August 2000 to September 2001 Media Reports

Decision due on Fitzroy School

By Ingrid Svendsen
Wednesday, August 29, 2001

THE State Government is set to make its long-awaited announcement on the future of Fitzroy Secondary College next month.
Community campaigners have cautiously welcomed an assurance by Education Minister Mary Delahunty that the government will reveal its preferred model for the future of the former Fitzroy High School.
A spokesman for Ms Delahunty, Phil Reed, reiterated that the site would be returned to use as a school.  Every option that the government is considering involves a re-establishment of a school on the site,” he said.
The assurance follows growing unease among campaigners about the government’s silence on the fate of the school, which was closed a decade ago by the Kennett Government.
The secretary of the Community for Fitzroy High School group, AnTony McPhee, said the government would need to move quickly to finalise the structure and curriculum and appoint a principal by next May, in time for parents to enrol their children at the school for 2003.
”People need certainty because their children’s future is at stake, ”Mr McPhee said.
”People are deciding to move out of the area because of their kid’s education, so it is a major thing that people need to know.”
Former Labor Education Minister Barry Pullen, who headed an inquiry that last year recommended the re-opening of the school, had questioned whether the government would meet its timetable for a “nuts and bolts” announcement this month.
Mr Pullen said the government needed to move to appoint a principal or site director and finalise the site’s educational facilities.
”Give the strong support by the minister and the premier it is disappointing that the bureaucracy is taking so long to get information out and a timetable to the community, ”Mr Pullen said.
Mr Pullen recommended last year that the school re-open and that the site could also house other education facilities, including vocational studies, a research centre, adult education and university extension studies” for local students.

Letters June 27, 2001

Just want a normal school
Principal of Thornbury-Darebin Secondary College Noel Spooner (TMT, June 6) says his is a “socialist view” and that he is opposed to the re-opening of Fitzroy High School on the grounds it will extend “gaps between the haves and the have-nots”.  His comments are based on his view that the proposal for Fitzroy High School is elitist and that it would be socially fairer to spend the money on vocational training facilities such as an industrial kitchen or a mechanics course at schools further a field such as Brunswick, Collingwood or Thornbury.
Well, from our point of view the “have-nots” are the residents of North Fitzroy and surrounds.  We don’t have a local high school.  Our children have to scramble for places at already overcrowded Northcote High, Princes Hill Secondary College and University High.  There’s a chance mine or Sally’s down the road won’t get a place – and if they do, we may find that the overcrowded classrooms make learning difficult.
Mr Spooner’s suggestion would do nothing to relieve the pressure on these schools – certainly I won’t be considering sending my kids on the bus to his vocational training courses.
I don’t want to send my kids to a mechanics’ school or a chefs’ school.  I want to send my kids to a ‘’normal’’ high school that will give them a reasonable chance of going to university.  I don’t think that is politically incorrect.  It’s a pretty ordinary aspiration these days.  What’s not socially just is that we may find that only the richest of our neighbours will be able to afford to send their kids to the private schools necessary to provide that opportunity.
Perhaps the Education Minister and her review panel, with their attempts to soothe the concerns of surrounding schools by conjuring up this notion of “innovative approaches” and “extension studies”, got it a bit wrong.  In trying to ensure that Fitzroy High School would not directly compete with the other local schools, Mary Delahunty just played into the hands of a competitor of another stripe.
I don’t want anything fancy.  I just want an ordinary high school.  I bet that’s all anyone around here really wants.

Jackie Van Vugt
Fitzroy North

Letters June 20, 2001

Open the School now
I would like to reply to comments about the reopening of Fitzroy Secondary College made in The Melbourne Times over recent weeks.  (TMT May 2, May 30, June 6)
The report and recommendations that have been submitted to the government on the reopening of Fitzroy Secondary College show that there will be more than 400 extra secondary school age students in the surrounding area over the next few years.  As a parent with children in primary school in North Fitzroy, I am extremely concerned about the shortage of school places in existing schools.
Schools, including Princes Hill, University High and Northcote High, are full and have capped their numbers.
Thornbury/Darebin, Collingwood College, Brunswick Secondary College and Moreland City are not local schools to students in Clifton Hill, Fitzroy, North Fitzroy, Alphington and Westgarth and are not easily accessible by public transport for many students.
A few families may be able to send their kids to private schools, but many of us can’t afford it.
So where are the options?
Fitzroy Secondary College already has buildings, any money spent will be on students.
We need this school reopened.

S. Dwyer
Northcote

 Fitzroy High is much needed
As a parent of a year six student, I applaud Minister Delahunty and Premier Steve Bracks for their decision to reopen Fitzroy Secondary College.
It is reassuring that there are those in politics who are truly listening to what parents are saying.  As a resident of Northcote, when my child was starting primary school, I had a large number of excellent schools to choose from within a reasonable distance of my community.  I chose North Fitzroy as it best offered the style of schooling we were looking for and nurtured a sense of community we should all strive for.
Having invested seven years in such a community I find it incredible that our child can not choose to continue his education within the community we have all become a part of.
'Choosing' a secondary school is not an option we are offered.  One cannot “choose” to send their child to University High unless they fit a particular "Academic mould".  One cannot “choose” to send their child to Princes Hill unless a particular curriculum requirement can be proven.  It would appear that if you want “choice”' then it's off to the private system where the right address it NOT a requirement!
If we don't need another school within the inner northern area, then why have the portables which were removed from Northcote High in 2000 returned in 2001?   If there are enough resources to go around, why do VCE students from Princes Hill have to spend Wednesdays at home or some classes studying in the canteen?  Why should children from Alphington, Fairfield, Northcote, Fitzroy and North Fitzroy and Clifton Hill have to include a trip down the freeway to widen their field of “choice”.
Old School sites around Melbourne and backyards all around the inner northern area are being converted into high density dwellings developments.  Where are these families going to send their children for a secondary education in the years to come?
Fitzroy Secondary College may not be open in time for my child, but it is a much needed resource for the students of the future.

Doris Pearse
Northcote

 Have a Fitzroy High Reunion
I am writing to say hooray for the reopening of Fitzroy High School.  I was a student there from 1977 to 1982 and those years were some of my happiest.
The teachers were cool, they respected us young adults and showed care and concern for us all.  I remember in particular Mrs Gallagher and Mr Peter Jackson.
The decline in high school age kids in numbers enough to warrant the use of Fitzroy High School occurred at the same time as the new trend for inner-city living pushed on.  Situations surely change and now they are changed again.
The site of Fitzroy High is without doubt of significance in real-estate terms, but to under-utilise the school for so long is inexcusable.
I would like to see a reunion happen for ex-Fitzroy High students and would be happy to help.  Nothing without work!

Sabine Desrondaux
North Fitzroy

 Students should be valued
I found the article “Remember the days of the old school yard” (TMT, June 6) a very interesting read, especially the bit where Brian Sullivan, former school council chairman of Fitzroy High School, says that the teaching climate in the school, which was closed in 1992 due to a decline in school age population, was fantastic and that every kid was valued.
The size of the school should not determine whether it students are “valued” or not, but it often seems to work out that way.  A school that is battling to keep its students will care more about its curriculum in the broadest sense of the word, will be more open to listening to its students and making sure that they feel “valued”, than a school that is large in numbers, safe in its prospective enrolments or over-crowded.  A large or overcrowded school is more likely to be happy to get rid of students rather than ensure that they feel valued and catered for.  In short, the teaching climate becomes more negative.
At nearby Princes Hill Secondary College where enrolments have risen significantly beyond its own stated capacity ceiling in recent times, I, as a parent, have noticed a corresponding decline in the extent to which the students are valued.
It is not surprising that principals of neighbouring smaller schools are opposing the reopening of Fitzroy High School, while the principal of Princes Hill is supporting it.
I support the principal of Princes Hill in his support for the reopening of this valuable resource.  It is what our kids deserve – two smaller schools where every kid is valued rather than one large school where many kids get the message that they don’t matter.

Elsa McCarthy
Thornbury

Remember the days of the old school yard

 By Jewel Topsfield
Wednesday, June 6, 2001

In a belated victory for urban activism, Fitzroy High School is set to reopen – nearly a decade after angry parents finally vacated the premises.  But the state Government may now have a different battle on its hands.  JEWEL TOPSFIELD reports.

 When Brian Sullivan heard the news last month, the 15 month vigil he and other parents had spent sleeping in cramped camp beds outside the school principal’s office suddenly seemed worthwhile.
The State Government has announced that after almost 10 years Fitzroy High School will be reopened. The people who were goaded into civil disobedience by the closure of their school have finally won their battle.
Or have they?  Assuming a new school eventuates – and some still doubt that it will – the new Fitzroy High will be opening its doors to a very different world from the one it closed them on.  It is already facing strong resistance from many neighbouring schools who claim the money would be better spent on existing schools.  Nor is it at all clear what sort of facility a new school would be, or for whom it would cater.  Most of the children of the parents who fought the original battle have long gone, and the latest resident push includes a new group of parents with higher incomes and different expectations.
The State Government, having approved the reopening, has now hired a consultant to co-ordinate the response from nearby schools.  Education Minister Mary Delahunty is vague about the exact nature of the school to be located on the site.  She refuses to speculate on when the school will open or whether student numbers will be capped.
”I’m not looking at any dates, there is a lot of work to be done,” she says.
As chairman of the school council when the newly elected Liberal Government announced the closure of Fitzroy High in late 1992, Brian Sullivan spearheaded the fight to retain the Falconer Street site for public education.  Back then, more than 500 members of the school community, rostered in shifts, occupied the school’s administration building, refusing to hand over the school keys.  The occupation dragged on for 15 months.
”It was a pretty harrowing time I can tell you,” Sullivan says.
”We got beyond hope at some point …that we would ever have a positive outcome like this.  It’s pretty gratifying to live through the dark ages and come out on the winning side.”
What had shocked Sullivan more than anything else was the brutal way the school was shut down.
It was November 1992 and the Year 12 students were just days away from their crucial end-of-year exams.  Although enrolments at Fitzroy High had dwindled during the 1980s as the school age population declined, the school council was fine-tuning a proposed amalgamation between Fitzroy High and the overcrowded Northcote High, planned for the following year.
The school was resource rich, with a newly opened technology wing, the only fully computerized library in the district, a new gymnasium and canteen and fully equipped science laboratories.  Under the proposed merger, Northcote students would have access to Fitzroy’s facilities, while Fitzroy students would benefit from the larger curriculum offerings at Northcote.
And then, to the shock of both school communities, the new State Premier, Jeff Kennett, announced that 150 schools – including Fitzroy high – would be closed immediately and all sites sold on the open market.
”It was absolutely draconian – done without any pretence of consultation,” Sullivan says.
Like many parents, Sullivan loved his local high school.  “The teaching climate was fantastic – every kid was valued,” says Sullivan, whose son and daughter were both students at the school.
”It wasn’t catering for only elites, it was catering for a lot of ethnic kids and other kids who were not especially privileged.”
The thought of losing all this, and having Fitzroy’s students farmed out to the already overcrowded Northcote High, University High or Princes Hill Secondary College spurred the school community into action.  “It was partly because we loved the school but it was also a reaction to the sheer brutality of the process – we just got our dander up,” Sullivan says.
While the vigilantes failed to force the State Government to reopen the school, they did manage to secure an agreement that John Batman TAFE would lease and operate on the site.  “We wanted to make sure the site was retained for a public education facility so the school could live to fight another day, which is exactly what has happened.”
But by 1998, the Falconer Street site was once again deserted, after John Batman TAFE relinquished its lease following an amalgamation with Kangan Institute of TAFE.  The site was in the process of being sold by the Kennett Government when Labor took office.
At the behest of local member Richard Wynn, who was elected in 1999 promising to work towards reopening Fitzroy High, Education Minister Mary Delahunty commissioned a review panel to consider future uses for the site.
Late last year the panel, chaired by former Kirner Government education minister Barry Pullen, recommended that a co-educational  year 7 to 12 school be established, catering for about 400 students.
The panel found that enrolments for the primary schools around Fitzroy High had increased since 1992, suggesting demand for local secondary school places would grow by about 450 places over the next six years.
To ally fears from surrounding schools that a new inner-northern secondary college would be a drain on their enrolments, the panel said the school should be limited in size, and focus on innovative approaches to education.
Recommendations included: an “extensions studies” centre, where gifted students could take university subjects; special programs for year 8 and 9 students; adult education facilities; vocational training in areas such as desktop publishing, hospitality, small business practice, furnishing and horticulture; and education research centre where teachers and academics could test new ideas in curriculum and teaching methods.
Students from other schools in the area could also access these programs.
In April, Delahunty agreed in-principle to reopen Fitzroy High School.
It now remains to be seen what form the new school will take.
Max Vella, a member of the review panel, believes the inner-city demography is changing.  “The old school had a bad reputation but the area has changed so much.  Now you have families living and owning their own businesses in North Fitzroy and Fitzroy – it’s become a community instead of a transient, high-rental area.”
A musician, who is about to open a new inner-city café, Vella is typical of this new breed of resident.  He has two children at North Fitzroy primary school, and admits he would consider sending them to a private secondary school if Fitzroy High was not reopened.
”It is against my whole philosophy because I am a supporter of public education, but I would consider it because I really don’t want my children to be disadvantaged within a school that has more students than it can actually handle.”
He and other local parents are concerned that neighbouring schools such as Princes Hill Secondary College, University high School and even Kew High School are knocking back students because demand is so high.  Northcote High is considered overcrowded and Collingwood Secondary College is perceived as a school which caters mainly for ESL (English as a Second Language) students.
Other options, such as Brunswick secondary College, Moreland City College and Thornbury-Darebin Secondary College are consider too far away.
Vella says the sometimes traumatic transition to secondary school would be lessened if students could attend a local high school, retaining friendships made in primary school.  He is also enthusiastic about the innovative approaches to education proposed in the review panel’s report.
”To lose a site like North Fitzroy because of short-sightedness and not looking to the future and demographics of the area would be a crime.”
But the principal of Thornbury-Darebin Secondary College, Noel Spooner, believes parents and the state government are trying to create a “boutique, private public” school on the site.  He says this reinforces the public perception that there are elite government schools and ghetto government schools.
Spooner believes that the innovative programs proposed for Fitzroy should be incorporated into existing schools.  “Why create another elite school, why not create elite programs in existing schools?
”Schools like Collingwood and Brunswick are really carrying the social justice can for the area and these schools should be recognised.”
He says if Collingwood Secondary College had an industrial kitchen for a hospitality course, or Brunswick Secondary College had a speciality music facility they would attract students form all over the district.
”Mine’s a socialist view – if I was managing the system I would not be extending the gaps between the haves and the have nots.”
Principals form many of the neighbouring schools have consistently argued there are plenty of vacancies at Collingwood, Brunswick and Thornbury-Darebin Secondary Colleges and Moreland City College.
Nor are parents convinced the fight is over.  “This doesn’t mean the other local high principals will stop their campaign to prevent it happening,” says AnTony McPhee, who has children at North Fitzroy high school.
”It is important to keep the pressure up to ensure they will be unsuccessful.
”The community wants a year 7 to 12 school opened in 2002.”
But in a letter to Barry Pullen, Delahunty says she does not believe there is a convincing case for a VCE component at the new school at this stage.
”I think we’ve got to start some-where,” Delahunty says.  “VCE obliges you to offer a broad curriculum and we need to be assured there is the amount of support for the school we think there is.”
In the letter, Delahunty suggests that the teacher training centre and vocational education centre may be better located at Collingwood Secondary College.
But what she does support for the Fitzroy site are special programs for year 8 and 9 students, and a partnership between the school and CERES in Brunswick to teach students environmental studies.
”We are not taking anything away from other schools.  Principals will all work together on this,” Delahunty says, carefully.
”This will be a showcase school – we are not just reopening Fitzroy High, we are offering the wider community a new school.”

Copyright © The Melbourne Times Ltd 2001

School to re-open, pledges Bracks

By Jewel Topsfield
Wednesday, May 30, 2001

PREMIER Steve Bracks has confirmed that the former Fitzroy Secondary College will be reopened.
But the move has been strongly resisted by some neighbouring secondary colleges, which claim there are vacancies in existing schools.
Mr Bracks told 3AW last week that reopening the school would reduce overcrowding problems in schools in the inner north.
He was responding to complaints from a Princes Hill Secondary College teacher, who rang the station to complain about overcrowding at his school.
David Brant, a member of a group that has fought to reopen the school since it was closed by the Kennett Government in 1992, said he was delighted by the premier’s “final confirmation”.
Last month Education Minister Mary Delahunty agreed in principle to reopen the school, following a recommendation from a Bracks Government-appointed review panel last year.
The panel’s report found that enrolments for the primary schools around Fitzroy High had increased since 1992, suggesting demand for local secondary school places would grow by about 450 people over the next six years.
But North Fitzroy parent AnTony McPhee warned that principals from surrounding schools were unlikely to stop their campaign to keep the school closed.
”It is important we keep the pressure up to ensure they will be unsuccessful,” Mr McPhee said.
Early this month the principals from secondary schools in the inner north met with director of schools Michael White to discuss their concerns.  Most were opposed to reopening Fitzroy Secondary College, claiming there was plenty of room in neighbouring schools, with vacancies at Collingwood, Northcote, Thornbury/Darebin, Moreland City and Brunswick secondary colleges.
A spokesman for Ms Delahunty said it had not been decided when the school would reopen.

Copyright © The Melbourne Times Ltd 2001

Letters May 30, 2001

It's a matter of principal

I write to apologize to Gary Israel and Francis Laurino, and by inference principals of the other inner north high schools.
My letter  (TMT, May 2)  was not intended to cast doubt on the quality of their schools, or their commitment to their particular schools' educational programs.
Collingwood College and Brunswick College provide a much needed facility with innovative educational programs for students from communities with exceptional needs.  Such schools should be supported by the government even if their student numbers don’t equate to an ordinary high school.
Northcote High is a strong and vibrant school and I commend Gary Israel’s commitment to cap students numbers at its present enrolment of 1200.
However, I don’t think it is unreasonable for the community to question the commitment of local high school principals to public education beyond their own school fences.  They have yet to adequately explain why they actively agitate to prevent a new public high school opening, particularly in relation to the extra 450 to 550 student places identified as required in the review Panel Report.
That is the Kennett legacy referred to in my letter, the schism of public education into warring factions, with little regard for Public Education as a worthwhile cause in itself, or that education is an inherent part of the wider community, not just the education bureaucracy.
One of the stated aims for a new Fitzroy High in the Review Panel Report, (available from www.deet.vic.gov.au/deet/media/reports/index.htm), is to foster a ‘partnership based on a network of collaborating local schools’.
When canvassed by the Review Panel the community embraced this initiative, the Minister has announced her support, and we hope, after Fitzroy High is re-opened, the local high school principals will show some leadership and take up the challenge.

AnTony McPhee
North Fitzroy

Letters May 16, 2001

No Plans to expand school
It is a pity that Mr Antony McPhee did not check his facts before making public comment (TMT, May 2) about new facilities and the target enrolment at Northcote High School.  The new Arts/Technology wing he refers to and which will shortly be under construction, provides splendid permanent facilities for the existing enrolment of 1200 students.  There are no plans to expand the school to 1500.  An enrolment policy is currently being devised by our school council to maintain enrolments around 1200 while, of course, providing places for all applicants in the local area.
The price of our new wing, at $1.47 million, is very cost effective and considerably less than some other proposed projects.
As a Navigator School, Northcote High School prides itself on sharing its resources and expertise in Learning Technologies and the “Thinking Curriculum” with schools and educators, not only around Victoria, but from across the world.  The next few weeks see practicums conducted for schools in New Zealand, China, Singapore and the UK, as well as for local schools.  Innovation and breadth of vision in education, supported by excellent facilities for teaching and learning, are hall-marks of schools in the inner northern suburbs, including Northcote High School.

Gary Israel
Principal,
Northcote High School

An education conundrum
Antony McPhee asks “Why oppose Fitzroy High?” (TMT, letters, May 2) and in the process questions whether the Kennett legacy isn’t still with us.  I think, to some extent, it is, but want to state here that it won’t be found embodied in the thinking or the actions of principal Frances Laurino.
I have known Frances since enrolling my eldest child in prep at Collingwood College.  He is now in year nine with brothers in years seven and four respectively.
On first meeting Frances, I was impressed at her knowledge of the children in her care and of the commitment and concern she exhibited for their education.  In the past 10 years this impression has only strengthened.  She continues to extend the greatest of care for the education and wellbeing of every child.
Concepts of “treating children like fodder” or of allowing a “make-do” education are anathema to her.  Nor is there any hint of narrow mindedness in her championing of innovations in middle school education and integrated curriculum at her school.  Under her administration, innovative programs (such as those named by Mr McPhee) are implemented at Collingwood College as they are at other state schools, and are implemented with existing resources.
A new state school campus is not required for their documentation, research or extension.
I am in no doubt that the Ministry of Education has a genuine conundrum on its hands.  How can it satisfy the demands of North Fitzroy parents and do so within the equity principles and the educational and social justice commitments of the Brack’s Labor Government?
And I don’t believe that highly charged rhetoric and personal attacks will assist a solution.  They merely continue the discredited Kennett legacy of divisiveness.

Will Dunn
Abbotsford

Principals cane plan to re-open school

By Jewel Topsfield
Wednesday, May 2, 2001

PRINCIPALS from secondary colleges in the inner north will meet director of schools Michael White this week to raise concerns about the reopening of Fitzroy High School.
Most oppose reopening Fitzroy high because they insist there is plenty of room in neighbouring schools, with vacancies at Collingwood, Northcote, Thornbury/Darebin, Moreland City and Brunswick secondary colleges.
The meeting follows education minister Mary Delahunty's decision last month to give tentative support to a school taking students in years seven to 10 at the former Fitzroy High School site.
The announcement was a victory for parents who had been fighting to reopen the school since the Kennett Government closed it in 1992.
But Thornbury/Darebin Secondary College principal Noel Spooner said the money would be better spent developing specialist programs at existing schools in the inner north, which students from neighbouring schools could also access.
"For example, students from my school can attend a radio program at Northlands and Northlands kids can come here for motor mechanics," Mr Spooner said.  "It is better to spend money on kids than bricks and mortar."
But Jeremy Ludowyke, the principal of Princes Hill Secondary College, which has no vacancies, said if Fitzroy High School was not reopened many local parents would choose to send their children to private schools.
He said students from other schools in the area could also access some of the specialist programs proposed for Fitzroy High, such as vocational education and training.
"I can understand that schools needing more students to ensure their own viability would see another school as something of a threat.  But what is intended is a school that would be capped at 400 students in response to a very clearly expressed demand from parents in the local area,"  Mr Ludowyke said.

Copyright © The Melbourne Times Ltd 2001

Letters May 2, 2001

Why oppose Fitzroy High?
The claims by Frances Laurino from Collingwood College on the reopening of Fitzroy High School (TMT, April 4) are surprising.
If there is "plenty of room" in local schools why are our children not able to enrol at University High or Princes Hill, and why did Northcote High, with over 1100 students, install three new portable classrooms over the Christmas break? In the light of this overcrowding why does Collingwood College have enough room for "400 school places"?

How could Brunswick Secondary College and Thornbury/Darebin be described as "local schools" to children from Fitzroy, Clifton Hill, North Fitzroy, Carlton, Alphington and Westgarth?

The reality is parents have been campaigning to have Fitzroy Secondary College reopened because the Northern Metropolitan office of the education department has not responded to secondary educational needs in our area.
At present the overcrowded schools pick what they consider the best students, the rest are expected to make do with whatever under-utilized school in the region needs students to boost their numbers. Why isn't the department identifying why these schools are under-utilized and address those issues? We don't appreciate our children being treated as fodder to solve problems others are unwilling to deal with.

Why is the fact that the proposal for the Fitzroy Secondary College site is more than just a school, it has the potential to be the beginning of a new era in public education, not mentioned by Frances Laurino? Of course Principals of surrounding high schools don't want Fitzroy re-opened. What do they care about public education in Victoria? Why should they support concepts of sharing of facilities and resources, in-school educational research, and developing new teaching strategies for the whole public education system? After all, THEIR school is much more important. It is a sad reflection on the state of the Victorian Education system when those entrusted with running the system are so narrow minded.

Re-opening Fitzroy High School would be an excellent use of public money. The buildings are in good condition (go and have a look), requiring little remedial work. It would certainly be cheaper than, say, building a new classroom wing at Northcote so it could be a school of 1500 students.

More public consultation, why? Frances Laurino knows, as one of the members of the Review Panel, that consultation was extensive. Questionnaires of local communities overwhelmingly supported re-opening Fitzroy High. Local schools, both Primary and Secondary, were involved from the very beginning of the Review Panel's work, as was the education department at a senior level. The Review Panel Report did NOT recommend further consultation, it recommended re-opening the school in 2002.

Re-opening Fitzroy High School is an excellent opportunity to not only properly service public education in the inner north of Melbourne, but also put into practice some of the innovative educational ideas canvassed by the Review Panel and other recent Victorian government initiated reports into public education.
It is surprising there are members of the public education system so opposed to the strengthening and enhancing of public eduction in Victoria; or is the Kennett legacy still with us?

AnTony McPhee
North Fitzroy

Fitzroy school's out for now

By Jewel Topsfield
Wednesday, April 4, 2001

REOPENING the former Fitzroy Secondary College would be a "poor use of public money", according to the principal of Collingwood College.
Principal Frances Laurino said there was plenty of room in neighbouring schools, with vacancies at Collingwood, Brunswick and Thornbury/Darebin secondary colleges.
She said Collingwood College alone, which has about 500 students, could cater for the 400 school places that would be offered at Fitzroy Secondary College.
"We have a broad range of subjects and excellent facilities including a theatre and a gymnasium," Ms Laurino said.
"There needs to be a much wider consultation with the school community and other schools in the area before the decision is made to re-open Fitzroy Secondary College."
Education minister Mary Delahunty agreed in principal to reopen the school last week, after nine years of campaigning by parents and local residents.
Last year a government-appointed review panel, chaired by former Labor education minister Barry Pullen, recommended that a co-educational school be established at the site.
Local MP Richard Wynne said it had not been decided when Fitzroy secondary College would reopen.
He said the school would initially be for years seven to 10 students, building up to years 11 and 12 if there were sufficient students and a broad range of subjects.
"School numbers would be capped at about 400 to ensure there was no negative impact on surrounding schools, particularly Collingwood College," Mr Wynne said.
Local resident and primary school parent David Brant was delighted his son would be able to go to a local high school.
"Some of our neighbours' children are travelling as far as Kew High School to get public education," Mr Brant said.
Fitzroy Secondary College was shut in 1992, during a wave of school closures shortly after the election of the Kennett government.

Copyright © The Melbourne Times Ltd 2001

The report found that enrolments for the primary schools around Fitzroy High had increased since 1992, suggesting demand for local secondary school places would grow by about 450 over the next six years. Many inner-Melbourne secondary schools were overcrowded, the report said. The local member, Richard Wynne, ALP, said the school was likely to open in 2003.

Said David Brant, a member of a group that has campaigned on behalf of Fitzroy High: "We are very pleased with this decision because we don't want our kids to travel long distances to school. We can make a positive step for innovative public education here."

Copyright © The Age Company Ltd 2000.

"The Education minister announced in principle support for re-opening a high school shut by the Kennett government."

"Fitzroy Secondary College was one of more than 100 closed by the Kennett government.
Today parents who have been fighting for 9 years to have it re-opened heard the news they have been waiting for."

Richard Wynne, local MP:
“A great day for public education, the minister has agreed in principle to have the school re-opened”.

"A review has proposed the school be re-opened for years 7 to 10 with a cap of 400 pupils.
It has also recommended linking the school to teacher training and universities.
But does in principle support mean it will re-open?"

Mary Delahunty, Minister for Education:
“Well, it means we are looking very seriously at the proposal to have a school operating on that site”

"Local high schools are turning away enrolments and Fitzroy is unlikely to re-open before 2004, but parents are relieved:"

Comments from parents
"a sensational decision”

“I’m really hoping that the Labor government makes the right decision and  opens the school”

“I would like to get the funding a little earlier”

 "And it seems there may be hope for some of the other schools closed by the former government.  The minister says she would consider further re-openings based on need:"

 Mary Delahunty, Minister for Education:
“on a case by case basis we are very receptive”

 "A final decision on the future of Fitzroy High is expected within 6 months.'

Helen Vines, for ABC News, Melbourne.

The former Fitzroy Secondary College is preparing to reopen nine years after it closed.

Parents of former and prospective students are opening the site, which has been left largely untouched since 1992.

The Community for Fitzroy High School's David Brant says the school's science labs are stocked with chemicals, its library filled with books and it has computers lying idle.

He says the in-principle agreement to open the school in 2004 will serve the needs of the area's rapidly changing demographic.

"Ten years ago when the school was closed, its numbers were declining," he said.

"There were adequate schools surrounding it in the local area, things have changed and the demographic is new, the needs are new."

A FITZROY high school is tipped to reopen after being closed amid controversy almost a decade ago.

Fitzroy Secondary College could be enrolling students in time for the 2004 school year.

The State Government has given tentative support for a school taking students in years 7 to 10.

It will also consider locating the proposed Victorian Institute for Teaching at the site.

The former Kennett Government closed Fitzroy Secondary College in late 1992, sparking controversy and a 15-month occupation of the site.

Parents have spent the past nine years campaigning to re-open the school, which had 240 students and 30 teachers.

Ms Delahunty has given in-principal support for the new school.

© 2001 Herald and Weekly Times

Government ‘drags its feet’ on school decision

By Jewel Topsfield
Thursday 15^th March 2001

 The Government is “dragging its feet” on the issue of whether to re-open the old Fitzroy High School, according to a spokesman for a residents’ lobby group.
David Brant said about 100 residents had formed the lobby group – Community for Fitzroy High School – to convince education minister Mary Delahunty of the urgent need to re-open the Falconer Street school.
“Fitzroy High School has been mothballed and a community resource has been lying stagnant for nine years,” Mr Brant said.

“We want a community and local school that kids can attend without travelling large distances.”

Mr Brant said the only government co-educational secondary school in the City of Yarra was Collingwood Secondary College.

He said nearby secondary colleges, such as Princes Hill and Northcote, were overcrowded.

Last year a Bracks Government-appointed a review panel, chaired by former Labor education minister Barry Pullen, recommended that a co-educational year 7 to 12 school be established at the site, catering for about 400 students.

Ms Delahunty’s spokesman, Matt Phelan, said the Government was still considering uses for the site.

But he said Ms Delahunty had described the report of the Fitzroy High School review panel as “inspirational”.

“The Department is now working with other schools to ensure that any plans for that site are supported and embraced by other schools in the area,” Mr Phelan said.

When Fitzroy High School was closed in late 1992, it had 240 students and 30 teachers in years 7 to 12. The closure sparked a fierce community campaign, with protesters occupying the buildings for 14 months.

The Falconer Street site was used by Kangan Batman TAFE from 1993 until 1998 but has been empty ever since.

The community is invited to an open day at the former school between 11am and 1pm on April 1 to demonstrate their support for the reopening.

Copyright © The Melbourne Times Ltd 2001

By CAROLYN JONES
EDUCATION CORRESPONDENT
Saturday 19 August 2000

Fitzroy Secondary College.

Copyright © The Age Company Ltd 2000.

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