Sexism is now compulsory?

There is a default assumption that bias in favour of females is not only OK but is actually required

A female principal at a co-educational public school has defended her decision to appoint two boys as head prefects, saying the decision was based on 'merit, not gender'.

Principal Lea Fairfoul-Hucheon decided to ditch the standard custom of appointing a head boy and head girl to the roles at Woodvale Secondary College in Perth, Western Australia.

But speaking ahead of International Women's Day, Chris Sutherland, CEO of Gender Equity, says that the school's judgement of merit may be flawed.

'Merit is a very subjective method. Most organisations say they promote on merit and yet the majority of key roles in nearly all organisations are men, which suggests that something is amiss in the process,' he told The West Australian. 

'I think it doesn't make sense that you would appoint two male heads,' he said.

'It makes far better sense that we should be choosing one boy and one girl to represent the interests and diversity of the school.'

Ms Fairfoul-Hucheon said the decision was based on a student's record of service at school, their school history, interviews, speeches and votes from staff and students.

'The head prefects for 2017 were selected through a nomination and merit selection process and our strongest applicants were two males which is why they were appointed,' she told Daily Mail Australia. 

Despite the criticism they have received, Woodvale Secondary College say both staff and students are happy with the decision, and no formal complaints over the decision have been filed.

'There is a real focus at the school on hearing the voices of the students... and they are happy with the outcome,' Mrs Fairfoul-Hutcheon told Daily Mail Australia. 

It is the first time the school has had two boys fill the prestigious title. 'We have a total of 24 prefects at the school from Years 7-12, 16 of whom are females,' the principal said.

'Not that it matters because they were offered these leadership positions on their merits — and they are all doing a fantastic job,' she added.

SOURCE





Aggressive Leftist government in Victoria on the way out

Interestingly, the slide seems to be because of their corruption, not their policies.  Leftist politicians are notoriously susceptible to money temptations

The Herald Sun has obtained a ReachTEL poll, the first commissioned since an expenses scandal claimed the scalps of the Speaker and deputy speaker, showing that Labor now trails the Coalition 46 to 54 per cent on a two-party-preferred basis.

The ALP’s statewide primary vote has plummeted to 30.3 per cent, according to the poll.

And Opposition Leader Matthew Guy has overtaken Mr Andrews as preferred premier, 34.7 per cent to 29.6 per cent.

If these voting intentions were replicated at next year’s election, the ALP would lose up to 18 seats, including Mr Andrews’, his deputy James Merlino’s, and a swag of seats along the Frankston rail line.

The poll of 1268 Victorians was conducted on March 2 — a few days after Speaker Telmo Languiller and deputy speaker Don Nardella resigned over their use of taxpayer-funded perks.

Mr Andrews this morning brushed off the figures claiming it was “internal Liberal Party polling” and said it was “clear” where the figures had come from.

Despite refusing to comment on the results he did accept “community expectations have not been met” in regards to the entitlement scandal and promised there would be sweeping changes to the rules. “What is of concern to all of us is the rules (on the second residence allowance) are fundamentally changed.”

Opposition leader Matthew Guy said the poll was not done by the Liberal Party and has “got nothing to do” with them.

One senior source said the polling result for the government was an absolute “disaster”.

The results will send shockwaves through the state Labor caucus, which was rocked on Tuesday by Mr Nardella’s resignation from the parliamentary party in disgrace after he refused the Premier’s demands that he repay $100,000 he claimed from taxpayers while living in the country.

An angry Mr Nardella told reporters at parliament to “f--- off” and “get f---ed”.

Mr Languiller, the MP for Tarneit and the former Speaker, also claimed the controversial “second residence” allowance while living in Queenscliff last year. But he has promised to repay the almost $40,000 claimed.

In just two years the government has lost three ministers, a Speaker, and a deputy speaker, who must now sit as an independent.

Mr Guy said the poll showed “a competitive race in Victoria” but that there was a long way to go before the election. “The two-party preferred is way ahead for the Coalition but let’s keep our feet on the ground. It’s one poll,” he said. “It’s anyone’s game.”

A previous ReachTEL poll conducted by Fairfax in September had Labor holding a 51-49 two-party preferred lead, despite its primary vote plunging from 38 per cent at the 2014 election to 34.6 per cent.

The September survey also found that 50 per cent of people thought the premier was too close to unions, after he gave in to United Firefighters Union boss Peter Marshall’s demands over an enterprise bargaining agreement for the Country Fire Authority.

The March 2 poll found that 42 per cent of people think the government’s relationship with Mr Marshall is “too close”, 14 per cent think it’s “about right” and 9.5 per cent think it’s “not close enough”.

SOURCE






Muslim school: Student assault on teacher not reported to police

A student at a Sydney high school that has refused to take part in a deradicalisation program physically assaulted and threatened a teacher last year but the incident went unreported to police, an investigation has uncovered.

NSW Education Department head Mark Scott confirmed yesterday that the school’s ongoing reluctance to implement the state-funded deradicalisation program provided the catalyst for the investigation that culminated in last week’s shock removal of the principal and deputy principal.

The School Communities Working Together program — unveiled in November 2015 in the wake of the Parramatta terror attack in which police worker Curtis Cheng died — was designed to counter violent extremism and anti-social behaviour in schools by providing training and support to help identify students at risk.

It involved schools working closely with community leaders and local police and set out a protocol for schools to report incidents of violent extremist behaviour to the Education Department and police.

“The school was reluctant to have that program take place; they felt it was not necessary,” Mr Scott told 2GB radio yesterday morning. “So at the end of term four we made the determination at a senior level that we really wanted an appraisal of that school.”

The Australian understands that the school’s lack of co-­operation was a significant concern to senior departmental staff, given that a previous audit of its lunchtime prayer group — carried out as part of a statewide audit prompted by revelations that extremist interpretations of Islam were being preached within Epping Boys High School — showed up several red flags, including the failure of organisers to take a roll-call.

Punchbowl, in Sydney’s southwest, has a large cohort of Muslim students and teachers.

As The Australian reported last week, Mr Griffiths and deputy principal Joumana Dennaoui were dumped from their roles in light of the department’s investigation. Both are on leave and Mr Scott declined to say whether they would be redeployed.

Sources close to the school say staff morale plummeted towards the end of last year in response to female teachers being denied ­official roles in the Year 12 presentation and annual awards day.

Since then, a picture has emerged of a school that was increasingly shutting itself off from the ­community.

The school’s relationship with police, which once played an ­active role in helping the school overturn its previous reputation for violence, had soured and police liaison officers had been unable to access the campus for the past 2½ years.

Meanwhile, allegations have emerged about teachers being threatened by students claiming to sympathise with terrorists and of senior staff encouraging the disrespect of authority, with one known to describe police as “pigs”.

The Australian understands that the departmental audit picked up one case in which a non-Muslim teacher was seriously assaulted and threatened but the matter was not reported to police.

Mr Scott said yesterday that some allegations aired about the school, including claims that Mr Griffiths had wished to allow only Muslim students in, were untrue.

He also described claims about female teachers being excluded from official ceremonies as “unsubstantiated”, which is contrary to the accounts of various school and departmental sources.

However, Mr Scott said it was a “serious matter” to remove a principal and deputy principal from a school. “We sent a very senior team in there and found a number of matters that were a concern,” he said.

“There was a significant lack of staff unity and there were a number of policies and procedures that were not being followed. It does seem to have lost its way in recent times and become more isolated from the ­community.”

Parents are understood to have been blindsided by the decision. A petition, started by Ahmed El-Hassan, called for the Education Department to explain the “unfair dismissal”.

A spokesman from the department last night declined to comment on the assault allegations or provide further details on findings from the investigation.

He also declined to say ­whether the deradicalisation ­program would be implemented by the school’s new principal, former juvenile justice educator Robert Patruno.

“The school’s new leadership will implement the recommen­dations from the appraisal,” the spokesman said.

SOURCE






Melbourne set to create female walking signals to create 'street light equality'

Susie O’Brien

PLANS to make the traffic light crossing people gender-neutral is the silliest idea I have ever heard.

It’s political correctness gone mad. First we had restrictions on the word women (because it contains the word men), moves to ban terms like Miss and Mrs, rewriting of classic books and fairy tales to remove gender stereotypes, and now this.

What’s next? Traffic lights that look like those silly family stickers on the back of cars with dogs, cats, tall men and short women and kids with hockey sticks? I mean, we wouldn’t want to leave anyone out, would we?

Haven’t these people at the Committee of Melbourne got anything better to do?

Turning the crossing figures into females won’t create one single job, break down one single barrier or help one single woman.

And yet the Equal Crossings Initiative is proudly kicking off its plans to install 10 female pedestrian figures at one of Melbourne’s busiest intersections. The idea came from the committee’s Future Focus Group and is designed to challenge “unconscious bias”.

I am a woman and a proud feminist who has crossed thousands of roads in my life, but I have to honestly admit I have never seen the crossing men flashing at me and felt left out, subjugated or objectified.

Lord Mayor Robert Doyle hit the nail on the head when he suggested such a scheme was more likely to bring about “derision”. Clearly, Doyle is more in touch than the Future Focus Group.

The problem is that if you spend too much time and money obsessing about irrelevant stuff like whether the crossing figures are men or women, then people don’t listen when you talk about things that are really important.

You know, things like the cost of childcare, the gender wage gap, the lack of women running our companies, and the problem both women and men have accessing family-friendly work.

The Future Focus Group says it is committed to developing “the leadership that our city needs” and promoting “creative ways of thinking”.

Some of their ideas are pretty good, such as free trams in the CBD, Open House Melbourne and Eleos Place, a youth homeless crisis accommodation centre.

Putting skirts on traffic light crossing figures isn’t one of these good ideas.

It’s silly and absurd, and makes a mockery of the whole women’s movement.

SOURCE

 Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).    For a daily critique of Leftist activities,  see DISSECTING LEFTISM.  To keep up with attacks on free speech see Tongue Tied. Also, don't forget your daily roundup  of pro-environment but anti-Greenie  news and commentary at GREENIE WATCH .  Email me  here