Absence unexplained
THE reason a high-profile principal has been absent from a Cape York school will remain a mystery after education officials knocked back a Right To Information request.
Lockhart State School principal Siobhan Jackson has been away from the school since October.
It is understood this has coincided with a Department of Education and Training internal investigation.
In response to the Cairns Post’s Right To Information application for documentation relating to the principal’s absence from the school, the department’s principle legal officer, Andrew Smith, refused the request.
“Under section 55 of the RTI Act, I neither confirm nor deny that the department holds documents of the type sought by the application,” he wrote.
“However, if such documents did exist, they would be documents to which access would be refused on the grounds that they would contain information the release of which would be contrary to the public interest pursuant to section 47(3)(b) of the RTI Act.
“This decision should not be taken, as indication that the documents requested under the application do, or do not, exist.”
Ms Jackson, who was the subject of a 2015 episode of the ABC’s Australian Story, has been credited with improving attendance rates and introducing initiatives that have broken down racial barriers at Lockhart State School.
The Department of Education and Training did not respond to a request for comment yesterday, including confirming whether Ms Jackson would be returning to the school in 2019.