagement metrics in your business model.

     

And if Roblox or any other platform wants to work with me on really helping parents, I’ll keep showing up to these meetings.

But I’m not holding my breath.