F.I.R.I.S vcat hearing (melbourne)

[Praxis]

Mike's live-blogging account is very good. His asides provide some much-needed levity on a serious topic. Well worth a read.

It's hard to see how the parents can't win this.

And when they do, will this spell the end for AM? Will it become a precedent case for other states trying to rid the stink of evangelical christianity from our secular schools? One can only hope so.

All the best to FIRIS for today.

[DanDare]

I find the governments defense baffling. It seems to miss the point in total.

[DanDare]

Pretty good stuff happening with FIRIS

Your campaign to reform the policy around "Special Religious Instruction", has been quiet for a while, because we've been busy preparing launching phase two of the campaign.

Phase one has been a complete success, we set the terms of debate and have made "SRI" a policy problem in search of a policy solution. ACCESS for the first time in its history had to play defense.

In Phase Two - FIRIS will convene the stakeholders and create the actual policy solution.

But many of you are asking:

"When will we hear the verdict from VCAT?

A: No one knows. Seriously, no one knows.

The truth is that while VCAT might help us toward our goal, whatever the judge does, we still won't have a true policy solution. Only the legislature can give us a true policy solution. The FIRIS campaign has a simple 4 part definition of what it is going to achieve - and this campaign has never intended to end with VCAT - it was designed to achieve the policy change stated in its aims.

We've already changed part of the policy, and recently (with your donations) sent a notice of the new school policy to all the school councils in Victoria. The Government changed the policy in order to dodge the discrimination issue in VCAT - arguing to the judge that the discrimination no longer occurs because they already changed the policy!

The problem is - that the Minister of Education hasn't told any of the schools that the policy had changed.

It is no longer allowed to put children into ACCESS Minstry programs without parental consent - and the school enrollment form is no longer allowed to enroll children into the ACCESS Ministry. Schools however are not sure what to do. So we let them know.

BREAKING NEWS:

This week EDUCATION REVIEW summarized the "state of play" with SRI in not only Victoria, but across Australia. FIRIS is the leading campaign to address this issue, read the whole article here:

http://religionsinschool.com/2012/05...ons-in-school/

Make sure you stop by facebook and leave some messages for the FIRIS community - which continues to grow:

http://www.facebook.com/secularschools

Or email us with your comments and suggestions and concerns:

religionsinschool@gmail.com

Watch this space for an upcoming announcement for a new development in the issue that we're excited to be bringing to you ... and thank you - thank you for reading our emails, for forwarding them to the other parents at your school and for paying close attention.

You are making a difference in this policy - it may seem quiet, but it is far from quiet.

Yours,

THE RELIGIONS IN SCHOOL CAMPAIGN TEAM

Page at FIRIS

[Lilith]

That's awesome, Dan.

Are there any parent groups like FIRIS in Queensland working to effect policy change here?

[DanDare]

http://religionsinschool.com/wp-cont...ion-Review.pdf

One and only comment so far:

Why are so many children at risk in our society? Child Welfare Agencies can't cope with increases. Our Christian Heritage taught family values, ethics, a community based on the 10 commandments works. Let us not throw out the "baby" with the "bathwater". Teaching scripture in schools can't harm children, but I know it certainly helps them to learn life skills
that work.