I think that what needs to be established is whether when a parent makes formal allegations against Department of Education Staff of systematic bias, prejudice, victimisation and misconduct aimed at their children and spanning 7 years whether the Department is allowed just to discredit the parents and ignore their complaints or whether the parents and children should be entitled to procedural fairness and natural justice and their allegations subject to a formal investigation.

Or do the majority of the public believe that it is okay to conspire to cover up?

What we are asking is for the DET to adhere to their own Policies and Codes of Conduct and investigate our families complaints and allegations. It should be our right.

Jolanda

I'm still waiting for a response to my post. I did say there was no hurry which there isn't, but you're responding to others so why not to me?

Are these your words? They were on your website so I'm assuming they are.

"It is time to get rid of selective Schools. All local schools should be able to cater for all children as they are Education centers. The millions saved not having to test the students and send them half way around Sydney to get to these schools should be re-directed to local schools to help them provide for all their students including those that are gifted. There should be no competition to enter faced paced and high level classes, just motivation and application and the ability to be able to keep up and benefit from the faster pace and higher level education presented."

Do you really want to abolish Selective Schooling? If so, why the obsessive fight to get your own children into it?

Think how much more useful it would have been if your considerable energies and talents had been channelled into leading a movement to have the divisive and elitist system of Selective Schooling dismantled, instead of into this narrow and obsessive fight to advance the interests of your own children. You would have won widespread support for your cause, whereas you never will with the fight you're waging now.

No matter how important these children are to you, when there are so many struggling and disadvantaged chidren in the education system with so many real problems, whether or not your children were badly done by in a test of several years back really doesn't warrant a high priority in the overall scheme of things. Get some perspective here. Rescue a bad situation by showing your children that you have the strength to let go and move on.

Bronwyn I haven't had a chance to get back to you because I have been busy with my daughters party. I have had a breaks and I have posted quickly things that came to mind that were relevant in a general sense and that were easy to answer but you asked specific questions and now you have asked more.

People seem to forget that just because children are intellectually gifted that doesn't mean that they are not human. Gifted children often suffer from similar problems to those children with Aspergers you can read about that in this blog from Maralyn Parker
http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/maralynparker/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/the_silent_sufferers_lose_again/

My children are human. One has a physical disability from birth, they all suffer from being hypersensitive to external stimuli, all of them are extremely emotionally intense and all of them have feelings. When teachers are humiliating them in front of their peers, bullying them, marking them down, putting them down, ignoring their needs and when the system is systematically trying to discredit them and deny them opportunities the children are going to notice, you must remember they are really smart, and they are going to react.

When we first heard about Selective Schools it was from the school. WE were told that the system didn't have the funding to cater for our children's needs and that once they got to Selective Schools that things would get better. Problem is that when the time came they wouldn't let them in. If Selective Schools are not for identified gifted children who are struggling to cope in the comprehensive system then they are not serving the purpose for which they were designed for and therefore all they do is provide those who are in a better learning environment to have an even greater advantage and an avenue for the system to discredit truly gifted children and deny them access to education. That isn't equitable.

There are two issues with regard to Selective Schools one is that the process of selection is totally unfair and the other is that the process is open to bias manipulation and abuse.

Jolanda,

Everyone can write a story and be a victim by ommiting details. There is no way the DET made a phone call and talked to teachers at your sons school and arranged for a story to be made up. This is in your head.

Taryn,
I dont belive Jolanda has MUNCHAUSEN SYNDROME I believe she suffers from paranoia and an Obsessive disorder coupled a superior personality and her inability to "back Down" or even try and see anybody elses opionion.

Jolanda truly believes that something is happening but cannot differenciate between what is really happening and what is not therefore adds to stories to add substance to all her claims. SHe cannot back down as this type of personality sees it as a weekness and Jolanda is superior and will never cower down to nobody. When she is challenged she automatically turns it around and claims that nobody cares about children or that the person is a employee of the DET. Unfortunately this will be the life of the Challita family. The children and husband probably havnt or dont read her stuff. there is no way any husband would allow this obsession to carry on. SHe needs ongoing help. but she will never see it, her children will suffer. its such a shame that Jolanda cannot see what many many people have tried to tell her.

Hey folks

Those who are suggesting Jolanda is suffering “Munchausen syndrome” or “OCD” are obviously armchair psychologists, devoid of any formal training, experience, credentials or ethics.

No responsible psychologist or psychiatrist would presume to predict a serious mental disorder where Jolanda had not been objectively and professionally accessed by formal testing and or professional interview.

I could (and I am not) suggest Bronwyn is suffering an “acute anxiety and abandonment disorder “ from her comment “but you're responding to others so why not to me?” I repeat I am not making that suggestion, merely illustrating the stupidity of armchair psychology.

I do not know the fine details of Jolanda’s complaint against the DET but attempting to make serious and professional assessments and diagnosis to her mental health is well beyond any acceptable level for responsible comment on an opinion forum.

Col, I concur that you can't make a specific diagnosis without a proper assessment.

Though, sometimes you can tell something's unusual. Just like you don't need to be an architect to spot a house.
I've not suggested Ms Challita suffers from any particular disorder, but I have certainly suggested that she shows a number of signs of being extremely overprotective and unable to step back from hovering over her children's education, and her website http://jolandachallita.typepad.com/ is a fine example of this.

Of course, parents should be protective of their children, but in many cases, overly sensitive children become that way because they've never had the opportunity to do things for themselves.

If Ms Challita wants to pursue her vendetta against the education system, then okay, but if she's going this public she's got to be willing to accept that not everyone will take her side, and many will be critical of her hostile attitude toward what would appear to be anyone and anything in the education system, or even the NSW government.
Her repeated phrases of bias, bullying, manipulation etc. are all subjective adjectives, and seem to be more likely responses to a hostile attack on teachers or the system.
I can't think of any sane explanation of why people in the education system would have a vendetta against a parent, though I can certainly envision the reverse.
Not to mention the possibility that she may not be willing to consider her pursuit may be more harmful to her children than having them receive an education alongside all the other kids. I think back to my days in primary school, and I was mortified if my father pulled faces while dropping me off. (In hindsight now it seems funny, but not then).
I can't begin to imagine how embarrassing something like this would be. I don't know how you'd go about brushing something like this off and socialising normally with the other kids, when your parent has such a hatred for the school.

Though I do concur you can't make a proper psychiatric assessment on something like this.