Former Wantirna Heights school trashed by vandals

ANOTHER abandoned school in Melbourne’s outer east has been trashed, with equipment destroyed, classrooms scrawled in graffiti and windows boarded up.

Neighbours Robyn Hamley, Ellie Heald, Joe Sama and Mark Cleeve are upset that the old Wantirna Heights School was trashed by vandals. Pictures: Josie Hayden

ANOTHER abandoned Knox school has been trashed, with equipment destroyed, classrooms scrawled in graffiti and windows boarded up.

The former Wantirna Heights School in Kingloch Parade, left vacant since it was closed in 2013, has become a target for vandals.

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When Leader visited last week, several classrooms had been trashed, with graffiti covering whiteboards and papers and equipment strewn over the floor.

Yvonne Coles, a former teacher at the school, said it was “an eyesore”.

“It’s a disgrace,” Mrs Coles said.

The old Wantirna Heights School has been branded an ‘eyesore’.

The state of the school is saddening locals and nieghbours.

“When I walk of a morning you can see where people have gone in overnight, you can see where the fence has been broken down.

“It is sad to see what it has become.”

Wantirna man John Purdy said when the school closed, community groups should have been allowed to use the buildings, which would have deterred vandals.

Education Department spokesman Alex Munro said they planned to demolish the buildings this year to reduce vandalism, and in the interim it would remain on their “regular maintenance program”.

Tags on an abandoned building near the playground.

Mr Munro said they would work with police and the community to ensure that the campus was maintained.

He said they encouraged people to report vandalism to police.

The former Boronia Heights College site was also trashed by vandals before the department demolished those buildings after the issue was highlighted by Knox Leader in 2015.

The Boronia and Wantirna sites are listed on the State Government’s Treasury and Finance website as “land being prepared for future sale”.

Paper is strewn on the floor of a vandalised classroom.

Mr Munro said after careful analysis both sites had been declared “surplus” and were being disposed of under the standard process.

He said discussions with other government departments on acquiring the sites were ongoing, ahead of any possible public sale.

Knox Council director of city development Angelo Kourambas said the council did not have any “strategic objectives or plans” that would warrant buying the sites.

He said both were zoned Public Use Zone 2 (Education), and rezoning of the sites had not started.

Both sites have been declared suitable for residential development under the council’s housing strategy.