Mr McKim said the process being followed had caused significant distress for students, parents, staff and local communities. “I acknowledge the pain and hurt that resulted from the announcement that up to 20 schools would be considered for closure and I apologise for that,” Mr McKim said. “The potential closure of any school is a highly emotive issue and I am genuinely sorry for the anxiety that has been caused to all involved."
“We got the process wrong, but we have listened to the community’s concerns and acted on them. It is an important part of our democracy that Governments are responsive to the communities they represent," he said.
“It became apparent to me after visiting eight of the schools being considered for closure that we should have engaged with school communities before the announcement was made. It has become clear that we need to devise a new process that has broad community consensus to address concerns about the viability of some schools. That is what we will now do."
Future plans
Despite today's reversal, Mr McKim said the government was not walking away from the issue of declining enrolments at state schools. “We will now engage in genuine consultation, which I hope will lead to a broad consensus about how we tackle this issue in the future," he said. “All schools will operate as planned for the 2012 school year and I will be writing to all school associations to confirm this position.”
Mr McKim said he would establish a reference group to consult widely and advise him on a new process by the end of this year. “I will be in a position to announce the make-up of this reference group and its terms of reference in the near future,” he said.
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Tasmanian government needs to stop treating the symptoms and start treating the cause! Why are our schools loosing numbers? Because our young people are leaving the state in droves, so we are becomming an aging population. This is obviously not sustainable - so why dont the govt start doing something about retaining and attracting the 18 - 40's to live here! This state has so much to offer, yet our tourist industry is in just as sad state as our schools. Imagine if the govt went into a conference center. Imagine if someone were actually prepared to take responsibility for Willow Court & promote it....Imagine if these kinds of resources were tapped into around the state! It would create employment. It would be great for tourism, if FT & the environmentalists could manage to work together on just one project - it would foster a better and potentially more co-operative relationship. Business confidence would be restored, and develoment and investment potential would be improved. The economy would improve, and our state would be much more attractive for families. Our school numbers would GROW! and we would not have to close ANY schools! KW
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