Craig Font, Kooweerup Primary School Council president, has described the BER program as a debacle.
By Melissa Meehan
EMPTY, derelict and asbestos-ridden classrooms will continue to sit dormant at Kooweerup Primary School after a promise to demolish them was broken by the State Government.
The school council has decided to step up their fight with the State Government after months of discussions in relation to what they describe as their Building the Education Revolution (BER) “debacle”.
And Kooweerup is not alone; it is believed 59 other schools around the state are in a similar situation.
But the State Government says the problems are a product of the previous Brumby Government’s mismanagement.
Kooweerup Primary School received funding for a new library and learning building in 2009 as part of the second round of the BER.
As part of the BER program, the school agreed to build the new centre on one of their basketball courts under the agreement that the old building would be demolished at no expense to the school, and the site of the old building would be reinstated as a basketball court.
School council president Craig Font said the demolition of the old buildings was signed off and agreed upon and the works went ahead in good faith.
“From then on at different stages there were rumours floating around that the demolitions wouldn’t go ahead,” Mr Font said.
“So we sought clarifications from department heads and other superiors and they said we could relax, that no further demolitions were being carried out, but that our agreement still stood.”
In March rumours were again rife, again they were reassured demolitions would continue before receiving an email notifying the school that the demolition wasn’t happening.
“We’ve got more than 200 kids using one basketball court at recess and lunchtime,” Mr Font said.
“And we have empty classrooms just sitting there waiting to be demolished. We haven’t been given a reason and wouldn’t be surprised if we weren’t the only school in this position.
“Obviously the money has run out.”
He said the empty classrooms would be boarded up as of term four until something happened.
“If we knew this would happen we would have built the new building on the same site as the old buildings,” he said.
Principal David Payne said Education Minister Martin Dixon was aware of the issues and acknowledged the absurdity of not demolishing the old building on a recent visit to Kooweerup.
“I believe the decision makers will be forced to provide a solution … the demolition must go ahead. It is merely a question of when it will happen and how much it will cost,” Mr Payne said.
James Martin, spokesman for Mr Dixon, said the minister had visited the school and as a result asked the department to work with the school to try to help them.
“The situation faced by Kooweerup primary is another example of how poorly the previous Labor Government handled the BER program,” Mr Martin said.
“Many schools have been disadvantaged because of the program’s poor management – either through significant cost overruns or lack of flexibility.
“Unfortunately there are many more Kooweerups around and there is no more additional BER money coming from the Federal Government. As I said we are mindful of the school’s situation and are doing all we can to remedy the problem.”
