STAFF and students at Shepparton ACE Secondary College have been left feeling “demonised,” as the social housing debate continues beyond the submission period. Now, it looks like the MP set to officially open the school that only opened 12 months ago, has cancelled his invitation to mark the college open.
“The situation has escalated,” said Shepparton ACE Secondary College senior social worker, Joel Hoffman. “At our meeting last week with the developers and the CEOs of Wintringham and Beyond Housing they made it clear that they don’t care about our school. They acknowledged that a crucial emergency exit would need to be removed for six months, which would close the school due to non-compliance and that this, nor the fact that fire trucks and emergency services could not safely reach students, or other safety troubles, are of any concern to Beyond Housing or Wintringham.”
“State government MP Mark Gepp had accepted the invitation to open the school only to pull out the next day following Wendy Lovell’s comments about social housing in parliament, which people have taken offence to,” said Shepparton ACE Secondary College senior social worker, Joel Hoffman.
Mr. Hoffman re-emphasised that no one at the school disputes the need or importance of social housing, the main issue is they do not agree that any four-storey development that “looms over the school,” would be appropriate for the location as this impacts the school’s registration to operate.
The irony in all this is that Shepparton ACE Secondary College’ new campus and location was funded by a State Government grant along with compensation from the City of Greater Shepparton and this came about because they were forced to vacate a long-term lease at their original premises.
Shepparton ACE Secondary College will be officially opened at a special event on Thursday, March 31 from 5-7pm. There will be live music by Roolya Boolya and Neil Murray, as well as a BBQ and soft drink provided. At the time of The Adviser going to print it was still unclear as to whether MP Mark Gepp would be officially opening the school or not.
