I have serious concerns about openness and accountability in Government.

My family has been taking the Department of Education to the ADT so as to get access to documentation we requested under FOI. The DET have been mucking us around for years.

One FOI Application was a request for documentary evidence of the process that led to the decision of the Department of Education to deem me vexatious. On numerous submissions, emails and documents that were produced under FOI I am presented as having been deemed vexatious by the Minister. However after requesting evidence of this so-called fact, there was none to be produced.

I have it in writing from the Crown Solicitor's office that neither the DET nor the Minister has deemed me vexatious yet this is presented in submissions, documents and letters in relation to me.

I sought to have documents previously produced under FOI be amended to reflect the truth. I was told that they were not allowed to change history. I can’t help but wonder why public servants are allowed to change history and present lies but we are not allowed to change history to reflect the truth.

We also requested evidence of the fact that the Department of Education says that our allegations of systematic bias, victimization, misconduct and a conspiracy to cover up have been investigated and the persons whom we allege are abusing their power have been cleared of any misconduct. The DET have advised that they believe that it is an unreasonable diversion of resources to provide us with the documentation that proves that the matter has been formally investigated and they have refused to present evidence of their alleged investigations.

By law we are entitled to documentation in relation to decisions that impact our children and our family. Surely the DET should be obligated to prove that the allegations have been investigated and surely they should not be permitted to discredit and defame people so as to assist in their cover-ups.

Education – Keeping them Honest
http://jolandachallita.typepad.com/
Our children deserve better.

I haven't been in teaching for decades Jolanda.Are you making ref to report cards that teachers write comments on that parents back then were never allowed to see?
This could possibly open the Dept to litigation these days since they had no control over teacher comments.I doubt that they would do it these days unless medical history was important.
Number one priority for Govt Depts is to cover their backsides.That is why they consider you to be vexatious.

Arjay what part of the fact that the DET didn't formally deem me vexatious and the Minister didn't formally deem me vexatious did you not get? I was presented as vexatious by the person whom we allege is targeting our family and victimising our family and manipulating our children's test scores and documents in order to discredit us and deny my children opportunities and in order to get back at us because I complained about the neglect of their education.

Surely if they are going to present somebody as having been deemed vexatious by the Minister it should be required to be the truth - otherwise it is defamation

Arjay I hope my response didn't come across as harsh. I didn't mean it to be, it is just that I get so tired of always having to go over things.

I wasn't deemed vexatious by the DET or the Minister, I was presented as having been deemed vexatious by the person whom I am making allegations against and on the basis of the word of the person whom I am making formal allegations against our complaints have been deemed closed, our allegations have not been investigated (despite being presented by those we allege are responsbile as being investigated) and we have been ignored. This process has resulted in my children and family being open to further victimisation and psychological abuse. This victimisation has continued year after year.

The manipulating of the test scores was at the Educational Measurement Directorate level. We have extensive evidence produced under FOI that show bias and manipulation in my childrens Selective School applications by the Leader of the Selective Schools Unit and other external testing have also shown evidence of tampering. My children missed out on places in Selective schools (schools that they desperately needed to meet thier identified educational needs) because certain people at the DET tampered with their marks and papers and are covering up the complaints.

What is really scarey is that not many people seem to care.