It is important that the community understand the continued retribution against Callum, his family and his representatives, in response to his simple request to obtain an education through evidence-based literacy and numeracy programs.
The lawful requests to Ms Joanne Coldabella, Acting Principal St Joseph’s School Wonthaggi, and Mr David Leslie, Principal Mary MacKillop College Leongatha for a copy of Callum’s file, first made on 17 December 2020 and required to be responded to in 30 days, have continued.
On 17 February 2021, both Ms Coldabella and Mr Leslie, sent an email stating that the task was being undertaken.
On 18 March 2021, one month later, both Ms Coldabella and Mr Leslie were asked to provide what they had already gathered. It was put to them in writing that if they could not provide anything, this would mean that they had not collected any documents at all, and that they had been dishonest.
They did not provide anything and refused to respond to the request.
This is an astounding admission by both Ms Coldabella and Mr Leslie – whose only crime is attempting to get an education for their son.
However worse than the above, is the Catholic Education Commission of Victoria, Dioceses of Sale, and St Joseph’s/Mary MacKillop’s treatment of Callum’s mother Melinda and their advocate.
These four entities, upon receipt of the formal complaint, denied every fact in its entirety.
One of these facts, was that Callum has a learning disorder.
Therefore even though properly diagnosed, these two schools and the Dioceses of Sale deny Callum even has a learning disorder. Could it be that learning disorders are thought of by these people as a fabricated disability?
It gets worse.
When these four denied every allegation, they knew that there was an Order that those representing Callum then had to gather and provide to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal every document relating to any issue in dispute.
By denying every single paragraph of the complaint, Callum’s mother and his advocate had to amass, merge and number 757 pages of documents.
This task took one month.
Can it get any worse?
Yes it can.
A few business days before the document had to be provided, the “big four” sent a letter via their solicitors suggesting that the complaint had to be reformed.
The reformation of the complaint, would mean that the document the “big four” sent, denying every allegation, would be superseded.
In other words, those representing Callum were told that the weeks they had spent amassing the documents required, was wasted.
How can the conduct of these four entities be with more vindictive?
What sort of Catholicism treats young people with disabilities this way?
Regrettably, it seems that there will be more updates.
And to think this is all about the right to read and write – to get an education, to have a job, and to have a future.
The responses described are from organisations which claim to be religious.
The next update will be about a funding campaign to raise money to obtain private tutoring for Callum to be taught using evidence-based remedial literacy and numeracy programs.
27 March 2021
Update 2
Callum
v
Dioceses of Sale, Catholic Education Commission of Victoria
The retribution against Callum and his family for making a complaint about the failure to provide him with evidence-based literacy and numeracy programs, promised by the Catholic Education Commission of Victoria (CECV), has extended to the refusal to cooperate with lawful requests for documents.
On 17 December 2020, Callum’s mother Melinda respectfully requested copies of Callum’s files which she is entitled to under the Privacy Act. According to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner, 30 days should be sufficient for compliance.
The requests went directly to Ms Joanne Coldabella, Acting Principal St Joseph’s School Wonthaggi, and Mr David Leslie, Principal Mary MacKillop College Leongatha. There was a six word acknowledgement of the request by each one – “I acknowledge receipt of your email”
Two months later – nothing. When a reminder of the request was sent on 16 February 2021, Ms Coldabella and Mr Leslie simply replied again “I acknowledge receipt of your email”.
In response to a commitment to pass on their tactics to the Disability Royal Commission, Ms Coldabella and Mr Leslie then quickly sent identical emails, word for word, as follows.
“Again, I acknowledge receipt of the request. Please note that the request is extremely broad and requires the school to divert considerable resources to respond. Whilst it is undertaking this task, due to the limited nature of the resources that we have and our obligations to other tasks, it is taking longer than expected.
In the circumstances it would be helpful if you were able to provide greater specificity in relation to the nature of the documents you require – for example, specific time periods, the assessments sought etc.”
Specific time periods had already been provided.
How does Callum’s mother know which assessments the school undertook when they kept most documents from her and failed to answer most of her emails?
It is now March 2021 and not one piece of paper has been received from Ms Coldabella or Mr Leslie, forcing Melinda to make a complaint to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.
The evidence suggests that Ms Coldabella and Mr Leslie are colluding to obstruct Melinda’s request.
It seems that the schools and their lawyers have agreed on tactics to wear Callum and his family out so they give up.
However, the rights of young people with learning disorders and the hope that other students will not suffer the same fate as Callum are sufficient motivators for this family to stand their ground, despite the pressures placed upon them by the Dioceses of Sale.
In the next update, we look at the lawyers acting for the Dioceses, their cruel and intimidating tactics, and how much longer this family cope with the pressure ….
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If you who wish to follow the story of Callum and his family, we will be providing updates here.
For those of you who read the story over the weekend (Reading wars in Australian schools: students caught in the crossfire (smh.com.au)), what it doesn’t mention is that Callum and his family have had the courage to take a step that not many people do. That is, legal action against the Dioceses of Sale and Catholic Education Commission of Victoria (CECV).
Currently Callum is 17 without a basic education.
This is not for want of repeatedly and desperately requesting help from his schools – Ronan O’Mahoney, Martin Keogh, Joanne Coldabella (St Joseph’s School Wonthaggi), David Leslie, Kieran O’Dwyer (Mary MacKillop College Leongatha), all received these pleas.
Most of the time, his mother Melinda did not even get a reply. When she did, the replies conveniently ignored her requests for support. Meeting after meeting, year after year, email after email, nothing changed.
Callum himself wrote notes to both schools himself with a cry for help. Staff were unmoved.
So here we are today, where Callum has rightly decided not to expose himself to the “torture” of going to schools where the staff are disinterested in not only his education, but his welfare.
However his family do not have the money to obtain the extensive private tutoring he needs – which is as anyone with expertise in learning disorders/dyslexia knows, is intensive evidence-based programs – programs scientifically proven to work.
So Callum and his family made the courageous step of making two legal complaints against the Dioceses of Sale (St Joseph’s School Wonthaggi /Mary MacKillop College Leongatha, and CECV).
One is a simple consumer complaint of false and misleading representation.
Did you know that the CECV have many publications (CECV – Publications ) where they commit to the importance of evidence-based teaching methods and programs, applied with fidelity? And as you would expect, St Joseph’s and Mary MacKillop promise an education for all, and falsely claim a Christian commitment to pastoral care – looking after the health and well-being of their students.
It has been revealed that all of the above is simply PR in an attempt to obtain money from parents through deceptive conduct. Callum’s family want their money back so they can organise for him to be educated before it’s too late.
The second is a discrimination complaint under the Equal Opportunity Act for the failure to provide Callum with the very supports the CECV promise, evidence-based programs followed with fidelity.
In the next update, we will share the shocking and vicious response from the Dioceses of Sale, St Joseph’s School Wonthaggi, Mary MacKillop College Leongatha and the CECV through their lawyers.