were placed on \u201cpersonal leave\u201d<\/a>.<\/p>\nIt came shortly after SA Police confirmed officers attended at the school \u2013 in the state\u2019s Mallee region \u2013 in the holidays before Term 2 started as part of what they said was an ongoing investigation.<\/p>\n
In a new development, The Advertiser understands staff were briefed on Friday, August 7, that the duo had since been arrested.<\/p>\n
A day earlier, on Thursday, police announced they had arrested a man and woman from the Murray Mallee, following an investigation into an alleged fraud.<\/p>\n
The man and woman, both aged 42, were charged with dishonesty offences and abuse of public office.<\/p>\n
They were bailed to appear in the Murray Bridge Magistrates Court in December.<\/p>\n
The Education Department did not respond to questions on whether the pair remained employed by the school or if the duo were still on personal leave.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor privacy reasons, the department has no comment to make about this matter,\u201d a spokesperson said.<\/p>\n
SA Police also were unable to comment due to privacy reasons.<\/p>\n
The charges are unknown and it is understood the issue was not a child safety matter.<\/p>\n
In April, Karoonda residents told The Advertiser they were \u201csurprised and confused\u201d to see police at the school, while others said they saw police searching a home on the same day.<\/p>\n
Residents told The Advertiser they saw police for up to four hours at a home.<\/p>\n
At the time, an SA Police spokesperson confirmed officers had attended at the school as part of an ongoing investigation.<\/p>\n
\u201cPolice have conducted a number of searches within the township,\u201d the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n
Ms Bennett was appointed Karoonda principal for this year having served as deputy principal in 2024 and acting principal last year. <\/p>\n
Earlier this year, she told The Advertiser her standout career moment was stepping into the acting principal role at Karoonda at short notice.<\/p>\n
\u201c(Being principal was) something that I never planned to do, but an opportunity that I absolutely loved and am really excited to be able to continue in the role,\u201d she said in a profile.<\/p>\n
In 2025, Mr Bennett was in a grounds and maintenance role. <\/p>\n
Mrs and Mr Bennett have been contacted for comment.<\/p>\n
The Karoonda Area school had 145 enrolments in 2025 with classes for students from reception to Year 12.<\/p>\n
The school had 18 teaching staff and 12 non-teaching staff members in 2025.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A school principal and another staff member, who are married to each other and were placed on mysterious…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":69699,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[93819,93793,93778,93792,17327,5609,63163,93825,93773,38094,93783,93788,93802,93820,37330,93803,93813,93794,93826,395,93815,37232,93822,93786,46057,93782,93789,93787,1572,93810,93812,78443,87795,93795,51359,93814,93806,93779,39649,37840,9715,93790,93781,93784,93791,93799,93821,93804,38447,39122,93808,93797,80864,93785,93777,93776,25531,3121,89884,93774,1047,5388,2872,93796,67028,16460,93817,1056,1019,93798,93807,54894,7738,9757,5473,93801,93811,38255,39084,66486,93805,40910,93780,93824,37068,39311,93775,37881,93809,37964,36556,93800,36687,39096,7444,93818,93067,93823,93816,31453],"class_list":["post-69698","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-adelaide","tag-s-mallee-region","tag-12-non-teaching-staff-members","tag-145-enrolments","tag-18-teaching-staff","tag-17327","tag-5609","tag-63163","tag-a-child-safety-matter-in","tag-a-grounds-and-maintenance-role","tag-a-home","tag-a-home-at","tag-a-man-and-woman","tag-a-married-principal-and-staff-member","tag-a-new-development","tag-a-number","tag-a-profile-in-2025","tag-a-school-principal","tag-a-spokesperson-said-sa","tag-acting-principal","tag-adelaide","tag-an-alleged-fraud-the-man-and-woman","tag-an-investigation","tag-an-ongoing-investigation","tag-an-ongoing-investigation-in","tag-an-opportunity","tag-an-sa-country-school","tag-an-sa-police-spokesperson","tag-another-staff-member","tag-april","tag-august-7","tag-being-principal","tag-bennett","tag-classes","tag-comment-the-karoonda-area-school","tag-day","tag-december-the-education-department","tag-deputy-principal","tag-dishonesty-offences-and-abuse","tag-each-other","tag-earlier-this-year","tag-friday","tag-her-husband-kyle-bennett","tag-her-standout-career-moment","tag-karoonda","tag-karoonda-area-school-principal-melanie-bennett","tag-karoonda-principal","tag-karoonda-residents","tag-karoonda-school-principal-and-staff-member","tag-last-year","tag-months","tag-mr-bennett","tag-mrs-and-mr-bennett","tag-multiple-roles","tag-mysterious-leave","tag-mystery-leave","tag-no-comment","tag-officers","tag-part","tag-personal-leave","tag-personal-leave-aa-app-download-box","tag-police","tag-police-investigation","tag-privacy-reasons","tag-privacy-reasons-the-charges","tag-public-office-they","tag-questions","tag-reception","tag-sa-police","tag-school","tag-school-principal-and-husband","tag-searches","tag-short-notice","tag-staff","tag-students","tag-teachers","tag-term-2","tag-the-acting-principal-role","tag-the-advertiser","tag-the-department","tag-the-duo","tag-the-holidays","tag-the-issue","tag-the-murray-bridge-magistrates-court","tag-the-murray-mallee","tag-the-pair","tag-the-role","tag-the-same-day-residents","tag-the-school","tag-the-spokesperson-said-ms","tag-the-state","tag-the-time","tag-the-township","tag-this-matter","tag-this-year","tag-thursday","tag-tileearlier-this-year","tag-tiser-productions","tag-unexplained-leave","tag-up-to-four-hours","tag-year"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69698","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69698"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69698\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/69699"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69698"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69698"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69698"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}