Warburton Primary School parents Jade Marlow, Nicole Wynde, Yvonne Jenkins, Antoine Cheron, Jo Rothwell and Melissa Gunner are unhappy with the lack of progress, while students look at the mud heap which will one day be their new building. 51567
By Mara Pattison-Sowden
The school was allocated first-round Federal Government funding in February 2009 to build new classrooms, but there is currently no new school building, a lack of access to the school, and a big mess, according to disgruntled parents.
This month school council members have declared the State Government’s control over the Building the Education Revolution program “a failure” for Warburton Primary School, rating the BER’s key performance areas as “well below the standard expected” at this time of year.
Members have also written an invoice for the State Government, declaring their loss of promotional activities, loss of access to the school and stress caused to staff, students and parents as an incalculable costing.
School Council president Suyin Chan said the school had been unable to hold its annual Springfest fundraising event for two years now, a loss of around $20,000 in fundraising.
“It now looks likely, in our estimation, that we will not have enough funds to refurbish the school itself which is extremely run down, including the leaking roof,” she said.
Ms Chan said the school did not fit any of the standard design templates, was up to its third redesign and has had three project site managers.
“Despite numerous people looking at the school and how to redesign the plans, impractical proposals were still delivered,” she said.
She said designs were made with allocations for natural gas heaters – Warburton doesn’t have access to natural gas – and rooms were drawn up without windows, leaving teachers unable to keep an eye on students outside, and an enclosed extension was drawn up without outside walls.
“We have tried to be patient and tactful about the issues, but it is time to see some action,” she said.
A spokesman for the Education Minister said work had begun on removing redundant underground tanks and backfilling holes.
He said the initial tenders returned poor value for money for the school, and the project was released back to the market and a competitive tender was secured.
“We understand the school wants its project as quickly as possible and the department’s BER team met with the principal last week to address outstanding concerns,” the Education spokesman said.
