May 7, 2013
No South Burnett schools have been earmarked for closure by the State Government, despite rumours to the contrary sweeping the area last week.
After the Courier-Mail newspaper published information from a departmental briefing note that suggested 55 Queensland schools were potentially unviable, rumours started flying that Cloyna State School – amongst others – could have been on the closure list.
However a spokesman for Education Minister John-Paul Langbroek confirmed today Cloyna was not under consideration of closure.
The Courier-Mail’s information came from a Ministerial briefing note prepared in August last year that the newspaper obtained under Right To Information legislation.
This Briefing Note contained raw departmental data which could be used to assess the viability of a school.
The spokesman said Mr Langbroek had rejected the conclusions “out of hand”. Instead, he asked for the data to be re-considered on a much stricter set of criteria.
These included the proximity of schools on the list to each other, whether a student would have to transition to Distance Education or travel long distances, the capacity at nearby schools, and how long the school has been below the relevant threshold.
This re-crunching of the data produced just nine schools under consideration for closure, and none of these are located in the South Burnett.
The nine schools are: Coorparoo SC, Everton Park SHS, Nyana SHS, Old Yarranlea SS, Fortitude Valley SS, Stuart SS, Wyreema SS, Charlton SS and Toowoomba South SS.
“Last year I received advice from the Department that 55 schools were potentially unviable. I rejected this out of hand,” Mr Langbroek said.
“Since enrolment data was collected on Day 8 (of the school year), we have looked at all of these schools and identified nine that require further consideration.
“Let me be clear, this does not mean these schools will automatically close.
“We now need to have a calm, mature conversation about the opportunities available at these schools and whether students will be better off elsewhere.
“The most important thing is that we listen to the local community and achieve the best result for the students.”
Mr Langbroek said the State Government managed 1241 schools and it was of utmost importance that this was done prudently to ensure the best outcome for all Queensland students.
