Newmerella Primary School is fighting to retain a vital community asset after being told its school bus is set to be reallocated to another region.
The school was informed that its 12-seater Toyota HiAce bus, secured through a 2022 grant, must be returned to the Department of Education to be used by a school in the Latrobe Valley.
The decision stems from the closure of the Out of School Hours Care (OSHC) program at the nearby Orbost Community College earlier this year due to staffing shortages.
The bus was originally granted to transport students to this program.
However, school council president Jo Austin has penned urgent letters to local MP Tim Bull and Minister for Education and Deputy Premier Ben Carroll, arguing that removing the bus would have devastating consequences for the school’s most vulnerable students.
“We feel that we are being penalised for the lack of OSHC providers/staff in our area, which is unfair and completely out of our control,” Ms Austin wrote.
She highlighted that the bus has become a lifeline for the school’s 38 students, many of whom come from low socio-economic backgrounds impacted by the Black Summer Bushfires and the closure of the native timber industry.
The bus is used for more than just OSHC transport.
It facilitates daily school attendance for at-risk students, including 15 per cent of the school population who are of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander descent.
“These students simply would not come to school if we didn’t provide this service,” Ms Austin stated.
Without the bus, the school faces an un-budgeted cost of up to $1000 per week to hire transport for essential activities such as swimming lessons, library visits and access to allied health services in Bairnsdale – a 200km round trip.
In response to Mr Bull’s advocacy, Minister Carroll acknowledged the benefit the bus has provided but maintained the decision.
“It is necessary to prioritise the deployment of buses, which are a particularly scarce resource,” Mr Carroll wrote.
“Transferring the bus to another location will enable better utilisation of the OSHC program resources.”
He suggested the school explore “alternative options,” including purchasing a bus themselves – an option Ms Austin says the small rural school simply cannot afford.
