Jolanda

I don't know the full story here and I'm not really interested in trawling through all the stuff on your website, but I can't help wondering about the effect that your obsessive pursuit of the NSW Education Department must be having on your children.

I agree with you that Selective Schooling should be abolished and that all state schools should be open to all students. I also believe that students within schools should be afforded equal opportunity. Struggling and disadvantaged students need extra assistance to help them achieve reasonable standards and this is where scarce resources should be directed, not toward 'gifted' students who have the inherent ability and supportive home environment to allow them to make their own successes and to advance themselves to whatever degree they choose to. There are many and varied ways to extend gifted students within the class group; there is no need to stream them and further elevate them above their peers.

You say you want a universal system rather than a preferential one and yet you're demanding that your children receive preferential treatment within that system. Your position is confused and irrationally subjective. It is also potentially damaging to your children as they grow up in the mistaken belief that the system that is good enough for everyone else is somehow not good enough for them.

PALE. It did not 'go to Court'. Where did you hear that?

I took the DET to the Administrative Decisions Tribunal because documents we requested they produce under FOI were missing from the documents that we were provided with. We applied to have the matter reviewed by the ADT. However, instead of the Department organizing to give us the documents, the Department of Education organized to destroy documents.

On the morning the matter was listed for hearing at the ADT the Department of Education and I came to some agreements, and on the basis of an understanding that they would honour their agreements, I agreed to dismiss the hearing.

These agreements were.

1. That my children and I would attend the premises of the Department so that the students could check their test papers and answer sheets in a secure and safe environment.
2. That I would inform the Department of the Documents that were missing and they would provide me with them
3. That once the above was done that there would be a meeting with the Department to discuss the discrepancies, omissions, deletions in the documents and the process used for selection for Selective Schools.

To date the DET has not honoured their agreements or investigated the matter and yet the matter has been closed and even fresh allegations of new instances of manipulation, victimization and bullying aimed at my other children are filed away on the basis that they refer to similar allegations as before. This is totally against Policy. All new allegations should be investigated in their own right.

We are once again being forced to put the matter before the ADT.

It is a very busy weekend. It is my daughters 12th birthday and she has invited 7 girls to sleep over tonight and then others arrive the next day for her party. I can escape for some peace on my computer but scanning/downloading documents is something that is very slow and I have to get my eldest daughters help. That requires planning. I will get on to it as soon as I can.

Jolanda,

"Yes I do believe that the Department organised the victimisation of my children including the witch hunt when they tried to label my son as a bully."

So what you are saying is that the DET arranged for children and teachers to make up stories about your son. In another words the DET made phone calls or visits to the family homes of serveral children and asked the to conspire against your son.

Isnt it more belivable that maybe the children involved and your son didnt get along and the day your son was away they choose to address it with the principal therefore the date was incorrect.

Could this be somewhat more believable.

In regards to the Aborignal Issue. I think its a bit grand to try and say that what the government is doing to you to relative to what the government did to the Aboriginal children and their families. For me its an insult that you should try and compare. that is just my opionion.

Jolanda
Er, exrordinary. Our understanding of your matter last discussed you were seeking advise as to how to recoup 20.000 dollars for your costs in a case you apparently lost in court.

Upon your advise you were fighting the barristers costs because you said they failed to follow your instructions to seek costs against the department.?

You maintained you would not have lost the case if the dept had provided the docs regarding the childrens marks being tampered with.



I recall warning you about loosing your property in regards to ongoing court costs and being extremly concerned for your Son who you said wasnt handling the stress and would not attend school.
I am almost sure you replied you had taken a loan out on the house for the $20.00 court costs to pay be the legal costs.?

Anyway Its been a long time so perhaps we have a case of crossed wires. - And yet Jolanda- Didnt you just say this has never been to court?

Anyway there are so many other good people on this thread who have asked you questions and made helpful suggestions I should leave you to answer them for a while and perhaps pop back to this thread later.

Its nice to know so many people have responded to your request for advise. If you dont mind me saying I know your busy but there are questions from these god people that it might help sort things out somemore so people fuly understand if you can get an hour to reply to them.
Bronwyn, has a point when we think about the world as a whole IMOP
and I dont mean that to offend.
On behalf of the pale crew happy birthday wishes- (Please pass on from the Gold Coast.)

Annoyed Parent,
Hello I have been reading the thread and I wasnt going to comment because Belly always picks on me and I get upset.
I am a aboriginal lady and I was interested in your comments about this lady asking for four of her children to be put into gifted childrens schools.
I would be interested if you have the time because I am also a annoyed parent if you could post or durect me to those coments.
Having family throughout Australia that still have their kids been bitten over thre hundred times with rat bites because nobody will put baites out I just cant help it.
I do get upset. Also does anybody know what the odds are of having four gifted children out of four.?

I am not saying that something has not happend to upset Jolanda but I am saying we need to get things in order of importance and I also would feel offended to see this case being liked to the aboriginal kids who mostly have nothing and some no school at all.
Thanks for pointing that out annoyed parent from one annoyed parent to another.

Pale there are a few different issues with regard to this matter. The Tribunal is not a Court in the way that you were presenting. We did not lose the case at the Tribunal. We were given access to certain documents and the ADT stated that with regard to other documents that he agreed that it was an unreasonable diversion of resources to provide them. Problem was that these were the same documents that the DET had promised to provide under our agreement. Our Barrister despite being asked in writing, did not inform the Judiciary member about the agreements and the fact that the DET had not honoured their agreements and that is why were back again before them. The Barrister also didn't ask for costs despite us requesting in writing, more than once, that an order for costs be made at the end of the hearing. Judgment was reserved.

Then the Barrister said to us that because when Judgment was handed down six months later we didn't get all the documents that we wouldn't have got costs anyway as we didn't win. We argued that if he had of told the Judiciary member that these documents were supposed to have been produced as per an agreement made at the ADT and he had asked for costs then the outcome would have been different. We didn't get costs awarded because the Barrister did not follow written instructions.

I am referring to putting the documents in the website when I said that I didn't have time this weekend. I am trying to reply to people but because we are limited in the amount of posts you can post it is very frustrating.

I thank those who have taken the time to post and I will reply when I can. For those who choose not to look at the evidence and still post their opinion I suggest that they cannot make an informed decision if they do not know the facts.