BY NOREEN NAVIN
SYDNEY — One thousand people packed into a meeting at the Marrickville high school hall on March 29 in response to plans by NSW Premier Bob Carr's Labor government to close the school.
The walls were lined with posters, banners and placards prepared by students. Their messages, which opposed the closure, included "Don't sell education — provide it!" and "We won't go!".
Marrickville high school has a total of 427 enrolments throughout its mainstream classes, Intensive English Centre and support unit. It is a co-educational public school.
The meeting was addressed by a NSW Department of Education and Training (DET) representative who was literally booed off the stage and whose delivery of facts and statistics on decreasing enrolments was almost inaudible due to the jeers and scoffs from the audience.
The justification put forward by the DET for the closure was a 65% drop in primary school enrolments in the area and a decreasing population. He stated that the case was similar at Dulwich Hill high school and that the most viable option is the amalgamation of both schools on the Dulwich Hill site at a cost of $7 million.
Anthony Albanese, the local federal Labor MP, stated that he opposed the closure of Marrickville high school, but he was met with jeers from the incensed crowd with cries including "why did Labor pass the SES (Socio-Economic Status) funding formula?"
Equally NSW Coalition parties' education spokesperson Patricia Forsythe drew angry heckling when she began to state her support for the school.
NSW Teachers Federation senior vice-president Marie O'Halloran offered the union's support to the community and stated that the NSWTF opposed the "government's plan based on property value not on educational needs". She then explained that nearby private schools have similar numbers to Marrickville high school but are receiving government funding. The NSWTF is prepared to offer support by way of carrying out research, printing, and taking the issue to teachers across the state.
In response to comments made by the DET official regarding the falling population in the area, Bruce Lay, a local architect and planner at Leichhardt city council, pointed out that local child-care centres are overflowing and there are waiting lists due to a baby boom in the area. He suggested that the DET did not have the demographic information right and called for the release of the figures it upon which it had based its analysis.
Several students as well as Greens' education spokesperson John
Kaye addressed the meeting expressing disdain and disgust with the idea of closing the school and vowed to fight on.
In response to this meeting the Activist Teachers Network umbrella group Save Our Schools (SOS) has called for a public protest outside Marrickville high school on Saturday April 7 at 10.30am, which will march to local Labor MP Andrew Refshauge's office on Illawarra Road. To be part of this action or to help out with leafleting contact Noreen Navin on (02) 9716 0736 or John Morris on 0438 641 587.
The Activist Teacher Network demands that funding currently being directed to private schools be re-directed to the public system; that federal establishment grants and state capital expansion subsidies available to private schools be re-allocated to public schools; and that the Enrollment Benchmark Adjustment be abolished.
[Noreen Navin is a member of the Activist Teachers Network, which is a militant caucus within the NSWTF. She is also a member of the Democratic Socialist Party.]