‘Hate speech’: Easter bunny principal hits back

An unattributed Facebook post on Friday, March 31, claimed Batemans Bay Public School had changed the event to a “Happy Hat Parade”, “because a parent complained” the word “Easter” was “offensive”.

The post was quickly and widely shared and commented upon, including on Eurobodalla Facebook pages and bulletin boards; yet no-one checked the facts with the school.

On April 3, principal Tom Purcell, who famously dressed as the Easter bunny at last year’s parade, hit back. Yes, he said, the school had changed the name of the parade – a decade ago.

However, no parent had complained about the original name – or its new one.

And no organisation or media had contacted him for comment or an explanation.

“Please find out what the true story is before you start making allegations,” Mr Purcell said.

He said the “fake news” had incensed Facebook users and started “hate speech”.

“It becomes a bit of a frenzy,” he said.

“If I can remember back about ten years, the name-change was to help include all the kids. 

“At the time we had some families with kids here that didn't celebrate Easter. 

“The premise was that all of our kids could enjoy a Happy Hat Parade ... we didn’t want four or five kids sitting there being sad – they were five, six and seven year olds – so we changed it,” he said.

Those suggesting the school no longer celebrated Easter may have ended up with brightly wrapped egg on their faces.

“We don’t shy away from hot-cross buns; the kids do scripture,” Mr Purcell said. 

“We still have an Easter raffle; we bring in Easter eggs; the kids have Easter eggs in their hats and there are Easter eggs for the hunts around the place.

“Its been like that for 10 years with no-one being upset by it, or bringing it up at the P&C.”

Mr Purcell said parents loved the day.

“They have come along for many a year,” Mr Purcell said.

He said he was happy to talk to anybody about the reason behind the change, but warned against using social media as the medium.

“I am happy to have the discussion with anyone … but, certainly through those forums, it’s hard to have any kind or rational conversation or debate,” he said.

“When you get fake news which makes people incensed and it starts the hate speech … and then it becomes a bit of a frenzy in the community.

“Maybe we have lost the art of talking to people?’”

The irony was Mr Purcell said staff worked hard to teach kids how to deal with social media, particularly about taking words the wrong way, which was easy to do without face-to-face cues and voice inflections.

He was disappointed many in the wider community had not learned those lessons.

“We teach them not to say things that aren’t true, check them off, ask the right people, and then you can make informed decisions,” Mr Purcell said.

“Communication is the key, isn't it.”