[LINK] Vic state school intranet on the brink of closure

[Jan Whitaker]

[Not only should people plan for implementation, 
but they also need to plan for decommissioning. 
It appear neither has happened in this fiasco. 
Why must there always be political assassination 
on these things? Politicians don't have the 
knowledge or skills to be blamed for problems. The department screwed up.]


Ultranet facing the scrap heap

Jewel Topsfield
Published: June 19, 2013 - 6:07PM

The disastrous $180 million state school intranet 
could be scrapped at the end of the month 
prompting fears that months of student work and reports would be lost.

The four-year contract with NEC to run the 
troubled network has not been renewed days before 
it expires on June 30, with a decision yet to be reached on its future.

Education Minister Martin Dixon said the 
government was committed to protecting the 
Victorian education system from the "Ultranet 
debacle", which he said the Auditor-General had 
confirmed was "botched from conception to 
implementation by the former Labor government".

Mr Dixon said the Ultranet had already cost 
Victorian taxpayers at least $180 million – three 
times its original budget – despite being used by 
only 4 per cent of the intended 1.5 million teachers, parents and students.

"While it is unfortunate that current 
negotiations are now public, we will continue to 
work towards extracting whatever value we can for 
Victorian schools from this failed Labor program," Mr Dixon said.

Ian McKenzie, the principal of Alkira Secondary 
College – one of 18 schools to pioneer the 
Ultranet – said he had a teacher desperately 
archiving material from the Ultranet to ensure it was not lost.

"What about the student work sitting there, the 
teacher observations ... I'm scared what might 
happen to all the information on it," Mr McKenzie said.

"The blood, sweat and tears that has gone into 
the Ultranet and the work teachers put in – it's 
soul destroying. I have to face parents who took 
me on face value when I said: 'This is the best 
thing since sliced bread – every school is going to be using it in the future."

Troy Moncur, the leading ICT teacher at Nichols 
Point Primary, has started an online petition 
urging Premier Denis Napthine and Mr Dixon to save the Ultranet.

He said 52 schools now used the Ultranet to 
provide parents with fortnightly updates on their 
child's progress instead of generic outdated 
report cards in June and December. Four thousand 
reports had been published on the Ultranet in the last week alone.

"Staff are worried about the stuff they have put 
up – photos, comments ... if it's going to be 
terminated at the end of the financial year that 
wipes off 18 months of history of kids' work and 
activities. We are not sure what to do."

NEC Australia spokesman Heath Caban said he 
believed the Ultranet had a role to play in 
helping Victoria to achieve its goal of 
delivering world-class education. "NEC Australia 
is working with governments across the globe, 
particularly in China and the Middle East, who 
are interested in adopting the Ultranet," he said.

The Ultranet, promised by the former government 
before the 2006 state election, was designed to 
provide a state-wide secure network that would 
enable parents to view their child's timetables, 
school work, academic progress and attendance and teachers to share curricula.

The project was dogged from the start by 
inadequate planning, cost blow-outs and failed 
tenders. A disastrous training day in 2010, which 
left 42,000 teachers unable to log on when the 
system crashed at 9am, also delayed the rollout of the Ultranet in schools.

A scathing Victorian Auditor General's report 
late last year found it had failed to deliver the 
promised benefits and had been shunned by schools.

The audit also revealed serious "probity lapses" 
surrounding the tendering of the Ultranet, with 
the budget expected to blow out to three times what was first intended in 2006.

Victorian Auditor-General Des Pearson said it was 
difficult to understand how the Ultranet went 
ahead when the Education Department was advised 
the project should cease or be delayed.

He recommended the Education Department review 
its internal tendering, probity and financial 
management practices in light of the serious issues identified by the audit.

<mailto:jtopsfield at theage.com.au>jtopsfield at theage.com.au

This story was found at: 
http://www.theage.com.au/national/education/ultranet-facing-the-scrap-heap-20130619-2oj1n.html 




Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
jwhit at janwhitaker.com
blog: http://janwhitaker.com/jansblog/
business: http://www.janwhitaker.com

Our truest response to the irrationality of the 
world is to paint or sing or write, for only in such response do we find truth.
~Madeline L'Engle, writer

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