Monday, 11 June 2012
A factual perspective to the school funding debate
Letter writer Phil Francis points out some salient facts in the education funding debate in today's Daily Examiner.
Heavy lifters
Why did the comprehensive Gonski review call for changes to the way schools are funded? Because public schools are there for all - they do the 'heavy lifting' by catering for disadvantaged children.
Consider these facts . . .
Public school/Private school enrolments are in the ratio 66:34. The equivalent ratio for 'At Risk students' is 79:21; for ESL New Arrivals Program: 91:9; for Students with Disabilities and Special Needs: 80:20; for Indigenous Students: 86:14; The proportion of students enrolled in remote public schools is 1.8% compared to 0.8% in private schools; for very remote schools 1.2% compared to 0.3%. These figures delve to the heart of where funding should be directed.
Public schools have a legal and moral responsibility to be open to all students; private schools don't and aren't.
Phill Francis, Wooloweyah
On the NSW North Coast the third tier of government continues to chaff under short-sighted O'Farrell Government policies
Clarence Valley Shire Council
Committee: ENVIRONMENT, ECONOMIC & COMMUNITY
Section: Notice of Motion – Councillor Sue Hughes
Date: 12 June 2012
Item: 14.005/12 COAL SEAM GAS
To the General Manager, Clarence Valley Council
SUMMARY
I propose that the following report and notice of motion be submitted to Council.
PROPOSED MOTION
That Council:
1. Acknowledge their statutory responsibilities in relation to planning development applications and assessment, Council as a matter of social responsibility and in the long term sustainability interests of the environment and the community which they represent, support a moratorium on Coal Seam Gas activities within the Clarence Valley area until there are clear land use legislation and policies enacted by the NSW Government to responsibly guide and regulate the Coal Seam Gas industry.
2. Note the 35 recommendations in the Report from the NSW Government's General Purpose Standing Committee No. 5 on Coal Seam Gas and write to the NSW Government expressing the desire for the outcomes to be dealt with as a matter of urgency.
3. Notes the list of roads handed to the Mayor in Lismore at the regional rally 12 May 2012 by residents of the Ewingar district declaring the road reserves CSG free.....................
Coffs Harbour City Council
NOM12/3 – Opposition to Private Shooting in National Parks.
14 June 2012
Councillor Mark Graham has given notice of his intention to move:
Purpose:
That Council note:
1. The NSW Government is seeking to allow private shooting in national parks and other conservation reserves.
2. The NSW Government proposes to allow private shooting in conservation reserves in the Coffs Harbour Local Government Area.
3. It is irresponsible for any government to be proposing an activity which will be dangerous to members of the public and others who use conservation reserves for recreational purposes.
4. While feral animal control is an important activity, it is only safe and effective when undertaken professionally and as humanely as possible. This can only be achieved through the resourcing of professional control programs implemented by state conservation agencies.
That council:
1. Oppose this dangerous proposal by the NSW government; and
2. Write to the Premier and the Environment Minister in opposition to the proposal to allow private shooting in conservation reserves.
Staying at home on the June long weekend seen as political dysfunction
Now I know that Bob Ellis likes to draw a long bow, but this is plain ridiculous.
From the perspective of stay at home who is old, ill, childless, very sane and who would never in a month of Sundays vote Liberals, Nationals, Family First, DLP or LNP – sit on it and rotate Bob!
Matt
Northern Rivers
* GuestSpeak is a feature of North Coast Voices allowing Northern Rivers residents to make satirical or serious comment on issues that concern them. Posts of 250-300 words or less can be submitted to ncvguestspeak AT gmail.com.au for consideration.
What Clarence Valley Council is considering without formal community consultation
Local government on the NSW North Coast is nothing if not predictable.
Clarence Valley Council at its 12 June 2012 Civil and Corporate Committee meeting will be considering these Yamba Road By-Pass options set out below.
Valley residents and ratepayers will note the lack of consultation with the Yamba community, concerning this piecemeal approach to both the original By-Pass Plan and the ongoing pressure of competing road uses on Yamba Road itself.
It is my understanding that the recent surveying of a prospective By-pass section and accompanying wildlife corridor assessment was done without most, if not all, Clarence Valley Shire councillors being aware that anything was afoot.
Having been caught out attempting to progress these by-pass changes under the radar, on 6 June 2012 Council management advertised a public workshop to inform councillors. To be held 65 kms distant from Yamba, a bare 90 minutes before the Civil and Corporate Committee meets and without the community being able to express an opinion!
Click on images to enlarge
Reserve Bank Governor reminds Australia that its economy is sound
Peter Martin quoting Governor Glenn Stevens on 8th June 2012:
"According to data published this week by the Australian Statistician, real GDP rose by over 4 per cent over the past year. This outcome includes the recovery from the effects of flooding a year ago, so the underlying pace of growth is probably not quite that fast, but it is quite respectable – something close to trend. Unemployment is about 5 per cent. Core inflation is a bit above 2 per cent. The financial system is sound. Our government is one among only a small number rated AAA, with manageable debt. We have received a truly enormous boost in national income courtesy of the high terms of trade. This, in turn, has engendered one of the biggest resource investment upswings in our history, which will see business capital spending rise by another 2 percentage points of GDP over 2012/13, to reach a 50-year high."
Of course that didn't stop a privileged blowin like South African-Israeli-Australian Ivan teh Grate from spouting this nonsense, from atop the dizzying peak of his 'on paper' fortune, to the Herald Sun on the very same day:
"IVAN Glasenberg, the nation's second wealthiest person, says Australia is a less attractive place to invest than the world's poorest country, the Congo.
Mr Glasenberg, pictured, the South-African-born head of commodities giant Glencore, said the carbon tax and mining resources rent tax had damaged Australia's reputation.
He told an industry dinner in London that mining companies were disadvantaged in Australia as they had less leverage.
"At least in the Congo they need you, they want you there, and if they start changing the rules you may not continue investing," said Mr Glasenberg, an Australian citizen whose wealth is estimated at more than $7 billion.
The war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo this year was named by The Richest magazine as the world's poorest nation."
Sunday, 10 June 2012
School children used as weapons in flying fox fight
This whole sorry saga could have been avoided if the Gulmarrad Public School staff member responsible for choosing articles to be submitted to The Daily Examiner had acted as a responsible educator.
One has to suspect that one or more adults having direct contact with these primary school children decided to use them as a vehicle to spread their own particular anti-flying fox bias. The level of misinformation in the short article in question defies any other explanation.
Children have a right to participate in community debate, but do not have an automatic right to always be protected from learning from their mistakes. Hopefully they will learn that one does not necessarily implicitly trust the views of another person simply because they are older in years or blindly accept the opinions of journalists because these have been published in print or online.
One has to also hope that those who learnt the most valuable lesson from this episode will be the parents and teachers of Clarence Valley school children, so that in the future they provide information supported by fact with regard to Australian native wildlife.
The Daily Examiner 23 May 2012:
Bat track success
I WRITE to thank the numerous people that assisted the Maclean High School Bat Tracking Project and contributed to providing a quality experience for the students.
The project aimed to engage local students of Maclean High School in wildlife research and forms part of their HSC Biology Course. It involved trapping and collaring flying-foxes to track their movements. Despite a few initial obstacles and very early starts, the students (and their parents) persevered and thoroughly enjoyed the field work component.
Everyone worked well as a team and learnt a lot - about each other, about bats and about the controversy of working with this particular group of animals.
The team caught a total of 63 flying-foxes at the Yamba colony and attached four satellite transmitters to adult males. Already we are getting great movement data from these tagged animals. One flying-fox (named "Wayne" by the students) is flying a huge 32km nightly to feed in coastal paperbark forest south of Sandon Village.
A lot of volunteer work by many people over many months made this project a success and I am truly grateful for all the hard work.
The project was supported by a handful of dedicated volunteers, parents of students, local businesses and community groups as well as both local and state governments. Thank you also to Deborah Novak for donating her time and expertise to produce great photos and videos of the project.
Lastly, it was a pleasure to work with these inquisitive, hard-working and bright students and I look forward to continuing to track the activities of the flying-foxes with them over the coming months. Such projects are extremely rewarding for so many people and I hope that similar wildlife project continue at local schools.
To see a small one-minute film go to http://vimeo.com/42398697.
BILLIE ROBERTS
Wildlife Biologist
Harwood
The Gulmarrad Gazette in The Daily Examiner 29 May 2012:
Bats, bats, bats
WHAT do you think about bats? We have been around most of the classrooms at Gulmarrad School to see what students think about the bats.
A high percentage of the children recommend that that the bats should be removed from Maclean.
It is a health hazard and not to mention the destruction of our rainforest.
The bats are a big health hazard because their poo is dropped all over the school grounds and all over the kids' lunches. This is terribly bad because it spreads horrible diseases including the Hendra virus. This disease can make people and students very sick and can even result in death.
Secondly the bats are destroying the rainforest and killing all the native animals and their native habitats. Bats are also destroying our beautiful trees and shredding their branches. If the bats do not go soon there might not be a rainforest left for your child and their children to enjoy.
Thirdly students are getting distracted in class because of all the noise the bats are making. Also when a loud sound is made the bats go crazy and circle around the school creating an even louder racket.
In conclusion, the students of Gulmarrad School strongly believe that the Maclean bats should be removed immediately. It is a giant health hazard for the students of Maclean High School and members of the wider community and we hope that when we go there next year they are gone forever and only a distant memory.
Think about your kid's health and education; it might be on the line.
Kalisha Mueller and Matilda Arndell
The Daily Examiner 2 June 2012:
Flying foxes faux pas
PERHAPS the Gulmarrad Gazette Newspapers in Education pages published by the Examiner on 29/5/2012 should be called Newspapers in Miseducation.
I refer to the piece entitled "Bats, bats, bats," which contains far more fiction than fact about flying foxes. If I were a teacher at Gulmarrad School, I would be ashamed to be exposing to the general public mine and my students total lack of knowledge about these animals. Presumably a teacher read this poor excuse for an article before sending it for publication, and chose not to take the opportunity to educate these misinformed students so that they could provide a factual, useful story, instead propagating lies and unnecessary worries about the situation at Maclean High School.
Just a couple of the falsehoods in the story are:
1. the bats' "poo...spreads horrible diseases such as the Hendra virus." It doesn't. Hendra simply cannot be contracted by humans from flying foxes.
2. "Bats are destroying the rainforest and killing all the native animals and their native habitats". They aren't. Humans have already destroyed almost all of the rainforest so that flying foxes are now concentrated in the remnants. Many rainforest trees would die out if it weren't for flying foxes pollinating them and dispersing their seeds, contributing significantly to rainforest ecology. And flying foxes are herbivores, causing the deaths of no native animals.
As for the statement that when a "loud sound is made the bats go crazy and circle around ... making an even louder racket": wouldn't this be an argument against the illegal noise used by residents, and illegal and legal noise made at times by the Maclean High School, to intentionally disturb the bats?
I understand that the Examiner editorship thinks that demonising bats sells more newspapers than presenting facts, let alone good news stories about them. A case in point is the article published recently about the vandalism by residents of equipment being used in the project involving Maclean High students in satellite tracking some flying foxes.
The Examiner seemed desperate to highlight the only negative aspect of the whole fascinating project, rather than take the opportunity to present a truly good news story, where students are learning some state-of-the-art scientific techniques, and thereby gaining insights into these animals that may lead to our managing bat-human interrelations better.
But I would seriously question the ethics of a newspaper publishing misinformation, albeit presented by teachers and students, in any context, without at least acknowledging that it is not factual.
Linda Wright
Lawrence NSW
ED'S NOTE: The Gulmarrad School has since arranged for an expert to visit the school to educate pupils further on flying foxes.
The Daily Examiner 6 June 2012:
Lay off the kids!
THE Newspapers in Education offered by the DEX is a wonderful and important opportunity for local school kids to share their opinions with our community.
This opportunity for a class of Gulmarrad kids has sadly resulted in a personal attack on their efforts, their teacher and their school.
While Linda Wright's (DEX, June 2) intention may have been to highlight misinformation presented by students in regard to Maclean's bat colony, such a personal attack on children as young as 10 and 11, hard working teachers, an entire school was inappropriate.
Regardless of "the context", what will the kids ultimately learn from this experience?
Simply, that if you make a mistake in your delivery, an adult in your community will personally attack and humiliate you, your teacher and your school for it.
Have you considered the kids whose first attempts at persuasive writing you described as "a poor excuse," and worse, to be "ashamed" of their efforts?
Your intention may have been to correct misinformation, your approach was heavy handed.
I feel for the parents of the children who wrote the article, who must now explain why an adult feels it is acceptable to defame a child's character, and school, for expressing a different opinion to their own - with or without facts. We are talking about kids here.
Furthermore, teachers at Gulmarrad are not in the habit of deliberately peddling untruths as you suggest.
I am offended that you have questioned the ability of a quality teacher, without knowing anything about the dedicated professional he is.
You speak of the Maclean High School Project. I attended the counting night as an interested community member (with my two excited Gulmarrad children in tow), so that they could understand more about our fascinating colony.
On return to school, my daughter's teacher invited her to share the same facts you list in your letter.
She was so proud of her involvement in the study, and that her knowledge was valued by her teacher and shared in her classroom. Unfortunately she is now upset and offended by your letter, because you claim she is bereft of the knowledge she learnt first hand from this experience.
Linda, your passion and knowledge could have been best shared, (and so greatly appreciated), in the classroom speaking with these kids, rather than publicly shaming not only them, but their entire school.
This would at least have given the class a chance to present all their knowledge on this controversial topic.
In future, please leave Gulmarrad kids out of your ongoing argument with the Examiner.
BELINDA CAMERON
Gulmarrad
What on earth is happening at Teh Egg Timer?
Teh Good Ol’ Egg Timer (purveyor of news since 1859) may rarely have looked into local matters in depth, but with the exception of the period when Chappo was editor, it at least checked its facts.
Not anymore, the canary down the journalism mine is lying on the cage floor.
Now it seems any local mischief maker or neighbourhood stirrer can take a lend of the news room.
Here’s the latest not-so-hilarious lurch along the way.
The Daily Examiner 2nd April 2012:
“High school poison scare
THE parent of a Maclean High School student has told The Examiner that a prank at a school social last week resulted in up to 10 students being hospitalised.
The woman said during an all-years social held at the Yamba Bowling Club on Thursday evening, one or more students poured "glow stick" fluid into jugs of drinks.
She said in addition to her own son being sick for two days following the event, she had since heard that up to 10 students were taken by ambulance to hospital.
The Daily Examiner will follow up on this story in tomorrow's paper.”
The Daily Examiner 3rd April 2012:
“Poison claims "wrong"
SCHOOL authorities have dismissed reports up to 10 students became ill after consuming a drink spiked with the contents of a glow stick during a Maclean High School social last week.
One parent told The Examiner a number of students got sick after consuming the drink, but school principal Tony Carr said the claim was wrong. He said one male student had the contents of a glow stick poured into his drink, but he tipped it out. However, he refilled the glass and reported being ill after that. Mr Carr said he was collected by his parents. He said the social was a success.”
The Daily Examiner 9th June 2012:
“The Examiner: 'spiked drink' story apology
ON APRIL 2, 2012, The Daily Examiner published a news brief claiming up to 10 students of Maclean High School had become ill and had to be taken by ambulance to hospital after consuming drinks spiked with the contents of glow sticks at a school social dance. The brief was based on the claims of a parent of one of the students at the school.
The Examiner acknowledges the report was inaccurate and that further checking of the information contained in the brief should have occurred before publication.
The parents of two of the school's students have since said their children were ill after attending the dance and their children reported others were ill.
The children told their parents it was their understanding the contents of a glow stick were poured into drinks.
The ambulance service has no record of attending the dance.
The Examiner apologises for any embarrassment caused to the school or to teachers who were on duty at the social.”
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