Accidental activists: How a group of Adelaide mums saved their school
When an Adelaide high school was earmarked for closure, a group of mums got angry. Then they got busy. They won their battle, and say there are lessons for anyone with a big fight on their hands.
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Diana Smith-McCue and Katrina Bean are self-described “middle-class suburban mums”, and never saw themselves as activists.
But activists is exactly what they became as they rallied around an inner-southern high school that had been slated for closure by the State Government.
Suddenly they, and the other mums and grandparents in their group, had to schedule in time for designing placards, writing to politicians and even rallying on the steps of Parliament House in between raising children and working busy jobs.
But it worked – the closure of Springbank Secondary College is now off the agenda – and the pair says there are many lessons for other “middle-class suburban mums” who might feel like they’re getting a rough deal from those in power.
Ms Smith-McCue and Ms Bean both chose Springbank, which was formerly known as Pasadena High, for different reasons. For Ms Smith-McCue’s eldest son Campbell it was the school’s renowned basketball program that sealed the deal.
For Ms Bean’s son Levi, who is on the autism spectrum, Springbank has been a revelation.
“He’s just flourished at Springbank – socially, emotionally and academically,” she said.
“He’s always taken until Term 2 or 3 to feel settled and comfortable enough to do anything academically, but at Springbank he was completely fine right from the start.”
Both mums were also attracted to the small size of the school, which currently has just over 200 students, and the nurturing and attentive atmosphere that this allowed.
So they were shocked when in March their children came home from school and said the media were gathered at the school to report on its impending closure. The press, it appeared, had been notified before the parents.
Rather than accept that their school, which had been operating under a cloud of speculation regarding its future for a number of years, was going to close Ms Smith-McCue, Ms Bean and a cohort of other mostly mums, with a few grandparents in the mix, decided it was time to harness their parent power.
“We were shocked,” Ms Bean said.
Both mums thought that after the school survived a closing scare in 2016 and rebadged two years later, complete with new funding agreements and a renewed focus, that its future was secure. So they got busy.
“We’re not activists, but we activate when our children’s school and their future is threatened,” Ms Bean said.
What followed was a campaign of letter writing, “wobble boarding” placards outside the school and outside the office of local Liberal MP Carolyn Power, and even some gatecrashing of politicians’ meet and greets.
Basically, if a politician did anything in Adelaide’s inner-southern suburbs they could be pretty sure that there was going to be a group of Springbank mums there to ... well, have a polite chat.
The parents say they were never told what the Government’s plans for the Springbank site – which sits directly opposite the Daw Park Repatriation hospital – actually were.
“You can be pretty sure that at the end of the day it was all about money,” Ms Bean said.
Ms Smith-McCue said the secrecy around the plans for the land only served to fuel rumour and speculation.
“I mean people assumed that the land would be sold off,” she said. “And that might have been completely wrong, but if you’re not told any different then what are you meant to think?”
The mums took their campaign to the media, where Ms Smith-McCue discovered she had a hidden talent for talkback radio.
“They actually liked me,” she laughed. “So I found myself on the radio quite a bit. It was a real crash course in media and public relations.”
Ms Bean said that while the vast majority of parents had no campaigning experience, there were a couple that had some skills in the advocacy field,
“They were crucial in bringing people together early on,” she said. “Then we formed a WhatsApp group where people could find out what was happening. We had Zoom meetings every week.
“But it was really organic and grassroots. I was so happy to be involved in it.
“It was a positive campaign, it was never a smear campaign.”
“That’s so true,” Ms Smith-McCue said.
“And if anyone got wobbly and lost their sense of optimism then the whole group would rally around them and offer support. We supported one another through that journey.
“And we all asked ourselves, ‘What’s one thing I might be able to do to make a difference today’. At the end of the day we are just a group of ordinary mums who got organised.
“I’m a girl from a small country town, who would have thought I’d ever be MCing a rally on the steps of Parliament House? The only thing I think I’ve ever MCd is a wedding!”
“We put on our brave faces, supported one another and did things we probably thought we would never have done.”
On July 2 the parents received a letter from Education Minister John Gardner confirming that Springbank Secondary College would stay open as an unzoned school.
Tears were shed, glasses were raised and, for the first time in months, the mums of Springbank could take their foot off the accelerator and relax.
“I think the school will be stronger than ever after this,” Ms Smith-McCue said