Parents have swamped a controversial new website, crashing it at times, as they sought online reports for their children's schools.The website's "go-live" created online chaos with 4.5 million hits by 2pm yesterday.Teachers, principals and unions have railed against myschool.edu.au, arguing information can be selectively misused and schools stigmatised.
Editorial: Parents have the right to know Federal Education Minister Julia Gillard, writing for the Mercury today, said the new site did not constitute a league table."We know there is no point in comparing the results of TIGS with an outback school in the Northern Territory," she said.She said school results could only be compared with similarly advantaged or disadvantaged schools.She said those in doubt about the worthiness of the information provided should go online and make up their own mind.State legislation prohibits newspapers from publishing comparisons of school results.However, the Mercury today lists the Illawarra's 120 schools by social advantage - the key methodology used to compare like schools.About two-thirds of the Illawarra's schools are classified as being in the advantaged category. These include Austinmer and Mount Keira public schools, and Kiama and Bulli high schools. Bellambi Public School and Corrimal High School are in the one third of so-called disadvantaged schools.Dapto High School principal Andrew FitzSimons said the website showed his school was a good candidate for more money.He said his school was performing well but if it were to lift its results it would need more resources."It's possible this data might motivate politicians to fund us better."