By MELISSA MEEHAN
EIGHTEEN teachers and countless students squashed into one portable was always going to be a tight squeeze.
And without funding, new integration students outside Emerald, Gembrook, Cockatoo, Selby, Menzies Creek and Macclesfield will no longer be able to attend Emerald Secondary College.
The School Council last week passed a motion that the college could only accept enrolments from integration students from primary schools within its local zone.
Integration students’ disabilities range from physical impairments to learning difficulties to behavioural problems linked to conditions like autism and the like.
School council president Paul Woods said the decision was not taken lightly.
“The decision is a result of the college’s desire to maintain a high quality integration program that is sustainable,” Mr Woods said.
“It’s a major issue for our school, as a result of two factors – our facilities for the program are grossly inadequate and we have a number of unfunded integration students in the program.”
The school’s integration is currently run from an old portable that the school council says is unsuitable for students and staff.
He said many integration students had needs different to other students at the school, and many on the autism spectrum preferred a quiet space to spend their breaks rather than the rat race of the playground.
“There simply isn’t enough room to accommodate the students during their breaks so we have had to introduce a roster system for when they can spend time in the portable,” he said.
Mr Woods said the school had a proud tradition of catering for all educational needs for all students.
He said this included a Select Entry Accelerated Learning Program for gifted and talented students as well as a Brain Auditory Program to assist students with memory difficulties.
But he said without funding to build a facility to cope with the needs of its integration students they had to ensure local students were given priority.
“We’ve got a well-deserved reputation for our quality integration program and this model has been copied at other schools,” he said.
“We are an inclusive school that goes out of its way to ensure that integration students have every opportunity to achieve their potential.
“We are certainly not discriminating against integration students, the portable is inadequate and inhibits our ability to deliver the quality program we want to deliver.”
He said the schools other buildings were fine, but the school council wanted to improve this area.
“We invite members of both political parties, in the lead-up to the election to come to our school, and see the issues first-hand and the program we offer,” Mr Woods said.
“The Special Schools at Officer and Ferntree Gully are too far for many of these kids to travel and we think that we should be able to offer our program to other students in the greater area.
“All we need is a purpose-built facility, which we estimate will cost $1.5 million and we will be able to make it happen.”
