By Jo Brown
MELBOURNE — Many of the schools being closed do not fit the guidelines of falling enrolments, and some number seem to have been targeted for their radical programs catering for disadvantaged students.
Northland Secondary College, one of the 21 high schools to be closed, had enrolments of over 500 for 1993, and a flexible curriculum providing education for Melbourne's highest Koori student population. But the harddest hit are also hitting back the hardest.
On November 23 as part of the Western Region stopwork rally outside the education department, dozens of students joined teachers from Northland in a noisy display of anger accompanied by a school rock band they chanted "Cut Kennett not schools!" and "Save our school". A second rally was held on the steps of parliament on November 27, was initiated by staff, parents and students from Northland. It was strongly supported by Melbourne's Koorie community, as well as Flemington, Richmond and Fitzroy secondary schools.
At the rally colourful banners announced "Kennett Kills Koorie Ed" and students sang and chanted "We are the school that helps the needy, Stops the greedy, like you". The school band was followed by a performance from the Koorie dance group which is part of a program which teaches students about Koorie history and culture.
Ironically, the Director of School Education, Geoff Spring, nominated Northland to appear in a video on "Best Practices for the Education of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders" in October this year. A spokesperson for Northland told Green Left that the Koorie community had declined an offer to speak with Spring and were instead trying to arrange a meeting with education minister Don Hayward.
Flemington is another school which meets the special needs of its local community, with 85% of students coming from non-English speaking backgrounds. Flemington has a language centre which caters for around 140 students, and over 35 different languages are spoken at the school, a Flemington student told Green Left Weekly. "I speak almost no English; where else can I go?" another student said. Teachers at Flemington have voted to refuse the closure, pointing out that all other secondary schools in the area are already full.
While the Kennett Government has offered a payment of up to $350 for students who enrol in a new school by December 4, many students have few options. Students from Richmond Secondary College told Green Left that without their school there would be no co-educational secondary school in Richmond. They could not understand why their school was being closed as it has a new technology centre and three computer rooms as well as a ond Language Program.
Richmond Secondary College has set up a campaign committee of students, teachers, parents and residents and planned a rally and march in Richmond for December 3 at a crowded and angry community meeting in the midst of the Richmond public housing estate.
One of the most shocking closures was that of the Prahran and Brighton campuses of Ardoch-Windsor Secondary College. Ardoch- Windsor has a reputation for providing a supportive, flexible environment which attracts students who would not otherwise stay at school. Ardoch-Windsor has Australia's largest program for homeless students, working with local business, welfare groups and the community to help over 100 homeless students stay at school.
In Geelong on November 26, about 1000 members of the local school communities rallied against Kennett's cuts. A speaker told the crowd that under the Liberal plan, cleaners will be fired then re-employed on a contract basis with a pay rate calculated at $15 per square metre cleaned per year, which unions have estimated will mean about $6.50 per hour. The contract will not cover the extra services usually performed by cleaners including security and basic repairs around the school.
The Liberals' cuts may save money in the short term but the cost to the community will be enormous. The loss of teachers will force class sizes to increase and already overcrowded schools will have to accommodate the extra students, and attempt to meet the needs of students displaced from schools such as Northland, Flemington and Ardoch-Windsor. The communities and disadvantaged groups so cruelly hit will remember this attack for many years.