FILE - In this Dec. 2, 2011 file photo, President Barack Obama, accompanied by American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten, gestures while speaking in a building under construction in Washington. Loose ends and thorny partisan tensions on education await the next Congress and President Barack Obama's second term. First up is the fiscal cliff, which will slash billions from the Department of Education's budget if lawmakers don't act this year. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)
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FILE - In this Dec. 2, 2011 file photo, President Barack Obama, accompanied by American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten, gestures while speaking in a building under construction in Washington. Loose ends and thorny partisan tensions on education await the next Congress and President Barack Obama's second term. First up is the fiscal cliff, which will slash billions from the Department of Education's budget if lawmakers don't act this year. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)
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FILE - This May 4, 2012 file photo shows President Barack Obama, center, and Education Secretary Arne Duncan, right, meeting with students and their parents at Washington-Lee high school in Arlington, Va. Loose ends and thorny partisan tensions on education await the next Congress and President Barack Obama's second term. First up is the fiscal cliff, which will slash billions from the Department of Education's budget if lawmakers don't act this year. From left are, Brendan Craig, Kezia Truesdale, Amirah Delwin, Rina Castaneda, Elma Molina, and Tim Craig. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File)
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FILE - This July 19, 2012 file photo shows Education Secretary Arne Duncan during an interviewed wth The Associated Press in Washington. Loose ends and thorny partisan tensions on education await the next Congress and President Barack Obama's second term. First up is the fiscal cliff, which will slash billions from the Department of Education's budget if lawmakers don't act this year. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)
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FILE - This April 25, 2012 file photo shows House Education and the Workforce Committee Chairman Rep. John Kline, R-Minn. speaking on Capitol Hill in Washington. Loose ends and thorny partisan tensions on education await the next Congress and President Barack Obama's second term. First up is the fiscal cliff, which will slash billions from the Department of Education's budget if lawmakers don't act this year. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)
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Clouds roil over the White House in Washington on the morning of Sunday, Dec. 30, 2012, as Washington has less than 48 hours to avert the “fiscal cliff,” a series of tax increases and spending cuts set to take hold on Jan. 1. Republican and Democratic negotiators in the Senate were hoping to reach a deal to avoid going over the cliff on Sunday. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
Another school assault case surfaces
The Opposition said the Education Department again had delayed telling parents about a sexual assault matter at a South Australian school.
Liberal education spokesman David Pisoni said a man who worked with disadvantaged and vulnerable children was arrested for sexual assault last month.
Mr Pisoni said the department was still to issue a notification to parents about the arrest, which went against the Education Minister's promise to keep school communities informed.
"We heard Jennifer Rankine tell us, when she took the Education portfolio on, that she wasn't going to tolerate it - she wasn't going to tolerate the fact that the department wasn't going to deal with these issues and that parents wouldn't be told," he said.
"It appears as though, for a month now, that parents have been left in the dark about this latest incident."
Premier Jay Weatherill, a former education minister, declined to comment on the alleged sexual assault case.
He said the circumstances of each matter would determine how and when authorities notified parents.
"Look, I don't think we should be making judgments about these matters until we know the full facts," he said.
"The basic principle is clear, that parents should be told about matters that occur in a school where there potentially could be an exposure of risk by other children at the school - that's the basic principle."
Tags:
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