Schools and communities
â??The one thing that many communities wanted was for their schools to remain as educational facilities. And they were quite prepared to consider combined uses with community organisationsâ?? Dr Foskey said today.
â??Another raft of schools and preschools are now scheduled to close at the end of this year. They include Cook, Page and Macarthur preschools, Cook and Village Creek primary schools and Kambah High.â??
These school communities feel betrayed because they believe they have demonstrated why their schools should continue, but that they have been ignored.â??
â??Canberra communities fighting to protect their local school sites risk being pitted against each other by the majority Labor government. If we work together we can be much stronger than working alone.â??
â??Very little can be done in the Assembly before the election next October, so we need to organise and work together across the community.â??
â??At the first instance I think we need to dig our heels in and rule out any permanent change to the land use and any development on the sites until after October next year.â??
â??There will be plenty of opportunities for working with local residents on future plans in the meantimeâ?? Dr Foskey said.
