The Flynn P & C, staff, students and members of the broader community condemn the government’s decision today to close Flynn Primary School at the end of this year.
“Flynn parents and citizens are outraged by this deplorable act to strip Flynn of its only significant community facility and deprive the NW Belconnen community of a vibrant, viable and increasingly healthy educational asset,” Flynn Parents and Citizens President, Ms Lesley-Anne Stevens said.
“The decision to close Flynn Primary School is the decision of an uncaring and short-sighted government that has blatantly ignored the weight of evidence and facts. Flynn Primary is enjoying vigorous enrolment growth, as well as strong birth rate growth, ACT-high fertility rates and a high student loyalty from within its feeder area,” Ms Stevens said. Recent schools testing confirms that Flynn Primary is achieving outstanding absolute results and improvements against the ACT average in literacy and numeracy over recent years.
“Our submission clearly met all the government’s criteria and proved that Flynn could sustain a strong student population into the future”, Ms Stevens said. “Instead, the government has chosen to ignore the irrefutable data. This decision proves, without a doubt, how insincere and disingenuous the consultation process has been all along”.
“We are confident that the ACT Government’s decision on Flynn would not stand up to public scrutiny and rigorous assessment of the facts, if that were permitted, “Ms Stevens said. “It makes no sense financially, educationally, geographically or socially to close Flynn Primary School. “The decision contradicts the stated aims and goals of the Towards 2020 policy, the Canberra Plan, the Canberra Social Plan, the ACT Children’s Plan and the Sustainable Transport Plan”.
“Furthermore, the decision has been implemented with almost no community support,” Ms Stevens said. Only 3% of residents surveyed from across Flynn’s 1250 households indicated support for the decision.”
The decision will mean that a $5 million international obesity-prevention intervention project with Flynn students will have to be abandoned and the community’s high walking and cycling-to-school rates will drop close to zero. “The Flynn community demands that the ACT Government explain how it will compensate Flynn parents for the extra $26 per week on average in petrol costs that they will now have to fork out as a direct result of this decision,” Ms Stevens said.
“It can only be deduced that the decision was made for perceived short-term political gains.”
Flynn Primary will now explore all remaining options to keep the school open in 2007 and beyond, Ms Stevens added.
