A Melbourne teacher who used fake qualifications to gain positions as a principal at multiple schools was motivated by the desire for attention and authority, a court has heard, but he will not spend time behind bars.
Rhett Watts appeared at the County Court of Victoria on Thursday for his sentence after the former teacher pleaded guilty to one count of obtaining financial advantage by deception between January 2017 and July 2021.
Rhett Watts was sentenced to a two-year community corrections order after pleading guilty to obtaining financial advantage by deception in the County Court of Victoria.Credit: Caroline Schelle
Instead of jail, Watts was ordered to serve a two-year-community corrections order with 250 hours of community service.
Watts, who was registered with the state’s teaching body in 2005, falsely claimed he had master’s degrees in special education, science and had nearly finished a degree in business administration.
The court was told Watts received advice from a person in Queensland to “enhance” his resume with the fake qualifications, and Watts claimed that person fabricated the supporting documents.
The 43-year-old also falsely claimed he was employed as a physical education teacher at Karingal Park Secondary College, now called McClelland College, in 2004.
The teacher used doctored documents and his embellished resume to gain a position as a principal at Katandra School in Ormond in 2018 and was appointed assistant principal of the Marnebek School at Cranbourne in 2017.
But Watts’ scheme came undone when he applied for a job at Frankston High School in 2020 – and one of his interviewers, a previous Karingal Park principal, uncovered his lies.
The former Karingal Park principal, Angela Pollard, managed a program at the school – which improved disengaged student outcomes – that Watts claimed to have started.
Read the full article here
