OZschwitz: Outrageous-- School uniforms banned in shops at fascist Westpoint in Blacktown

CHILDREN have been prevented from boarding their school buses by a new policy that aims to ban truants from a Western Sydney shopping centre.

Westpoint in Blacktown has become the first shopping centre in Sydney to forbid children in school uniforms entering between 9.30am and 2.30pm.

The move, described as discriminatory by the Council for Civil Liberties, has received the full support of the Premier, Morris Iemma. "It's a sign of community spirit when people feel a responsibility to encourage young people to be in school. Our levels of truancy are low, but we take it seriously because losing engagement in school is one of the early signs of problems for young people," a spokesman for Mr Iemma said.

The shopping centre's managers said they would not force anyone to leave the premises but Monique Dobson and Kara Lake, year 12 students from Mitchell High School, said security guards had prevented them from entering the centre on Tuesday.

"Year 11s and 12s have to leave our school at 12.30pm on Tuesdays because we don't do school sport. When I was going to catch a bus, they stopped me from going down the escalators to get to the bus, which is underground in the bus bay," said Ms Dobson, who has started a petition protesting against the changes.

Yesterday, a Westpoint security guard again refused Ms Dobson entry when she tried to use the bathroom during a free period.

"He goes, 'Go to the station and pee', but I said, 'It's dirty there'," she said yesterday. "He said, 'If I have to remove you from Westpoint one more time, you will be banned for 24 hours'. They said they will call the police."

Westpoint's executive property manager, Tony Poile, said he expected students to comply willingly with requests to leave.

"After consultation with the local area command, the police youth liaison officer, school principals and retailers, we have agreed to take this initiative in the hope it will persuade students to go back to their classrooms," Mr Poile said.

The Council for Civil Liberties said the policy could drive children from relatively safe environments such as shopping centres to more secretive places where drugs and alcohol could be consumed.

"It does absolutely nothing to solve a problem of truancy; all it does is shift it from Westpoint to elsewhere," said the council's president, Cameron Murphy.

Richard Evans from the Australian National Retailers Association said the policy should be introduced in other retail centres.

Chief Superintendent Mark Jenkins from Blacktown police said students who had a good reason for being in the shopping centre during school hours would be allowed to stay.

LNK

Quote :: Westpoint in Blacktown

Boycott Westpoint NOW! Fucking fascists!

OZschwitz: Outrageous-- School uniforms banned in shops at fascist Westpoint in Blacktown

OZschwitz: Outrageous-- School uniforms banned in shops at fascist Westpoint in Blacktown

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