Shocked teachers to be laid off at Lalor North Secondary College

Stunned staff at a northern suburbs state high school have been told teacher jobs will be lost as declining enrolments and an alleged $1.2m debt take a toll.

Teachers are being laid off at Lalor North Secondary College. Source: Website

Teachers are being laid off at a northern suburbs state high school as declining enrolments and an alleged $1.2m debt take a toll.

Shocked staff from Lalor North Secondary College were told teacher jobs would be lost across all faculties at a meeting on October 30, despite widespread teacher shortages around the state.

Sources from inside the school told the Herald Sun that the “grave situation” was due to a historical debt which the school had mismanaged.

They said the school’s financial situation “poses a significant risk, not only to the faculty’s job security but also to the educational environment for students”.

Staff were left “feeling dismayed and confused about the future of their positions and the direction of the school,” one source said.

“With an ongoing teacher shortage, the decision to declare staff in excess rather than seek sustainable financial solutions is particularly alarming.”

Shocked staff have been told teacher jobs will be lost.

The school’s financial woes date back to at least 2019, with the Department of Education calling in financial advisers to put a plan in place for the management of the debt.

The Department of Education is standing by principal Tim Cottrell. A spokesman said Mr Cottrell “and his leadership team are doing an outstanding job”.

“The principal, Timothy Cottrell, commenced at the school in 2022 and has taken the steps necessary to ensure the school’s staffing and expenditure reflect the school’s available budget,” he said.

However, it has been confirmed that a number of staff have been identified as additional to the needs of the school, with those affected offered retraining or other jobs in the department.

It’s understood the school now has 312 students in 2024, with Mr Cottrell praised for increasing enrolments.

But the school’s student numbers have plunged by more than 100 pupils since 2018, and have declined by nine students in the past 12 months alone.

The school’s financial woes date back to 2019. Source:Facebook

The My School website says the school had 422 students in 2018, 418 in 2019, 359 in 2020, 325 in 2021, 298 in 2022 and 321 in 2023.

Opposition education spokeswoman Jess Wilson said that “in the middle of a teacher shortage crisis, reports of teacher layoffs at a school are concerning”.

“The Allan Labor Government must ensure all schools have the resources they need to provide students the world class education they deserve,” she said.

Lalor North Secondary College’s 2020 Report to the Community – the latest available – said the college “had been running in deficit prior to 2020 for a number of years due to excess in staffing and other matters”.

“The need for strong scrutiny in developing the school’s overall ‘Workforce Plan’ and fiscal position was attended to with strategies focusing upon the composition of staffing for the 2021 school year,” the report said.

“We will ensure that the College remains fiscally responsible yet, meets the high resource demands of a college that works to reverse significant disadvantage within its community.”