Parents, children march in protest of SA Government’s changes to CBD school zone

Hundreds of parents and children from the inner western and southern suburbs of Adelaide have rallied against the State Government’s changes to the CBD school zone.

Protest march from Thebarton Theatre to Adelaide High. Picture: Dean Martin/AAP

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Hundreds of parents and children from the inner western and southern suburbs of Adelaide have rallied against the State Government’s changes to the CBD school zone.

The protesters walked form Thebarton Theatre to Adelaide High School on Sunday morning, voicing their opposition to the decision to restrict enrolments at the two CBD high schools including newly opened Adelaide Botanic High School.

Demonstrators on the walk to Adelaide High. Picture: Dean Martin/AAP

Kathleen Morris says she recently moved to Black Forest so that her son Jones could attend Adelaide Botanic, but is now in limbo as to alternative schooling options.

“Since (Adelaide) Botanic High School has been announced we saw it as an amazing opportunity for our kids, and we’ve been trying for the past two years to get into the zone,” she said.

“We sold a house that we loved and moved in four weeks ago. We were just on the wrong side of the street in the last house, we literally lived on the boundary, and we have now moved to the wrong side of the tracks just outside the boundary again.”

Ms Morris, who now resides within the zone for Springbank Secondary College, is hopeful the State Government will reconsider its policy.

“I hope so because we’ve just invested a lot of money and the rest of our lives into this,” she said.

“That school offered so many opportunities for our kids — we were hoping Botanic because of the STEM subjects.”

Jones Morris makes his thoughts known. Picture: Dean Martin/AAP

Opposition Leader Peter Malinauskas said at this morning’s rally that he would continue the fight against the zoning changes.

“What we’re seeing now is a political response, a response from the community,” he told the group of protesters.

“This is just the beginning, because we know that nothing matters more than children’s lives.

“The reason there are so many people here today isn't because the government made a decision without consultation, the reason there are so many people here today isn’t because the government made a decision that affected people’s home values.

“The reason why there are so many people here today is because the one thing that we care about more than anything else is our future generations.”