A KEY Latrobe Valley youth welfare service facing a critical undersupply of resources has accused the Victorian Department of Education of poor consultation and support provision.
Berry Street Gippsland regional director Trish McCluskey said the service had been let down by the department, which it had been negotiating with to source additional buildings for an influx of youth in need of alternative education.
Ms McCluskey approached The Express after Berry Street workers drove past the former Woolum Bellum indigenous college in Morwell, which the service had hoped to utilise as an alternative teaching space for its burgeoning client numbers.
However, Ms McCluskey said she was met with a “bitter shock” to hear the buildings were being moved from the site, despite having been in negotiations with the department about using the classrooms.
“We were working in good faith with the department about the potential use of this site; we would’ve expected some kind of cooperation and a little bit of partnership on this, considering the amount of pressure we are under,” Ms McCluskey said.
The Woolum Bellum college – a ‘safety-net’ school for indigenous children who had dropped out of mainstream education – was closed by the State Government 12 months ago for failing to meet performance targets.
While the site had been initially considered as the location of a replacement “flexible learning centre” for indigenous and non-indigenous at-risk teenagers, the proposal for the site’s use is understood to have been rejected earlier this year.
While Berry Street took on four former Woolum Bellum students after the school’s closure last year, an additional six indigenous youths have come on board this year, adding to the service’s already-strained resources.
“We provide alternative education with no additional funding for 70 kids who would otherwise be in government schools; we need a consistent and proper venue to be able to do that – so we would’ve expected some kind of cooperation and a little bit better partnership than this,” Ms McCluskey said.
“We’ve had 402 people walk through our door since January, and we haven’t been able to place a third of those kids in appropriate service, and I’m talking 15 and 16 year-old kids; we can not handle this by ourselves.”
An education department spokesperson said once the ‘flexible learning centre’ was established and running, it would help relieve the pressure on Berry Street resources.
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Northe hits out at delays
Member for Morwell Russell Northe has spoken out against prolonged delays to the establishment of an alternative school for at-risk youth dropping out of mainstream education.
More than 12 months after the closure of Morwell’s Woolum Bellum indigenous college, details for the proposed ‘flexible learning centre’ remain elusive.
Despite an initially planned startup date of term three this year, the Department of Education is still unable to release any details about the project, prompting Mr Northe to speak out about the delay.
“I know these things take time and considerations of these things are complex, but I am disappointed in the time this has taken to make the necessary decisions,” Mr Northe said.
“My view has always been that it would be terrific to have it in place for 2014 – but realistically time is getting away, so I’m hopeful of a decision being made fairly soon.”
A Department of Education spokesperson said a community taskforce, made up of local secondary and primary principals, a Koorie Educator Coordinator and department representative, was still considering potential options.
