Western Australia's Education Minister has deflected questions about a departmental probe into student plans at a Kimberley school as investigators speak to parents.
The Department of Education is questioning its own staff in response to an ABC investigation that raised allegations that attendance plans created in mid-2020 for at-risk Halls Creek District High School students were botched.
Emails show that in the year prior Education Minister Sue Ellery wanted more attendance plans in place in the Kimberley, saying the system needed to "do better" in response to a coronial inquest into a spate of suicides involving children and young people.
Prior to the rollout, a department bureaucrat warned there was "insufficient staff" to "follow up" at a school like Halls Creek, where truancy is at crisis point.
At a press conference in Kununurra yesterday, Ms Ellery deflected questions about her knowledge of how the plans were implemented.
"The whole thing is being investigated and when that investigation is complete I'll make a full statement," she said.
The ABC has seen about 150 of the attendance plans, many of which appear to be incomplete and lacking in detail.
About a dozen parents in Halls Creek who signed the plans say they were never followed up.
In late 2020 Ms Ellery praised the rollout of the attendance plans in parliament and presented plaques at the school that recognised efforts to boost attendance.
Parents interviewed, Minister says
Ms Ellery confirmed departmental investigators would not just be interviewing staff involved in the creation and rollout of the plans.
"Parents are being interviewed as part of the current investigation," she said.
Ms Ellery said she hoped to receive a report on the investigation in the coming weeks, but added that COVID-19 had interrupted some interviews.
She declined to say whether she would meet residents and community leaders in Halls Creek who want to work out a fresh strategy to get children back into the classroom in a town where youth crime is rife.
Halls Creek District High School's attendance rate is about half the state average for public schools and sits at about 38 per cent for secondary students.
The ABC has confirmed Opposition MPs plan to highlight concerns around the attendance plans in parliament this month with a series of questions targeting Ms Ellery.
