A LAST-DITCH plan to save Mowbray College by consolidating the three-campus school at one site in Melton is in tatters after the board was told a planned meeting with National Australia Bank would not proceed today.
Parents from the debt-ridden school spent the weekend tallying the number of students interested in remaining at the school should the Patterson campus remain open. Students also held a rally on the steps of Parliament House yesterday, organised by year 12s at the school, who chanted ”Keep us together” and ”Save Mowbray”.
But the school board’s chairwoman, Tracey MacKenzie, said she was shattered after learning the meeting with NAB would not occur today and had now resigned herself to searching for alternative schools for her three children.
She said the bank had been very supportive with a NAB representative telling her on Friday night the bank didn’t want the school to close on Wednesday, and hoped to find a solution to keep it open until at least the end of the year.
In a letter to parents on Friday, the school’s leaders, including principal David Robertson, said the Parent Action Group urgently needed an indication of the number of students who would stay at Mowbray College if a model was developed whereby all students would be educated at the Patterson campus in Melton. However, Ms MacKenzie said she was told yesterday by the NAB representative a meeting had not been scheduled for today.
”I don’t think there is going to be anything in time for this Thursday. If anything does happen, my opinion is it won’t be until next year.”
Ms MacKenzie, who has been the chairwoman of the board for just a month, said she did not even have her children’s names down at other schools.
”All this has been so out of left field for me personally. I certainly did my best. I can stick my hand on my heart and say I absolutely did everything I can. I’m just as shocked as anyone else.”
An NAB spokesman said before the college was placed into voluntary administration, the bank had worked closely with the school board to try and find a solution that, with the support of the government, could keep the school open and minimise disruption to students and families.
