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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2020-04-08 Daily Xml
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Springbank Secondary College

Ms STINSON (Badcoe) (15:24): I rise to raise the concerns of my community regarding the future of Springbank Secondary College. Only a few weeks ago, the government told us they want to examine the closure of the school, and I think it is pretty obvious that they do not want to just examine the closure: they want to actually close the school. This news came as a huge shock. It was very sudden information for the school community, and certainly the impacts of it are still sinking in.

This government said that there would be an independent review that would take three months. We will see in time how independent that review is. My community—including students, parents at the school, teachers, community leaders, including the entire Mitcham council—is concerned now that this three-month review cannot and should not happen in the current climate that we face, dealing with the coronavirus. These groups and individuals are calling for this process to be entirely cancelled because of course they would like to see the school remain open. Failing that, they would like this government to suspend the process until the coronavirus pandemic is consigned to history.

Clearly, the priorities of families have changed, and so they should in the midst of what we are dealing with right now. A lot of people in our community are dealing with employment issues having lost their jobs. They are dealing with how they are going to get an income and look after their families. They are dealing with homeschooling. For the first time, many are having to learn how to be teachers and teach their own children at home and the difficulty that comes with that.

For many parents who have children at Springbank Secondary College, their children often are from the disability unit or are experiencing autism and that really adds to the difficulty of homeschooling, which is making life very difficult for many families. Families are also concerned and prioritising their health and are removed and isolated from family members who might ordinarily provide support.

The ability for our community to be informed about this consultation process and actively engage in it is also remarkably diminished through the crisis with the coronavirus. Unley High School closed several weeks ago after the two outbreaks. Families are not at school at either Springbank Secondary College or Unley High and have more limited means of finding out what is going on with a review. They certainly cannot converse with each other or gather together to share experiences and even to plan how they are going to express themselves through this process.

The community has also raised with me the very real question about whether the planned expansion of Unley High School to accommodate some 170 new students from Springbank is going to be achieved and whether that work is going to be completed in time to accommodate those additional students. Many parents have also raised with me questions about what schooling will even look like post COVID-19.

Those people who are part of the Friends of Springbank Secondary College, the Save Springbank campaign, the Mitcham council and indeed those on our side, are actively advocating for the Springbank Secondary College to remain open, for a shared school zone to be introduced giving parents choice about where they send their students and, also, for the $10 million—which was invested under the previous Labor government—to be delivered at that school.

Ultimately, those groups would want to see the government abandon this three-month review altogether and keep the school open and operating. However, if the government do not want to do that then they should at least have the good sense to delay the review program. We have seen expressions of support from the member for Elder and from the Minister for Education for this school over the last two years, particularly praising the significant change in progress of this school two years into a five-year transformation plan. But, of course, those words ring pretty hollow right now when the plan is to shut the school entirely.

Even if the government is determined to close the school, as I am certain it is, surely a genuine consultation process is needed. There is a great deal of scepticism that this government does not want a genuine and rigorous process. The community will perceive the outcomes as predetermined and feel their views were not genuinely considered and hiding under a pandemic is a low act, a blatant attempt to avoid scrutiny, and I would urge the government to reassess what it is doing in relation to Springbank Secondary College and have an open and genuine consultation process.

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