PARENTS of children at Errowanbang Public School heard the news they knew was coming but did not want to hear on Wednesday: the small school is likely to close at the end of the year.
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Errowanbang father-of-four Chris Baker attended a meeting with representatives from the Department of Education and Communities (DEC), along with other parents, staff and community members, to talk about the future of the school on Wednesday.
He said representatives spoke about the drop in enrolments, from 37 students in 2012 to 11 this year, and said they announced the recommendation to close the school.
“It’s been on the cards for the last 12 months, we all realised what was coming,” he said.
“The land that the school is on, the department doesn’t own. My personal view is that the price of rent has had a major impact on the department’s decision.
“If we didn’t have the high rent, I don’t think the level of enrolments would have mattered as much. They won’t give us the magical number of enrolments that they need.”
The DEC declined to confirm if a decision to close the school had been made and also declined to comment on the contents of the meeting or if the cost of the lease on the land was a factor in the DEC’s community consultations.
Mr Baker said if the school was closed he would send his two youngest children, in year 4 and 5 at Errowanbang, to school at either Millthorpe or Orange.
“I don’t think they left it too late in the year. It allows the children to finish off the school year. If it was earlier, it might have meant the school would have closed before the end of the year,” he said.
alexandra.king@fairfaxmedia.com.au
