The Anglican Schools Corporation is using stalling tactics and not holding up their end of the bargain, says a source on the parent committee lobbying to save Milton’s popular GumNut Pre-Kinder.
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Despite indicating it would work with parents who want to stop the school from closing on Friday, December 15, the Corporation still has not lodged the development application needed to subdivide the parcel of land on which the preschool operates.
This is so aggravating ... I think this is stalling tactics.
- Anonymous source: Save Gumnuts Parent Committee
The Anglican Schools Corporation agreed to lodge a development application with Shoalhaven City Council after the community lobbied to have the site on which the school sits subdivided from the land it shares with the former Shoalhaven Anglican School.
In doing this, parents and community members hope to attract a buyer, who would also continue to operate the preschool. This would potentially save the jobs of 15 soon-to-be redundant staff, and safeguard the early childhood education of 80 preschoolers.
The Anglican Schools Corporation CEO Ross Smith made a statement via his Special Advisor, Jack Chalmers, on Wednesday, October 11: “We received the plans required for the DA back from the architect last Thursday, October 5 and reviewed them on Friday. We have now instructed our consultant to proceed to lodge the DA with Shoalhaven Council. This will occur in the next week or so and it will then be a matter for the Council to consider,” he said.
The DA will be submitted when we receive the required documentation. The timing of that is out of my hands.
- Jack Chalmers, CEO Special Advisor
That DA is yet to be lodged, Mr Chalmers says because of a report being held up by the Rural Fire Service.
On Tuesday, October 31, he said: “The DA will be submitted when we receive the required documentation. The timing of that is out of my hands, so I cannot give definite timing. I previously gave my best estimate ... so I will no longer speculate on the time it will take unrelated parties to respond,” he said.
The countdown to closure is on and desperate parents have just over six weeks left to find alternative care arrangements for their children in 2018.
An anonymous source on the parent committee, which is fighting to save the preschool, responded to Mr Chalmers comments on Wednesday, November 1: “This is so aggravating. We already called the Rural Fire Service, and the Council, and were told by both that The Anglican Schools Corporation doesn’t make the application to the RFS. Council will refer the DA to the RFS as part of the DA assessment, which means the DA should be submitted first ... I think this is stalling tactics.”
In a letter to parents and carers on Tuesday, August 15, The Anglican Schools Corporation CEO, Ross Smith, outlined the Corporation’s decision to sell the site on which the preschool sits. The speed of the DA approval and site sale could be the difference between the preschool opening its doors for the start of 2018 and not.
Milton Ulladulla Times contacted Shoalhaven City Council to clarify the DA process but no response was forthcoming.
Read more: https://www.ulladullatimes.com.au/news/