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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2008-11-26 Daily Xml
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ROSE PARK PRIMARY SCHOOL

Mr PISONI (Unley) (16:03): Yesterday I gave the Minister for Education an opportunity to dismiss allegations that she used her position to unfairly intervene in the day-to-day running of the Rose Park Primary School and she refused to rule it out. She was given the opportunity to say yes or no and she refused to do it. Why did I ask the question? Because this is what I have been advised by the school community, which is extremely concerned over the minister's actions.

Rose Park Primary has a zoned mainstream school of some 350 students and an unzoned Family Unit of 59 students that uses alternative, and some would say unorthodox, methods to deliver the DECS curriculum. The Family Unit has seen a drop in student numbers and resignations of teachers whilst the successful mainstream school is bursting at the seams as it grows. Incidentally, the school has had seven principals in seven years.

Elements of this unique education approach of the Family Unit include students who start their day later and do not wear uniforms. It is obviously difficult for them to get there at 8.45am, so they start at 9.30am instead. The unit has access to larger classroom spaces and smaller class sizes with better teacher to student ratios than the mainstream school at Rose Park.

In August this year the principal and staff agreed to adjust staffing to match demand in the school, resulting in a reduction of the generous resources of the Family Unit which could no longer be rationally justified. To clarify the principal's decision, Family Unit parent and school chair, Austin White, an ASU official who is used to getting his own way, wrote a letter dated 22 September to Don Mackie, Manager, Legislation and Legal Services at the department of education. Mr Mackie's response was crucial. He wrote:

If it is the matter of the Principal determining what classes be in place for 2009, it is clear to say—

and the words 'ultimate responsibility' are underlined—

that the ultimate responsibility for such is a management decision is for the Principal. Obviously this does not mean that the Council should not be consulted etc, but simply the final issue is one of school management.

At about the same time, Margaret Sexton, a parent of the Family Unit and former UTLC president, and a good friend of the Minister for Education, emailed the minister to protest about the proposed changes. Some tell me she was a key player in the minister's campaign for the seat of Adelaide and is deeply embedded in the ALP. People aware of the email have told me that Margaret Sexton threatened an injunction over the principal's decision, warning, 'This will get ugly if you don't do something.'

I am advised that Ms Sexton went on to request that an additional teacher be supplied to the Family Unit and that an extra classroom be placed in the school so that, in effect, the Family Unit could be exempt from the same criteria used by every other state school in Australia for determining teacher numbers and classroom space—a very intimidating email, of course, coming from an industrial relations conciliator with the Industrial Relations Court.

It seems that, as a result of the email, the district director contacted the school and asked for information to be provided for ministerial briefings. On 22 October, Judy Day, the District Duty Director of School Operations at DECS, met with the principal and the governing council. Soon after the meeting started the principal was asked to leave the meeting. The next day the principal was told by Judy Day that the Family Unit would get the extra teacher, a decision that was viewed by the crowded general school community as being unfair and unjustified.

On 28 October Judy Day met with Austin White and the deputy chair, and the principal was once again excluded from the meeting. I understand that DECS then agreed to all terms put to them by Austin White. The principal was then given directions of how he was to run the school for the benefit of the Family Unit parents. In other words, he was told that the Family Unit would be run by Mr Austin White and Margaret Sexton, including enrolment of students without school approval.

I can assure the house that the staff and parents of Rose Park Primary School are devastated. This is a clear misuse of the minister's power, and the minister must justify her actions. She must explain to parents and teachers why she has been in dispute with the AEU all year for the right for principals to run their own schools, yet at the first opportunity runs roughshod over the principal's right and responsibility to manage his school effectively, when she has abused her power as the minister for the personal benefit of her good friend, Margaret Sexton.

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