Tech centre debate rages over Shepparton school plan
A tech centre slated for the controversial Greater Shepparton Secondary College will not be part of the campus when it opens, spurring criticism the community won’t be getting what was promised.
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A Tech School slated for the controversial Greater Shepparton Secondary College and lauded as “integral” by the community will not be part of the campus when it opens.
A master plan to merge four Shepparton high schools into one mega campus, with the inclusion of a Tech School, was voted on during community consultations.
But ministerial briefing notes show the Tech School won’t be part of the 2700-student campus when it opens in 2022, spurring criticism the community won’t be getting what was promised.
Member for Northern Victoria Wendy Lovell obtained ministerial briefings and a community consultation draft report through FOI.
They show the Tech School and Trade Skills Centre “were popular features” of merging the four campuses and were “considered integral” to the plan in 2017.
“I like that there is a technical aspect to this,” one participant surveyed in the consultations said.
“Not all students are interested in academics, there need to be a “hands on” option for students that is seen to have value.”
But in March 2019, ministerial briefing notes show while the Tech School “was proposed as part of community consultations”, it would be “considered as part of future stages of the Shepparton Education Plan and state Budget processes”.
Ms Lovell said the state government was “trying to shortchange our community”.
“James Merlino and Suzanna Sheed have misled Shepparton families by promising a Tech
School/STEM centre and then scrapping it once they achieved their preferred objective of a
single school model,” she said.
“The dumping of the Tech School/STEM centre reinforces my concern that the State Labor
Government has run out of money and will not deliver the $120 million needed to build the
high-quality school that our students were promised.”
Education Minister James Merlino hit back, urging Ms Lovell to “stop playing silly games and get behind the plan — which she knows includes a state-of-the-art STEM centre”.
He said $21.5 million had been committed to start building Greater Shepparton SC, which would support the design, site preparations and an Integrated Early Learning Centre at Mooroopna Primary.
The Herald Sun understands while the Tech School was part of community consultations, no further decisions have been made and it is subject to future budgets.
Four high schools — Shepparton High, Mooroopna Secondary, McGuire College and Wanganui Park Secondary — were merged this year to create Greater Shepparton College.
The students were spread across three campuses, with Shepparton High closed, to be redeveloped as a new campus to open for all pupils in 2022.