Monday 16 October 2006

Tuesday 17 October

Wednesday 18 October

Thursday 19 October

Friday 20 October

Saturday – Sunday, 21 – 22 October

 

Monday 16 October

• ABC News
  
  
  • Minister recalls WA education chief over damning report

    "The Western Australian Education Minister, Ljiljanna Ravilich, has recalled the Director General of Education, Paul Albert, from Paris to deal with a damning report into how his agency deals with allegations of sexual misconduct against teachers.

    "The report by the Corruption and Crime Commission (CCC) found the Department puts the welfare of its teachers ahead of a safe and secure learning environment for students.

    "In one case, the department reprimanded a teacher convicted of indecently dealing with a 13-year-old girl and then transferred him to a new school.

    "Ms Ravilich says she has instructed the department to implement the six recommendations contained in the CCC's report.

    "I have to say that I am very disappointed in the way the department has handled this," she said.

    "Clearly parents have every right to expect that anyone employed in a school and working with children will be subject to the strongest checks and balances and clearly this has not occurred."

    "The CCC report says about 25 allegations of sexual abuse are made against state school teachers each year, but the Education Department lacks the will to investigate them properly.

    "It has investigated five cases of alleged sexual contact between teachers and students.

    "CCC investigator Roger Watson says the department failed to investigate allegations about a teacher engaging in sexual contact with female students at school camps and outside school hours for a number of years.

    "The CCC says it hopes a recent commitment by the Education Department to establish a professional standards portfolio will improve the way it handles such cases."
    

    From ABC News Online at link
    
    
    
    
• The West Australian
  
  
  • Ravlich move on Halls Creek principal ‘penalises students’ [Front Page]
    by Anne Calverley
    
    "Forcing out the school principal behind the controversial Halls Creek no-school, no-welfare program showed the State Government had failed to recognise successful and innovative programs, the Opposition said yesterday.
    
    "Shadow education minister Peter Collier said he was disturbed by the accusation by former Halls Creek District High School principal Garry Smith’s father, Dave, that Education Minister Ljiljanna Ravlich, a critic of the anti-truancy program, had forced out his son.

    "He was joined by Halls Creek school council member Helen O’Malley, who said most of the community supported Mr Smith and his departure was a big loss.

    “He acted with the best of intentions and he copped more than he should have copped,” she said. “The do-gooders were worried about people suffering but it’s the kids who will suffer because they’re not getting the education they need to break out of the poverty cycle.”

    "Pilbara Labor MP Tom Stephens refused to comment on the political stoush but described Mr Smith’s departure as “the loss of an educational giant”.

    “He is an incredibly rare breed of teacher whose creative solutions to difficult problems may have clashed with the formal policy of a government department,” Mr Stephens said.

    "On Friday, Dave Smith said that Ms Ravlich, Education Department director-general Paul Albert and Kimberley district director Kevin Gillan went to the school in July and his son was pushed out.

    "The West Australian understands that Garry Smith, who has had cancer for some time, went on sick leave about a month ago and told school staff he would not be returning.

    "Halls Creek DHS made national headlines in October last year after it was revealed in The West Australian that the principal was helping the Centrelink office try out a scheme in which welfare payments to Aboriginals were stopped if they failed to attend meetings to discuss their children’s truancy.

    "The scheme boosted school attendance from 54 per cent to 80 per cent in the two months it operated.

    "On Friday, a spokesman for Ms Ravlich confirmed a meeting was held but denied that she had told Mr Smith to take leave. Yesterday, the Minister’s spokesman claimed a Federal Government report had revealed attendance rates at the school had not improved under the truancy scheme.

    "Mr Collier said Ms Ravlich had failed to take into account the specific needs of schools in rural and remote regions. “If the allegations are true, then the Minister’s actions are entirely inappropriate,” he said. “You simply can’t heavy a principal because they don’t endorse your philosophy.”

    "Liberal Senator Ross Lightfoot said the time had come for the Federal Government to intervene by restricting Federal funding to tied grants.

    “Halls Creek is just a microcosm of the wider problems in WA’s education system,” Senator Lightfoot said.

    "Kimberley MLA Carol Martin urged political leaders to avoid victim-blaming and instead address underlying poverty problems that she said were not confined to Halls Creek."
    
    From The West Australian at link
    
    
    

  • School’s in for summer as tutoring grows (page 11)
    by Lee-Anne Petchell
    
    Hundreds of WA schoolchildren will spend their summer holidays studying under private tutors to get the jump on their classmates in the new year.
    
    Parents worried about children struggling to cope with the move from primary to high school or younger children getting left behind in class are behind the growing trend of summer school.
    
    Full story in The West Australian at link
    
    
    

  • Teachers' sex shame in spotlight (page 10)
    by Amanda Banks
    
    "A damning report into the Department of Education and Training's handling of allegations of sexual misconduct against staff is expected to be tabled in State Parliament today.
    
    "It is understood the report by the Corruption and Crime Commission is highly critical of the department's procedures for dealing with complaints of sexual misconduct towards students..."
    
    Full story in The West Australian
    
    
    
    

• The Sydney Daily Telegraph
  
  
  • Editorial
    Federal threat to HSC excellence
    
    "NSW can be justly proud of its world-class higher school certificate, which over the past six years has been fine-tuned into an academic credential recognised and accepted in countries all over the globe.
    
    "So the prospect of it being dismantled and folded into a proposed new national certificate of education will horrify educators, parents, students and even employers.

    "The Howard Government's call for a national curriculum and qualification has wide support in principle. There can be no argument Australia needs a more nationally consistent education regime – especially for those students and their families who cross state boundaries when they move around the nation.

    "Little or none of the criticism of state education regimes has been directed at NSW – with good reason. The core elements of the HSC – particularly its accommodation of high flyers doing its most demanding courses – are likely to form the template for any future national credential.

    "But Education Minister Carmel Tebbutt indicated yesterday she is prepared to fight hard to retain all parts of the HSC should it come under serious threat..."
    
    Full editorial in The Sydney Daily Telegraph at link
    
    
    

• The Guardian
  
  
  • Come on, teacher, light their fires [late update of 15/10]
    by Robin McKie, science editor
    
    "Drug companies have warned the government they face a manpower crisis. Numbers of gifted young scientists coming into the industry have plummeted, putting British pharmaceutical research in jeopardy.

    "The threat is the latest in a series of crises affecting science education, with most experts blaming schools for failing to excite pupils in chemistry, physics and biology, causing more and more young people to turn to arts and humanities.

    "Leading UK scientists say the output of talented science students is in worrying decline. 'If you have not got students excited about science by the time they are doing GCSEs, there is no chance you will engage them later on,' said physiologist Dr Douglas Corfield, of Keele University..."

    Full story in The Guardian at link
    
    
    
    
• The Brisbane Courier Mail
  
  
  • Editorial
    Classroom challenge
    
    "A comprehensive Education Queensland survey of the class of 2005 shows that 93 per cent of school leavers from last year are either studying or working, which is a positive sign of the education system and the strength of the economy.
    
    "The increasing emphasis on vocational education at school is a boost for many students at a time of skills shortages, but able students in disadvantaged areas must be given the chance to excel at the most challenging academic subjects and proceed to university if that is their goal. Too few are doing so – just half of those from the highest socio-economic areas. The survey gives Education Minister Rod Welford and his department wide scope to fine-tune the system to be the best it can be."
    
    From The Brisbane Courier Mail at link
    
    
    
    
• The Australian
  
  
  • Unis 'beg for funding while stashing $7bn'
    by Samantha Maiden, Political correspondent
    
    "Universities that cry poor over funding have been challenged to raid the $7 billion reserve of cash and investments hoarded by vice-chancellors..."
    
    Full story in The Australian at link
    
    
    
    
• The Melbourne Herald Sun
  
  
  • Junk food bans at schools
    
    
    
    
• The Sydney Morning Herald
  
  
  • ABC prepares to launch children's digital TV service
    
    
• Sydney Anglicans plan bigger role in schools
  
  
  
  
• The Adelaide Advertiser
  
  
  • School repair shame files
    
    
    

Tuesday 17 October

• The West Australian
  
  
  • Teacher sex row claims schools boss [Front Page Headline]
    by Robert Taylor and Bethany Hiatt
    
    "WA education and training chief Paul Albert was last night made the scapegoat for a damning Corruption and Crime Commission report into his department’s handling of sexual misconduct cases when Alan Carpenter forced him out of the job.
    
    "But Education Minister Ljiljanna Ravlich, already under fire over the botched implementation of outcomes based education, will keep her job.

    "And it also emerged last night Mr Albert will walk away with $344,000 — equal to a year’s salary — as part of the deal with Mr Carpenter. It is understood that Mr Carpenter asked Mr Albert for his resignation when they met last night.

    "Mr Albert’s departure came just hours after Parliament was told the CCC found the Education Department had put its employees’ welfare ahead of a safe learning environment for WA’s schoolchildren.

    "Last night, Mr Albert said he had not been asked to sign any confidentiality agreements but he refused to say if he was being used as a scapegoat for Ms Ravlich, or to comment on whether she should also resign.

    “The buck stops with me and I have to accept responsibility,” Mr Albert said. “We had a meeting and it was agreed it was in our mutual interests that I leave.”

    "Mr Carpenter said it was “in the best interests of all parties” if Mr Albert took a “management initiated retirement”.

    "Mr Carpenter said he accepted that the CCC did not make any specific findings against Mr Albert but the pair agreed public confidence in the education system was paramount.

    "The department’s head of human resources, Alby Huts, would also leave under a MIR, Mr Carpenter said.

    Mr Carpenter’s dramatic intervention came after the CCC found the Education Department had mishandled its response to allegations of sexual contact between staff and students.

    "Ms Ravlich had ordered Mr Albert back from a conference in Paris when she got the CCC report last Thursday, but earlier yesterday had refused to sack him despite saying she was disappointed with his management of the issue. The CCC examined five case studies of sexual contact between children under the care of the Department of Education and Training, and staff. In the report, tabled in State Parliament yesterday, it found the DET had put the interests of employees accused of sexual misconduct ahead of its “safe and secure learning environment policy”.

    "The department failed to inform police of sexual misconduct allegations against teachers, had reemployed a teacher who had left under a cloud and had failed to fulfil requests from the CCC’s predecessor, the Anti-Corruption Commission, about the status of a teacher who had been acquitted on unlawful carnal knowledge charges through a lack of corroborative evidence.

    "It also allowed a teacher who had been counselled about sexual contact with a student during an overseas excursion to not only stay in the system but go on another school trip overseas where he engaged in misconduct with another 15-year-old female student.

    "In one case, given the opportunity to sack a teacher who had been found guilty in the courts of sexual misconduct towards a 12-year-old girl, the department instead reprimanded and re-assigned the teacher largely because the girl was a family friend, not a student of the teacher, and the contact had not happened at school.

    "The CCC also criticised the DET for being slow to act on its recommendations and for lacking the will to implement changes to its complaints processes.

    “We’ve been dealing with the department over the last couple of years. It’s correct to say that the department hasn’t moved in the direction we want them to move,” CCC investigating officer Roger Watson said yesterday.

    "Earlier, Mr Albert had said he was “puzzled” by the claims that there had been a lack of co-operation from his department.

    “The department set up an independent review of our complaints management processes, the CCC made a submission to that and was actually a party to that process which was completed in April, and we’ve proceeded with implementing those recommendations,” Mr Albert said.

    "Ms Ravlich had ordered Mr Albert to immediately implement the six multi-faceted recommendations in the CCC’s report.

    “Let me tell you I’m very, very angry. I’m really, really angry about what this report has found,” she said yesterday.

    “I’m particularly angry because I think parents have every right to expect children will be able to go to a safe learning environment.”

    "Shadow education minister Peter Collier and Churchlands Independent MLA Liz Constable had both earlier called for Ms Ravlich’s head.

    “As far as the Minister is concerned it’s been death by 1000 cuts,” Mr Collier said. “It’s crisis, after crisis, after crisis under this Minister. This is just testimony to the fact that she is completely oblivious to what’s going on in her department.”

    "Ms Ravlich conceded that she had only a general awareness that the CCC was working with the DET on its complaints processes and no specific knowledge of the cases involved.

    “In terms of the specific cases in this report, in relation to other cases which might relate to this whole area, they were not brought to my attention,” she said."

    From The West Australian at link
    
    
    
  • Main Editorial
    Ugly culture of self-interest stands exposed (page 20)
    
    "Another element of the ugly culture of ruthless self-interest in the State Government has been exposed. This time the Corruption and Crime Commission has, in effect, condemned the Department of Education and Training for the way in which it deals with allegations of sexual contact between staff and students. Its report reinforces the emerging public awareness of a prevailing pattern of official infamy: In essence, the weak and vulnerable are sacrificed, seemingly as a matter of course, to protect political hides.
    
    "This is a further revelation of the unconscionable culture of secrecy, oppression and persecution of those who dare to stand for what is right against prevailing orthodoxy.
    
    "The culture has been evident in the routine of cover-ups in the Department for Community Development when its hidebound ideology or neglect has exposed children to harm – no one is responsible for anything and the arrogant Government refuses the open and independent inquiry that offers the only chance of genuine reform.
    
    "It is evident at Halls Creek, where political self-interest has overridden the desperate needs of a dysfunctional community.
    
    "And now the CCC has found that the DET appears to give more weight to employee welfare than student safety. Until last night, it seemed that no one in authority would be held accountable by the Government.
    
    "In the end there was a scapegoat, and it would be to no one's surprise that it was the public servant, Education and Training director-general Paul Albert, rather than his political master, crisis-ridden Education Minister Ljiljanna Ravlich, who took the fall."
    
    From The West Australian
    
    
    
  • Alston Cartoon (page 20)
    
    
  
  
  © The West Australian

   

  • Related stories
    
    
    • School sex cases action under fire (page 4)
      by Robert Taylor and Jessica Strutt
      
      "The Education Department will establish a parents advocacy unit and a professional standards branch in the wake of a damning Corruption and Crime Commission report into the department’s handling of sexual misconduct cases.
      
      "The report, tabled in State Parliament yesterday, contained several recommendations aimed at strengthening the department’s methods in dealing with allegations of sexual misconduct between teachers and students..."
      
      Full story in The West Australian at link
      
      
      
    • Sidebar: Questional Behavious [details of the five cases] (page 4)
      
      
      
    • Action missing on sex shame (page 5)
      by Robert Taylor, Political Sketch
      
      "Before the axe fell last night on Paul Albert, he and Education Minister Ljiljanna Ravlich had talked tough about zero tolerance of sexual contact between teachers and students but said nothing about those people in the system who had tolerated it for years.
      
      "The Corruption and Crime Commission report tabled in State Parliament exposed a culture within the Department of Education and Training which at its worst deliberately covered up criminal behaviour.

      "In the five cases highlighted by the CCC, supervisors, principals, bureaucrats and other teachers either through incompetence, laziness or old fashioned cover-ups failed their students and the community at large.

      "While those who were subject of the allegations are mostly gone, not one of them as far as we know is facing criminal charges and one who has been acquitted of numerous charges is still within the department fighting disciplinary action.

      "When given the opportunity to comment on his case, the department told the CCC that to report on his case was “premature and will possibly prejudice future disciplinary proceedings”.

      The CCC’s response was to point out that “after six and half years of inaction, it is not clear to the commission how including this case study in a tabled report could be regarded as premature, nor is it clear how it could prejudice future disciplinary proceedings”.

      "That neither Mr Albert nor Ms Ravlich were prepared to say yesterday that those people who failed the community through their inaction or worse would be thrown out of the department could hardly fill parents with confidence that the system will be fixed any time soon. There was plenty of talk about structural change and process but when it comes to actually removing the people who had made the bad judgments, who had turned the blind eyes, who had quietly tried to remove a colleague without involving police, they promised nothing.

      "Ms Ravlich claimed she did not have the power and handballed it to Mr Albert who wandered around the point before nestling comfortably behind a wall of restrictive legislation.

      "Premier Alan Carpenter, the Minister for Public Sector Management has the power to sack Ms Ravlich and Mr Albert, and it emerged last night that the latter was his target. “Parents have every right to expect that their children are in safe hands when they attend school and I fully support the Minister’s swift response to this CCC report,” he said earlier in the day.

      "But Mr Albert seemed to know that sooner or later, someone was going to pay a price.

      “I’m employed by the Government, the Minister and I’m happy to accept any decision that the Government makes in relation to this matter ... I bear ultimate responsibility for the findings in this report,” he said.

      "Perhaps what he did not realise was that it was going to happen so quickly."
      
      From The West Australian at link
      
      
      

    • The message was different in 2001 when Albert arrived to plaudits (page 5)
      by Bethany Hiatt
      
      "When Paul Albert was appointed education director-general in 2001 he came with glowing tributes from then education minister Alan Carpenter.
      
      "Mr Carpenter said at the time that Mr Albert was “one of the most experienced educators in the State and had worked at the highest level with the Government, TAFE, nongovernment and tertiary sectors”.

      "He had been acting chief executive of the Department of Education Services from 1999-2001, where he was responsible for the regulation of nongovernment schools. But critics say one of Mr Albert’s weaknesses was that he had limited experience in day-to-day school management, having spent his early career at TAFE after training as a history teacher.

      "One of the main architects of the outcomes-based education system, Mr Albert largely escaped blame for the way OBE ran off the rails earlier this year.

      "He helped establish the Curriculum Council in 1996 and was its first chief executive. But he shrugged off any responsibility for the onerous assessment demands which became the most contentious aspect of the new system for teachers, parents and students. He said the council approved the OBE concept while he was at the helm but none of the detail on the structure of new upper school courses or how they would be assessed had been decided. He blamed lack of resources and poor communication for the OBE debacle.

      "Mr Albert also accused teachers who campaigned against the new system of sabotaging OBE and intimidating those who were in favour of the changes."

      From The West Australian at link
      
      
      
      
  • Ravlich on attack in storm over truancy (page 6)
    by Jessica Strutt
    
    "Education Minister Ljiljanna Ravlich yesterday went on the attack over claims that she forced the school principal behind the Halls Creek noschool, no-welfare program out of his job, saying the number of students absent the day she visited the school was not acceptable.
    
    "She also claimed that attendance did not improve during the trial of the controversial scheme, which former Halls Creek District High School principal Garry Smith helped set up.

    "Centrelink has said the original scheme last year lifted attendance from 54 to 80 per cent in two months.

    "Ms Ravlich disputed this. “If you read the press release by Federal (Employment) Minister Kevin Andrews, the first thing that is apparent is that there has been no improvement in attendance as a result or during that pilot in Halls Creek,” she said.

    "But Mr Andrews’ comments related to a second, voluntary trial in February after the tougher antitruancy no-school, no-welfare scheme run last year was scrapped because of doubts about its legality.

    "Mr Smith’s father, Dave, claims that his son was forced out of his job by Ms Ravlich over his involvement in the original scheme.

    "Mr Smith had given Centrelink the names of absent children and Centrelink then stopped payments if parents did not attend a meeting to discuss their child’s truancy.

    "Dave Smith claimed that Ms Ravlich, a critic of the anti-truancy program, told his son at a heated meeting at the school in July that she did not want him there and he should take leave.

    "Ms Ravlich, who denies she told Mr Smith to take leave, said it was not acceptable that just 50 of 328 students were at school the day she visited Halls Creek. The students were on the streets and not in the classrooms, as she and Education director-general Paul Albert had seen.

    “My first priority is to the children of this State,” she said. “I am not going to be bludgeoned into not acting in their best interests because of media or any other pressure. The easiest thing for me to do is do nothing but I am not a do nothing sort of person. If I see a problem I try to address it.”

    "An Aboriginal former student of Mr Smith’s, Catherine Ridley, 31, said he was the best teacher she ever had.

    "Ms Ridley, a Department for Community Development child protection worker, said he was a dedicated and caring teacher who did everything he could to ensure she got a quality education in the remote community of Christmas Creek 25 years ago. “He’s got full knowledge of the issues that affect Aboriginal kids. Aboriginal people in the community really liked him. He was very well respected,” she said."

    From The West Australian at link
    
    
    
  • ECU gives up 800 places as numbers dive (page 12)
    by Bethany Hiatt
    
    "Universities are under increasing pressure to slash minimum entry requirements after new figures revealed another drop in applications as students opt for jobs over study.
    
    "Edith Cowan University refuses to contemplate lowering entry scores further, but has agreed to give up about 800 full-time student places — worth $6 million — for the Commonwealth to distribute to other institutions as demand for university education plummets for the third consecutive year in WA.

    "Preliminary figures from the Tertiary Institutions Service Centre show the number of people applying for a university place has dropped again, falling 4 per cent from last year. This followed a plunge of 8 per cent in applications for 2006 entry and 7 per cent for 2005.

    "The trend is more evident among non-school leavers, with the number of mature applicants for 2007 places falling 8 per cent. The drop in school-leavers wanting to go to university is just one per cent.

    "The University of WA was the only institution to show an increase in applications from last year, up 3 per cent..."
    
    Full story in The West Australian at link
    
    
    

  • Letters to the Editor (page 22)
    
    
    • Three Letters, all highly critical of Ravlich’s handling of the Halls Creek fiasco.
      
      
      
      
• ABC News
  
  
  • Dept head 'scapegoat' for sex misconduct report
    
    "The Western Australian Opposition says departing director-general of Education, Paul Albert, has been made a scapegoat for allegations of sexual misconduct and the Minister should step down.

    "The CCC investigated five allegations of sexual misconduct and found the Education Department had put the welfare of teachers before students.

    "The Opposition's education spokesman Peter Collier says Education Minister Ljiljanna Ravlich has a very common habit of shooting the messenger.

    "I've got to say we won't have any messengers left very shortly because quite frankly, every time there is a problem, it is someone else's fault," he said.

    "He says there has been one crisis after another within the Department of Education and Training and the Curriculum Council over the last 18 months.

    "Over that entire period Minister Ravlich has been on watch - she should be responsible and she should be removed from her position," he said.

    "In our system of government, there is a concept known as individual ministerial responsibility and that means that the minister herself is directly responsible for the functioning of her department." [emphasis added]

    "Mr Albert appeared to see the writing on the wall when he fronted the media yesterday afternoon.

    "I think anybody in any of these high pressured jobs always considers their options for the future," he said.
    Departure

    "Premier Alan Carpenter met Mr Albert last night to discuss the CCC's findings.

    "Mr Carpenter says the report had the potential to badly undermine public confidence in the education system.

    "We came to an agreement that it was in the best interest of everybody for Paul Albert to leave the public service," he said.

    "Mr Carpenter denied Mr Albert was forced to take early retirement, saying it was a mutual decision.

    "Meanwhile, WA's peak parenting body has expressed shock at the departure of Mr Albert and says the move in itself will do little to solve the problems.

    "The WA Council of State School Organisations (WACSSO) president Rob Fry says Mr Albert phoned him last night to inform him of the decision.

    "He says Mr Albert has a close working relationship with parents and he is extremely disappointed by the move.

    "He's probably the person that could have made good the issues identified by the CCC," he said.

    "But State School Teachers Union (SSTU) president Mike Keely says he is not surprised by the decision.

    "Somebody had to take responsibility - it's simply a question of who's responsible," he said.

    "Mr Keely says it is now essential the CCC's recommendations are implemented to ensure the problems are addressed."
    

    From ABC News Online at link
    
    
    
    
  • Education Dept chief quits over sex report
    
    "The director general of the Western Australian Department of Education and Training, Paul Albert, has resigned from his position.

    "Premier Alan Carpenter has issued a statement, after the release of a Corruption and Crime Commission (CCC) report into sexual contact between staff and students in WA schools.

    "The report was highly critical of the way allegations of sexual misconduct against teachers were handled.

    "The State Opposition says Education Minister Ljiljanna Ravilich should consider stepping down in light of the report that has criticised the way her department handles allegations of sexual misconduct against teachers.

    "The CCC reviewed five recent allegations of sexual misconduct and found the department put the welfare of teachers above students.

    "In once case, the department allowed a man convicted of indecently assaulting a 13-year-old to keep teaching because the victim was a family friend, not a student. In another, a high school principal and his deputy failed to notify authorities about a teacher who was romantically involved with a 15-year-old student.

    "Upon receiving the report, the Minister recalled Mr Albert from Paris and told him to implement the recommendations in full.

    "I certainly agree that we have to tighten up which is why I've announced the range of measures that I have today," she said.

    "She expressed her disappointment in Mr Albert after the CCC accused the department of lacking the will to investigate allegations of misconduct.

    "The Opposition's education spokesman, Peter Collier, says the report highlights systemic failures within the department and he is blaming the Minister.

    "If she's not prepared to step down, which I think she should seriously consider herself, I think ... it is incumbent upon the Premier to take steps," he said. [emphasis added]

    "Mr Albert says from today his department will take a zero tolerance approach to allegations of sexual misconduct.

    "He has apologised to any parents who feel let down.

    "All those who have behaved inappropriately, action has been taken against them or action is in the process of being taken against them," he said."
    
    From ABC News Online at link
    
    
    

  • ABC PM Program [broadcast on 16 October at 6:10 pm]
    
    Education department found to be 'mishandling' sexual misconduct in schools
    Reporter: David Weber [includes short interviews with Ljiljanna Ravlich and Paul Albert]
    
    PETER CAVE: The Corruption and Crime Commission in Western Australia has handed down a damning report on the way the Education Department deals with complaints of sexual contact.

    The Commission highlighted five cases of alleged sexual contact between teachers and students, and says it has serious concerns that greater weight has been given to the welfare of employees than to protecting children.

    The Education Minister says she's very disappointed with the Director-General of the Education Department.

    For his part, the Director-General says he's now introducing the strictest rules in the country to stop sexual contact.

    David Weber reports.

    DAVID WEBER: The Corruption and Crime Commission says the Education Department's system for dealing with sexual allegations doesn't do enough to reduce the risks.

    The Commission's Roger Watson says the failures are not always intentional.

    ROGER WATSON: The way they handle them tends to get to a position where employee welfare is given greater weight then safer security of the learning environments.

    Certainly it's our view that there is a lack of will associated with investigating these allegations. I would go so far as to say that I'm not sure that lack of will is intended.

    DAVID WEBER: The CCC has highlighted five matters in WA public schools.

    In one case, a teacher convicted of indecently dealing with a 13-year-old girl was reprimanded and then transferred to a new teaching position.

    A teacher with a known history of sexual contact with students on overseas excursions was allowed to attend another overseas trip. The department's supervisors failed to intervene when he was seen engaging in inappropriate conduct with a 15-year-old female student.

    And in another case, the department inquire into allegations about a teacher engaging in sexual contact with female students at school camps.

    Roger Watson says the report does not lead to a finding that schools are unsafe.

    ROBERT WATSON: There's a risk of sexual contact in schools - that's existed since the beginning of time. There's nothing that we've said today that changes that equation.

    There are thousands and thousands of teachers out there doing a great job, who are well motivated, who are good people, who wouldn't dream of engaging in sexual contact and those teachers are all in the system.

    DAVID WEBER: The Corruption and Crime Commission has made six recommendations intended to improve reporting. The Commission also wants the Education Department to review cases of serious misconduct.

    The Education Minister says she's told the department to comply with all the recommendations immediately.

    Liljana Ravlich says she's disappointed with the way the Director-General has handled the issue.

    LILJANA RAVLICH: I am particularly angry because I think that parents have every right to expect that their children will be able to go to a safe learning environment.

    And what this report has demonstrated is that this has been a problem for quite some time in a small minority of cases.

    DAVID WEBER: The Department of Education is taking several new measures. It will establish a Parent Advocacy Unit to ensure there's representation for parents and students.

    A Professional Standards Branch will improve the department's capacity to deal with claims of misconduct. The Department will also look at whether employees can be suspended without pay while allegations are investigated.

    The Education Department's Director-General Paul Albert.

    PAUL ALBERT: From my personal point of view, and certainly from everybody in this department, sexual abuse of children in any form is totally intolerable and unacceptable.

    And I'm certainly determined that we will take every measure necessary to ensure that our schools have the strictest rules in place in Australia in relation to sexual contact between staff and students.

    DAVID WEBER: Mr Albert says none of the people mentioned in the five case studies are working in schools. He says they were removed from areas where they may have had student contact as soon as the Department was aware of a risk.

    PETER CAVE: David Weber.
    
    From ABC PM Program at link [audio broadcast also available for download from this link]
    
    
    

• The Sunday Times Online / PerthNow
  
  
  • Carpenter says Ravlich job safe
    AAP
    
    "The Premier is standing by Education Minister Ljiljanna Ravlich over a report that said allegations of sexual misconduct in WA schools had been handled poorly..."
    
    "Alan Carpenter said today he believed Ms Ravlich had acted promptly and appropriately when she found out what the report contained late last week.

    "I think in this circumstance Ljiljanna has done what she had to do," Mr Carpenter said on ABC radio.

    "If I didn't have confidence in Ljiljanna she wouldn't be the minister."

    "He said the issues outlined in the report should have been brought to Ms Ravlich's attention sooner.

    "Any minister needs full information at his or her fingertips to make informed decisions," Mr Carpenter later said on Southern Cross Broadcasting.

    "Now that's one of the failings that I think has happened here, that the minister wasn't kept sufficiently informed so that she could actually put into place the practices that needed to be put into place."

    "The WA opposition has called for Ms Ravlich to resign, saying it is the latest in a series of crises for the minister who has also come under fire over WA's controversial outcomes-based education system..."
    
    Full story in The Sunday Times Online / PerthNow at link
    
    
    

• The Australian
  
  
  • School sex abuse claims 'cover-up'
    by Amanda O'Brien, West Australian political reporter
    
    "The West Australian Education Department repeatedly covered up allegations of sexual abuse of children by teachers, allowing one accused offender to transfer to another school and others to resign before investigations.

    "In a scathing report, the state's Corruption and Crime Commission said the Department of Education and Training was more concerned with protecting the welfare of staff than students.

    "And CCC spokesman Roger Watson said the department had resisted the efforts of the CCC to get them to improve procedures.

    "He indicated the report had been released publicly in a bid to force change, saying the commission had thought hard before taking that action.

    "The CCC revealed that in one case where a teacher was convicted of indecently dealing with a child under 13, the department had responded by transferring him to another school.

    "The department believed the facts that the child was not one of his students and the conduct did not occur in school hours were mitigating factors.

    "In another case, a school principal and deputy principal were found to have covered up a relationship between a teacher and student after the teacher agreed to resign.

    "The CCC said the deputy principal was aware the teacher had been investigated for inappropriate conduct with an under-age girl at another school five years earlier but he was allowed to resign before an investigation was conducted into the latest allegation.

    "The department also failed to investigate repeated allegations about a teacher engaging in sexual contact with female students at school camps over a number of years, and decided not to investigate allegations against a school gardener.

    "It also allowed a teacher with a history of sexual contact with students while on overseas excursions to attend another overseas trip where he was seen engaging in inappropriate conduct. State Education Minister Ljiljanna Ravlich said yesterday she had no knowledge of the explosive allegations until she was briefed by the CCC on Thursday night and received the report on Friday.

    "Yesterday, she labelled it "extremely serious" and said she had immediately recalled the department's director-general Paul Albert from an overseas business trip in Paris to explain his knowledge of events. She said she was extremely angry.

    "There's no doubt about it, the department has got it wrong," she said. "I think it would be fair to say that the department probably does need a shake-up."

    "But Ms Ravlich would not sack Mr Albert despite being "very disappointed" in him and said she could not act against other staff exposed by the CCC because she had no capacity to do so under the Public Sector Management Act.

    "Mr Albert claimed he was unable to keep the minister informed because the CCC had instructed him not to disclose any information. Under pressure from the media, he later indicated the actions of staff involved in the incidents would be reviewed.

    "This included the decision by human resources executive director Alby Huts to return a convicted child abuser to the classroom. [emphasis added]

    "Mr Watson said the cases were not isolated examples of the department's handling of sexual misconduct matters.

    "Ms Ravlich said all six recommendations of the CCC would be implemented immediately."

    From The Australian at link
    
    
    
    
  • Schools contract blowout
    by Ben Woodhead
    
    "The Queensland Government is bracing for a blowout in the cost of a $120 million project to replace systems used to run more than 1200 public schools..."
    
    Full story in The Australian at link
    
    
    
    
  • Letters to the Editor
    
    
    • Mao and maths don't mix
      
      "I'm a teacher, a maths and physics one for that matter and, try as I might, I have been unable to teach Maoism and physics/maths in harmony with each other ("Little red curriculum”, Editorial, 14-15/10).

      "For the past 17 years I’ve taught in 11 different schools: state, Catholic, independent, city, country, boys’, girls’ and co-educational. In this time and these places I have observed the following:

      "Occasionally I have run into the left-wing, fruit-loop teachers you speak of in your editorial “Little red curriculum” (14-15/10) but, seriously, they represent a bizarre anomaly and are not in significant numbers.

      "I have noted that over this time period that teenagers have become increasingly more conservative, more materialistic, less community-minded and certainly less left-wing. Most don’t even know what a communist is, even though the history teachers are supposed to be the most radical lefties of them all.
      If we, as a profession, are as keen to subvert young minds to left-wing, hippie ideas as is asserted in said editorial, then we have done an extraordinarily poor job.

      "There are many serious issues in education that require the attention of serious people. This “lefty, commie” political diversion is not one of them."
      
      Jonathan Chapman, Mansfield, Vic
      
      

    • HECS debts too high
      
      ""What on earth is happening to the education system in Australia? I’m not talking about curriculums or literacy or numeracy standards or nation-wide examinations but the exorbitant cost of obtaining a university degree.

      "A recent OECD report showed Australia as having the second highest cost (after the US) of university education among the developed countries. Then we top the list for the country which invests the least amount of funds towards university education for its youth ("Losing touch with the educated world”, Making The Boom Pay, 16/10). This is surely putting us on the road to disaster. I’m not necessarily proposing that universities be free (as anything given for nothing is often not valued by the receiver), but the cost should be bearable for the majority of students and not only those whose parents can afford to pay very high fees or students of wealthy families from other countries.

      "When the HECS scheme was introduced, the idea was that the students could take out a loan and repay it in a reasonable amount of time. However, at a cost on average of $6000 per annum or more, a four- to five-year full-time degree produces a debt of around $30,000 at the beginning of the individual’s working life. He/she is by then close to 30 years of age before he/she is free of the debt generated by educational preparation to enter the workforce. No wonder we are experiencing a shortage of doctors, engineers, etc, and have to import such professionals from other countries. Our young people are seeking out other means of getting on in this world; ways that do not burden them with unrealistic debts at the start of their working lives."
      
      V. M. Burns, Gold Coast, Qld
      
      

    Complete Letters to the Editor of The Australian at link
    
    
    

• The Independent
  
  
  • MPs attack 'waste of children's potential' in sub-standard schools
    by Sarah Cassidy, Education Correspondent
    
    "Nearly one million children are being taught in poorly performing schools, a committee of MPs has warned.

    "Pupils at 1,500 primary and secondary schools are being denied a proper education despite government investment of nearly £840m in initiatives designed to tackle sub-standard schools, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) said.

    "The Conservative MP Edward Leigh, chairman of the committee, said: "To waste so much human potential in this way is a tragedy. The consequences in the long term for the pupils and for our society will be severe."

    "The report coincided with the publication of data on failing schools from Ofsted, the schools watchdog. Although the number of failing institutions fell by 14 per cent over the past year to 208, the number judged to have serious problems short of failure rose by almost a third to 443..."
    
    Full story in The Independent at link
    
    
    

• The Guardian
  
  
  • Catholics and Jews attack controls on faith school intakes as veils row goes on
    by Stephen Bates and Tania Branigan
    
    * 'Quota' for pupils from other religions opposed
    * Kelly stands by criticisms of Muslim council
    
    "The Catholic church signalled its outright opposition last night to government proposals requiring new faith schools to admit as many as a quarter of their pupils from families of other faiths or no religions. The Board of Deputies of British Jews also expressed concern, saying the amendment to the education bill would be "nonsensical" if it prevented Jewish children from going to Jewish schools.

    "There was little sign of a dying down of the wider controversy over faith communities and their integration with other Britons, as the communities secretary, Ruth Kelly, defended her criticisms of the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) and new voices joined the row over veils.

    "The amendment to the education bill is designed to encourage communities to mix. But the Catholic church's education service voiced strong opposition to the measure, which would require it to accept a substantial proportion of non-Catholic pupils in its 2,000 schools. Unlike Church of England schools , Catholic schools were set up specifically to educate members of the faith..."

    Full story in The Guardian at link
    
    
  • Comment and Analysis on above story
    
    
    
    
• The Sydney Daily Telegraph
  
  
  • Minister fails the HSC test
    by Bruce McDougall, Education Reporter
    
    "The Federal Education Minister – champion of a national curriculum which could destroy NSW's HSC – has failed to produce one criticism of the state exam.
    Julie Bishop, invited by The Daily Telegraph yesterday to identify faults in the NSW Year 12 curriculum, backed away from criticising the HSC.

    "The minister did not nominate a single problem, instead issuing a statement saying: "We must aim for the highest educational standards across the country.

    "There is significant waste and duplication with each state and territory developing separate curriculum, and the standards vary considerably.

    "We need to pool available resources, identify the best practice that each state has to offer and develop a high quality and nationally consistent model curriculum, which would be then internationally benchmarked..."
    
    Full story in The Sydney Daily Telegraph at link
    
    
    

  • Editorial
    The numbers just don't add up
    
    "You've got to hand it to the education mandarins at the NSW Board of Studies – at this time of year they always talk up a good story.
    
    "And since it was revamped in 2001 the Higher School Certificate has become an excellent story, both for the board and for the incumbent Government.

    "Rightly, board president Gordon Stanley and Education Minister Carmel Tebbutt point to a solid record of enrolments in core subjects and a plethora of high achievers.
    
    "Although the numbers have plateaued to some extent, NSW still has a large body of students taking on demanding courses in English, mathematics and the sciences.

    "What the board is not so keen to talk about, though, is the looming crisis in maths – a problem that very soon will have national implications. At least an inquiry into the effectiveness of the maths syllabus in NSW is under way. But while Stanley and Tebbutt trumpet the merits of the internationally acclaimed HSC, academics and employers are sounding a dire warning..."

    Full editorial in The Sydney Daily Teleraph at link

     

• The Adelaide Advertiser
  
  
  • School funding 'linked to politics'
    by Laura Anderson
    
    "Labor has warned that federal funding of school infrastructure could be linked to political agendas.
    
    "Responding yesterday to an Advertiser report that South Australian public schools were increasingly requesting grants through the Investing in Our Schools program, Opposition education spokeswoman Jenny Macklin said the scheme was "open to politicisation".

    "Labor wants to make sure that these grants to schools respond to the needs in the schools, not to John Howard's political agenda," she said.

    "She said the program was skewed towards Liberal electorates, and did not allocate funding to the schools most in need.

    "But Education Minister Julie Bishop said projects were evaluated by an independent panel of parent and principal representatives. "Neither the Australian Government nor State Government has a vote," she said.

    "Claims of political bias are outrageous."
    
    From The Adelaide Advertiser at link
    
    
    

  • Editorial
    Squabbling over funds hurts pupils
    
    "Many parents with students at state schools would not be surprised by the revelation in yesterday's Advertiser that dilapidated schools are turning to the Commonwealth for help.
    
    "Nor would they have been surprised by examples of "disgusting toilets", unsafe play equipment and schools waiting 15 years for outdated chairs to be replaced.

    "They know many of the extras needed for schools are often paid for by the fundraising efforts of hard-working, dedicated parents.

    "In private schools, parents accept they will be asked to provide extra funds to cover building projects and activities such as sports.

    "But at public schools, parents feel the maintenance and upgrading of these institutions should sit squarely in the Government's court. Chook and meat tray raffles, cake stalls and lolly sales can only go so far. The money they raise is a drop in the ocean compared to the amount needed to really make some headway in fixing the backlog in this state alone..."
    
    Full editorial in The Adelaide Advertiser at link

    
    
    
• The Melbourne Age
  
  
  • Late-updating "Monday" Education Section [12 articles]
    
    
    
  • Educators call unhealthy food ban unworkable
    by Chee Chee Leung
    
    "Teachers, principals and school councils have described a State Government ban on unhealthy canteen food as unworkable, with some labelling the move a pre-election stunt..."
    
    Full story in The Melbourne Age at link
    
    
    
    
• The Sydney Morning Herald
  
  
  • Academics rule out spying on students
    
    
    

Wednesday 18 October

• Channel 7 News Poll: Do you have confidence in the Education Minister?
  
  95.4% of more than 5000 callers said they had no confidence in her !
  
  
  
• Channel 9 News Poll: Should the Education Minister be sacked?
  
  92.4 % of more than 2900 callers said she should be sacked !
  
  
  
  
• The West Australian
  
  "The Premier backs ministers who rip off their staff and refuse to take responsibility for their departments... top bureaucrats fail to protect our most vulnerable children... surgery is cancelled as emergency departments go into meltdown... and school students are told, 'Don't learn it, just Google it'... it's enough to make you ask..."
  
  
  • Who runs this mess?
    [Front Page Headline]
    by Robert Taylor, State Political Editor
    
    "Alan Carpenter refused to blame Education Minister Ljiljanna Ravlich yesterday over the latest scandal in the Education Department, effectively saying she could not be held accountable because she didn’t know what was going on in her department.
    
    "But Mr Carpenter is expected to come under scrutiny today after excerpts were aired last night of a 2004 television report into allegations of sexual misconduct against a teacher at Laverton, when the Premier was education minister.

    "Mr Carpenter yesterday defended his decision to oust long-serving education director-general Paul Albert over a damning Corruption and Crime Commission report into the department’s handling of sexual misconduct cases, saying public confidence in the system had to be restored.

    "Mr Albert agreed to resign at a meeting with Mr Carpenter on Monday night, just hours after the CCC report tabled in Parliament found the Education Department had mishandled its response to allegations of sexual contact between staff and students.

    "But Mr Carpenter said Ms Ravlich was not kept informed of the issues by the department and couldn’t be blamed for its poor performance. “There is ministerial responsibility, we all have responsibilities as ministers. But ministers when they discover information or find out information are expected to act,” Mr Carpenter said.

    “It is pretty hard for ministers to act when they don’t know information which should have been provided to them.”

    "Mr Carpenter, who was forced to take control of the controversial outcomes-based education issue from Ms Ravlich earlier this year, said she had assured him that she was not aware of the specifics of the CCC investigation until handed the report last Thursday.

    "But the Opposition said that Ms Ravlich was asked a series of questions about the department’s approach to 16 staff facing misconduct charges last year and she had assured Parliament that it was handling the matters appropriately.

    “I can advise that the matters have been and will be dealt with in accordance with the normal procedures in dealing with such matters,” Ms Ravlich told Parliament on November 16 last year.

    "In March this year, Ms Ravlich told the Opposition Leader in the Legislative Council, Norman Moore, that “such matters are dealt with according to processes and procedures of the Department of Education and Training”.

    "In last night’s TV excerpt, Ombudsman Deirdre O’Donnell told Channel 7 in 2004 that, after investigating the sexual misconduct allegations, the complaint and others involving similar issues “indicate there may be an underlying systemic problem in the way the department approaches complaint investigations”.

    "Opposition Leader Paul Omodei said yesterday that Ms Ravlich had been given ample opportunity to check that the department was following proper procedures.

    “We asked questions in September, October and November of last year and as late as March this year. The Minister knew very well what was going on in the Education Department,” Mr Omodei said.

    "It was also revealed yesterday that Mr Albert wrote to the CCC commissioner, Kevin Hammond, in August urging him not to release the report publicly.

    “It appears that the commission formed a view on matters without all the relevant facts associated with the identified cases. As such, it is my view that there is nothing in the draft report to sustain a position that warrants the matters being reported to Parliament,” Mr Albert wrote."

    From The West Australian at link
    
    
    
  • Editorial: State of disarray as arrogant Premier lowers standard again (page 22)
    
    "It could be said that Alan Carpenter has a talent for political catastrophe. That might be one explanation of how he manages to lead a Government riding a booming economy only to find himself constantly engulfed in crisis...
    
    "And in the case of incompetent but overbearing Education Minister Ljiljanna Ravlich, he saw fit yesterday to redefine the Westminster system to save her hide. He said she wasn't kept sufficiently informed to act on the issues covered in the damning Corruption and Crime Commission report on sexual misconduct cases. It is a minister's obligation to know what happens in his or her portfolio – that's an ineradicable part of the job description. Under Mr Carpenter's surreal redefinition of ministerial responsibility, minister would be quarantined from accountability for anything other than what bureaucrats chose to tell them. That, of course, could be helpful to Mr Carpenter as questions arise about what he might have known about matters in the CCC report during his time as education minister.
    
    "A scapegoat was needed and Mr Carpenter settled on education bureaucrat Paul Albert, who pocketed $344,000 to get off the scene. His departure was clouded with the ambiguity that is characteristic of this Government: apparently neither sacked outright nor voluntarily resigning (in which case he would not have been entitled to the huge payout).
    
    "So Ms Ravlich survives politically, bereft of public confidence in her competence to run the education system or willingness to accept responsibility, but somehow not out of place in an arrogant administration prepared to tax people to the hilt but deaf to pleas for improved public services.
    
    "And Mr Carpenter, favoured by history in arriving at the leadership in boom conditions not of the Government's making, has again lowered the standard of political accountability. However long his premiership lasts, he risks the judgement of history that he was either not up to the job or rendered terminally ineffectual by Labor' factions."
    
    Full Editorial in The West Australian
    
    
    
  • Ravlich has left a trail of wreckage (page 6)
    Analysis by Jessica Strutt
    
    "It should come as no surprise to anyone that education has emerged as a battleground under Ljiljanna Ravlich.

    "She’s headstrong, gaffe-prone, has reeled from crisis to crisis and heads have rolled all around her.

    "Clues to what was about to unfold in education emerged in Ms Ravlich’s first in-depth interview after being made Education Minister.

    "She set the scene for her long and bloody battle with teachers by declaring she would be looking for ways to help “tired teachers” out of the system to make way for younger, more enthusiastic people.

    "Ms Ravlich mooted a fresh accountability regime in that March 2005 interview, saying teachers and principals would be held accountable for the performance of their students and schools.

    But it seems that in the 19 months since, the only person not held accountable is the Minister.

    "Under her reign, the heads of her departments, Curriculum Council chief executive Norma Jeffery — who oversaw the implementation of the controversial outcomes-based education system — and now longserving Education Department boss Paul Albert, have been pushed out.

    "Ms Jeffery was moved sideways into the Department of Premier and Cabinet as the Government tried to shift blame for the bungled implementation of OBE on to the Curriculum Council. She is now executive director of policy with the Education Department.

    "Ms Ravlich’s penchant for pushing people sideways was highlighted again last week by claims from the father of former Halls Creek District High School principal Garry Smith that she forced his son out of his job because of his involvement in the noschool, no-welfare scheme, which she opposes.

    "Ms Ravlich has also shown an undeniable ability to put her foot in it.

    "Last year she told a teacher nominated for the Premier’s Teacher of the Year Award that she could use her $1000 prize money to buy a new dress and some perfume.

    "When Governor-General Michael Jeffery raised concerns about Wiluna School in May, saying it was the worst he had seen, the Minister went on the attack.

    "Within hours she was forced into an embarrassing backdown, acknowledging the problems with the school, including its proximity to sewage ponds, should have been dealt with sooner.

    "In August, she said it was not important for students to know key historical dates, saying they could find the information using the internet search engine Google.

    "She added that lack of knowledge about Australian history was similar to students not knowing “the internal workings of a computer”.

    "But until the CCC’s damning report into the Education Department emerged on Monday, it has been in the OBE debate that Ms Ravlich has hit most trouble.

    "As the debate raged about the merits and implementation of OBE, the former teacher and deputy principal’s comments raised the ire of educators.

    "But she put her head down, denied widespread concern and refused to delay courses even in the face of mounting criticism and pressure from school groups.

    "She even declared OBE a “dead issue” before the findings of a parliamentary inquiry into the issue were handed down.

    "In the end, her handling of OBE became nothing short of farcical and Alan Carpenter was forced to take control of the debacle.

    "But still Ms Ravlich continues to have the support of the Premier and despite her woes appears untouchable.

    "However, in the end there is a truth that cannot be escaped. Ultimately, the buck stops with the Minister.

    "On the back of the CCC report, if Ms Ravlich is still unsure what the correct course of action to take is, maybe she should Google the answer on the internet."
    
    From The West Australian at link
    
    

  
  
  © The West Australian
  

  • See no evil, hear no evil and her job’s safe (page 7)
    by Robert Taylor, Political Sketch
    
    "Alan Carpenter said yesterday Paul Albert had to go as director-general of education “in the best interests of public confidence in the education system”.

    "But most parents wouldn’t know Mr Albert from a hole in the ground. The public face of education in this State is clearly Minister Ljiljanna Ravlich and as long as she stays in the job confidence in the system will not be restored.

    "Ms Ravlich, however, is not going anywhere because — and this is the doozey — she didn’t know what was going on in her own department.

    "Apparently these days, that lets you keep your job, if you’re a politician that is. If you’re a high-level bureaucrat it gets you early retirement and a big send-off courtesy of the taxpayer.

    "Ms Ravlich is politics’ equivalent of Shultz — she knows nothing..." [emphasis added]

    Full story in The West Australian at link
    
    
    
    
  • Labor pays $12m to buy public servants’ silence (page 7)
    by Amanda Banks and Bethany Hiatt
    
    "The Labor Government has spent nearly $12 million getting rid of 84 senior public servants who have been silenced under secrecy provisions attached to their payouts..."
    
    "Alan Carpenter has approved another eight so-called “golden gags” since he became Premier in February, including the package for Mr Albert and a deal believed to be worth $150,000 for the Education Department’s head of human resources, Alby Huts..." [emphasis added]
    
    Full story in The West Australian at link
    
    
    
    
  • Three staff at centre of sex row still at work (page 7)
    by Jessica Strutt
    
    "Three school staff who are the subject of sexual misconduct investigations were still working in schools yesterday after Education Minister Ljiljanna Ravlich ordered the Education Department to conduct an urgent review and update her on pending cases..."
    
    Full story in The West Australian at link
    
    
    
    
  • Five Letters to the Editor (page 25)
    
    
    • Please, just go
      
      "Ms Ravlich, why on Earth are you still there? You are not representing the interests of our children. You cannot escape blame by claiming ignorance. You are not paid to be ignorant.
      
      "Just resign and let someone else who can do the job take over. You obviously can't. First OBE, which was a mess and your boss had to sort it out, now this. I see he had to do the firing this time as well.
      
      "Just do the right thing and go. The longer you stay in your portfolio the less you do the right thing, and the more our education system and students suffer."
      
      Andrew Edwards, Beeliar
      
      
      
    • Another teacher crushed
      
      "Well done The West Australian for the editorial (14/10) about the manner in which Ljiljanna Ravlich has conducted herself as Education Minister. Mr Smith senior's account of the way in which his son, the former principal of Halls Creek District High School, was chastised and coerced into vacating his position made frightening reading..."
      
      "Please do not publish my name because I am an employee of the WA Education Department and not in a position to speak out against the Government in this democratic country."
      
      Name and address supplied
      
      
      
    • Explode this bomb
      
      "At what point does Ljiljanna Ravlich's role as Minister for Education reach "critical mass"? The voting public agrees that the calamity and crises surrounding her botched implementation of OBE, new courses of study, abuse cover-ups and Halls Creek saga are more than enough to trigger her detonation as Minister.
      
      "We know it and I think the Premier knows it, but he retains this strange addiction to retaining the mediocre and claim it as quality. In this case, short of a few unpaid driving fines turning up, I think it is well and truly time that the Premier detonated this bomb."
      
      David Sargent, Joondalup
      
      
      
    • She should know
      
      "Our Premier defends Ljiljanna Ravlich in the school furore because she did not know what was going on. Surely that very fact damns her? She in the Minister and is entitled (some would say required) to ask whatever questions she wants and demand answers. A competent boss would insist of being kept informed, particularly of bad news, well in advance of any likely consequences.
      
      "The CCC inquiry has been going on for some time and must have been asking many questions of the Education Department. Was Ms Ravlich totally unaware of what was going on? A poor defence, Premier, and if you accept that then you are equally culpable."
      
      John Smith, Currambine
      
      
      
    • Don't blame Albert
      
      "I am incensed that a perfectly good chief, Paul Albert, has been made to resign. The department is admittedly an expansive and bureaucratic machine, but it is constantly hampered in its efforts to terminate the employment of staff who do not perform to expectation or "do the wrong" thing..."
      
      "There is no such thing as a simple and uncomplicated procedure. There are definitely things that need to change, but it is certainly no fault of Paul Albert. His position was really more of a figurehead.[An expensive one, at $344,000 pa.   Web] It's the employees at the lower levels who make the decisions and often don't inform him properly.
      
      "I word for the department and would appreciate my name not being published."
      
      Name and address supplied
      
      
      
      
  • Alston Cartoon (page 22)
    
    

  
  
  © The West Australian
  
  
  

  • Two stabbed at Bunbury school (page 15)
    by Suellen Jerrard
    
    "Two Bunbury high school students were stabbed yesterday, allegedly by a classmate, in a scene Education Department officials admitted was reminiscent of the fatal Churchlands attack 14 years ago and recent violence in the US..."
    
    Full story in The West Australian at link
    
    
    
    
• ABC News
  
  
  • Carpenter stands by Ravlich
    
    "The Western Australian Premier Alan Carpenter is still defending his Education Minister, Ljiljanna Ravilich, in the face of Opposition claims her explanations do not stack up.

    "The Minister has been under pressure since Monday, after a damning report by the Corruption and Crime Commission (CCC) into her department's handling of sexual misconduct allegations.

    "The Minister insists she first became aware of the problem last Thursday, however the Opposition says that is not credible because her director-general, Paul Albert, was given a draft report in August.

    "Mr Carpenter says Mr Albert took the decision not to advise the Minister after receiving advice from the CCC.

    "If I had lost confidence in Ljiljanna, L