Word for Word

26 May 2014

Dirty Dancing – Poofs, Protests, Politics, Policies, Parents and Principals!

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 51:37 — 47.3MB)

The School Formal PIC

From Left: Roz Ward from Safe Schools Coalition Victoria, Imogene (Best Friend), Justin (Father), Kiana (Daughter), Clem Newton-Brown MLA for Prahran and Parliamentary Secretary for Education.

SSCV

The mere thought of a Debutant Ball would send many flag waving feminists into a taffeta incinerating frenzy. Whilst steeped in tradition, even the staunchest traditionalists would struggle with the idea of parading ones daughter before the social elite with the primary objective of marrying her off at the earliest opportunity.

So when Mount Clear College in Ballarat chose to use “tradition” as the excuse to exclude Year 11 student Kiana from attending the school’s Deb Ball with her best friend Imogene, Kiana’s Father Justin, was not happy!

Since August 2013, the Federal Discrimination Act has included all aspects of LGBTI discrimination, including relationships, within legislation. Anything that goes against this (excluding religious institutions or exemption holders) is not adhering to this policy.

This is not new! Victorian State Schools have an obligation to ensure all students are provided with the greatest opportunity to learn in a safe, understanding and supportive environment.

Victorian State Schools cannot discriminate on the grounds of sex, gender, sexuality, disability, race and so on…this applies to staff and students alike. You can find out more about LGBTI protections under the law here.

So how is it possible that Principals, teachers, support staff, parents and students have no idea of these obligations and their rights?

Victoria’s Safe Schools Coalition lists 129 schools as being “Safe Schools”. Mount Clear is one of those schools and yet the overwhelming culture of the school allowed “tradition” to be the prevailing force and not “diversity and inclusion”.

During the show we looked in to how parents and students are expected to know their school is a “Safe School” and hold them to account accordingly, if there is no obligation on behalf of the school to indicate publicly they are signatories to the coalition.

Mount Clear lists “Care, Commitment, Respect and Responsibility” as its core values which under the Federal Discrimination Act should have been enough to ensure Kiana and Imogene were welcomed to attend the Debutant Ball. Based on this, Word for Word endeavours to find out why the school went against Departmental Guidelines and counter to the framework of the Safe Schools Coalition of which it’s a signatory and ultimately broke the law.

POSTSCRIPT:

The original postscript stating this issue has been resolved has been removed. The issue with Mount Clear College has not been resolved at all and the father has been informed that it will take up to 3 weeks before the school council can meet to discuss the matter further.

Until then Mount Clear College continues to break Federal and State anti-discrimination laws. Repeated attempts to contact the school principal for comment have gone unanswered.

Read more about this issue in The Guardian.

POST-POSTSCRIPT:

From the Principal of Mount Clear College, Ms Lynita Taylor:

“As a college we acknowledge that the traditional Deb Ball does not align to our values of inclusivity for all of our students. This combined with the fact that we only have 9 girls who have committed to the Deb Ball means that we will be altering our Deb Ball for 2014. The ball will be modified to ensure all of our students can attend regardless of who they wish to partner, or their financial situation. Students have been voting their feet for a number of years. Last year’s ball was cancelled due to a lack of numbers. We look forward to the opportunity to make our 2014 Presentation Ball a fantastic event where all our students feel comfortable to attend.”

The Ballarat Courier has also reported on the latest developments.