THE Department of Education has been accused of being secretive and failing to act to prevent the closure of Newbridge Public School.
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The school, which has provided education for children in the area for 130 years, has lost 13 of its 16 enrolments in the past 12 months and has been earmarked for closure at the end of this term.
Newbridge resident Wayne Moore, whose children all attended the school, said while he realised it couldn’t continue with just three students, he felt the Department of Education had failed to act to prevent the closure.
Mr Moore said the department was told of problems at the school more than a year ago but he claims it did nothing. “This lack of action has contributed to the school’s present state,” he said.
Mr Moore said that since announcing the school closure the department had also back-tracked on a guarantee that it would be kept in a state of readiness for the next two years and that if enrolments increased it would re-open.
“It seems that the NSW Government, and specifically the Department of Education, are up to their old tricks - tell people that everything is OK and then double cross them just before the festive season,” he said.
Mr Moore said that on September 1 two Department of Education representatives told a public meeting that, due to low enrolments, the school would close for 2010 and be put into a “review period”.
“This review period means that the school will be held in a ‘ready’ state and maintained for two years,” he said.
“If the school numbers increase then the school will be ‘re-opened immediately’ and normal classes would resume.”
However, Mr Moore said that in the past week staff had been told to pack up everything in the school so it could be removed. “So much for keeping it in readiness,” he said.
“Other schools in a similar ‘state of review’ [Lagoon Public School] are allowed to keep their resources for the appropriate time span. Why not Newbridge?”
Mr Moore accused the government of wanting to “eradicate small village infrastructure”. “The blame lies fairly and squarely with the Department of Education,” he said. “I get the impression they want to sell it off. It’s just one less school they have to worry about.”
