An abuse of Privilige.The DET can now diagnose mental illness and reject professional expertise stating otherwise

An article from Indymedia Australia by casidhe on 28 Jan 2010

Imagine you are sane . You share the same stresses as anybody in the community...possible more because you have 2 children with types of Autism as do other members of your family but beyond this you are mentally well and have a high IQ. Now picture this strange and insane scenario. The Principal of a school decides you are insane and that your parenting is responsible for your children's Autism. Now imagine being held responsible for behaviours that are typical of a child with Aspergers. Thats right YOU are responsible for their anxiety ,learning difficulties ,melt-downs etc because the Principal has decided without YOU the children would be "normal"....You might then begin to imagine how I feel except it gets worse .MUCH worse.

Imagine the same Principal receives reports from other Health-Care professionals that demonstrate your capacity to care for your children and in fact commend you for your high quality of parenting .Understand also that the childrens psychologist has had regular home visits. However the Principal is not convinced by these reports by Experts with the essential expertise. She knows better. Despite only seeing you 4 or 5 times and NEVER with your children she somehow has a gut feeling that you are damaging your children.Now imagine a feeling of complete despair.

Under the safe blanket of " qualified privilige " the Principal can inform Docs and the Police,her own staff and the DET that she genuinely believes you are mentally ill and that the children are at risk in your care " She can do this without a shred of evidence and the DET won't expect her to provide any . In fact if you complain about this horrifying treatment the DET will also proceed to diagnose you under the same safe blanket of "qualified privilige" and all that will be needed is for you to demonstrate legitimate stress at a very distressing situation. Show any emotion and you will be damned.

If you dare to complain again you can these be accused of aggression, villification and creating conflict and fear ....these very powerful and damaging allegations can be made without a single specific fact or shred of evidence. The DET can and will ignore your requests for dates,times,names and refuse to inform you with ANY information. Your requests for mediation with these unnamed staff will also be ignored. Can you imagine how I felt and fell ? I can't even describe it.

If you were not mentally ill before this treatment you may feel yourself teetering on the brink . You will certainly become depressed and upset and appalled and this won't go in your favour at all ,it will serve as further fuel for the DET to burn you with. Plead all you like but not a drop of compassion will come your way ! Interestingly despite the DET stating and insisting you are mentally ill and that the Principal has every right to say so you will not be offered any extra support or assistance...instead you will be ridiculed and treated with increasing hostility and smothered with the stigma the DET seem to feel that anyone with mental Health issues deserves !

Then imagine the ensuing horror as it dawns on you that even if all your children's Health Professional support you the DET can and will ignore them all and proceed to write a 30 page review about you that carefully omits any reference to Expert opinion that contradicts their own. Now imagine the desperation that sets in as you are forced to take your children to other professionals in the vain hope that the DET may listen to them. Abandon all hope now because it simply doesn't matter that you have paid $700 to prove to the DET that you not mentally ill.If the DET states you ,you are. They don't need any psychiatric or psychologist training.

The fact is I have Aspergers.I am NOT mentally ill. Autism is not a mental illness.I have a High IQ.I am eloquent and expressive but I fail utterly to read between the lines,I am a dismal failure at sarcasm and fall for it all the time,I am trusting ,I rigidly tell the truth and do not lie, I am possibly fatally honest , I am horrified by lies but I will believe you unless I know the otherwise,I am naive, I am shy but outspoken, I am most likely to make a social gaffe , I am an eternal collector of trivia, but why is this grounds for such appalling discrimination and abuse .......what happened to my human rights ? What happened to my childrens rights ? Under this blanket of "qualified privilige" that the DET hides behind you can and will be stripped of all worth.You have NO rights at all.

There may be "qualified privilige" but an abuse of such a privilige by people in highly respected and powerful positions should not be possible. All people should be held accountable for their actions. I have a letter from the DET that accuses me of daring to question highly respected Officers in the DET. I have another letter stating these people are beyond question......are they? I believed Australia was a democracy. Nobody should be beyond question. Surely it is my right to question anyone no matter what their position of power,authority and respect . Where is the respect for me ? Where are the HONEST answers to my questions?.

How can this happen in Australia ?

Carenne Support may have breached fundraising legislation

Following inquiries surrounding Carenne Support's fundraising licence, it has been discovered that the Carenne Special School bus appeal in 2004 and 2005 may have been conducted unlawfully and without a licence.

During my investigations I have discovered that Carenne Support first received a licence to conduct fundraising in NSW on April 3rd 2007, despite the bus appeal being carried out two years earlier. At the time of the bus appeal, the Bathurst community was led to believe that the buses (valued at some $130,000) were for Carenne Special School.

No mention was made at the Carenne Charity Ball in late 2004, which cricket legend Doug Walters attended, nor was it made at the handover of the buses in July 2005.

It has now been revealed that these buses, purchased for Carenne Special School are in fact owned by Carenne Support and one is used for a highly-profitable bus run. Even though donors were misled about the appeal being for the school and not the attached charity, Carenne Support did not hold a licence to conduct or benefit from the appeal at the time it was ran.

In addition to this, Communities NSW advised me today that Carenne Support's fundraising licence lapsed between April 2009 and Janaury 14 2010 as they had not re-applied. Any fundraising appeals conducted during this period are also illegal. You would think that a fundraising licence would be something of importance to a charity and it demonstrates the negligence of those involved in this organisation.

Staffing under the spotlight

For a while now there has been comments made about staffing practices at the Carenne Special School. A number of staff have raised concern about how family and friends take precedence over more skilled staff.

The current concern is centred around Doug Rowe, husband of teacher's aide Margaret (and member of the Carenne Klan) who has been maneuvering to stop the school's former groundsperson from returning to his position. Mr Rowe was given the position by Lynette Duncan after the groundsman went on sick leave in mid-2009. Staff complained at the time that there were more suitable people for the position and that the decision had only been made to strengthen the influence of the Carenne Klan.

Earlier in the year, Mrs Duncan came under scrutiny when she employed her own husband to relieve for the school's administration manager when she went on sick leave. Staff believed it to be inappropriate for the principal's husband to be employed in such a position.

The problem goes back far further than Mrs Duncan's principalship. In the past, staff claim that they have complained about the employment of casuals who are related to or friends with one and another and promotions based on friendship and loyalty. Many staff have made the charge that the merit selection process at Carenne Special School has been rigged to produce a particular outcome, as with that earlier in 2009.

Staff allege that most casual staffing decisions are made by Simone Russell and Lee Churches, bypassing the principal, despite this being usual procedure.

It is time the Department of Education and Training has a close look at the farce that is staffing at Carenne Special School. It is a key tenet of public employment that appointments are to be based upon merit, staffing at Carenne Special School is instead based on nepocracy.

UPDATE: It has been revealed that Simone Russell, who has been accused on both this site and Sydney Indymedia of dishonest practices will be moving into a Student Learning Support Officer (teacher's aide) position this year after she trains her replacement School Administration Manager. The reasons for such a move are unknown at present.

Students turn to the courts for relief from bullies

The bought and paid for media is reporting on how children as young as 10 are turning to the courts to get apprehended violence orders to protect themselves from other students, with as many as 613 being issued last year.

The trend is a worrying trend and teachers have lashed out saying that having to separate disputing parties is disruptive to schools. Psychologists claim that children are being failed by adults when the only option for protection is to seek an AVO from the court.

Wagga Wagga's Senior Constable Steven Johnson said some students were taking out AVOs against fellow classmates in a sort of arms race or "one upmanship". When they come into conflict with a rival they threaten them with the AVO.

The trend shows problems with bullying policies in NSW schools, no surprise really when you read about how some teachers threaten other staff without disciplinary action, students are roughly treated and encourage students to have fights. This kind of behaviour by school staff sets an example for students that shows this kind of behaviour is acceptable.

Carenne Special School teacher accused of making threats against whistleblower

A teacher of Carenne Special School who has been accused of involvement in the Carenne Gate Affair has been accused of making threats against whistle blower Brian Carter and his son Nathan by the Carenne Saviours.

The Carenne Saviours claim that Mr Auld believes the Carter family are responsible for complaints about corruption, child abuse and malfeasance at Carenne Special School involving himself and a number of other staff, which have become known as the "klan".

The saviours claim that Mr Auld has been trying to have Nathan Carter dismissed from the Department of Education and Training since the beginning of 2009 and has made a number of complaints about him. They also claim he has attempted to implicate Mr Carter and other people whom he has named as "snitches" in confidentiality breaches.

Following claims on Sydney Indymedia that Nathan Carter could be returning to Carenne Special School, Mr Auld made a threat that should he return to Carenne he would assault him. This threat was made in front of a number of Carenne Special School staff and was made known to the school principal, Terry Neal by a number of people.

Following the second Bathurst protest on 11 December 2009 and the unveiling of the Carenne Gate truck, the saviours have said that Mr Auld has threatened that he will assault the Carter family because that is the "only way that it will shut them up".

Poll: Would you have supported the Carenne bus appeal?

Knowing that the buses which the Bathurst community rallied together to purchase for Carenne Special School weren't purchased for it, would you have supported the bus appeal if you knew the buses were going to Carenne Support Ltd?

Do you believe that fraud charges should be laid over this?