Community members in Mooroopna have launched a petition to reopen the town’s high school after it merged with other Shepparton high schools to form the Greater Shepparton Secondary College.
Petition organiser Lea Campbell said Mooroopna was missing out without a school.
“People were disappointed and dismayed by the lack of consultation when the school closed,” Dr Campbell said.
“It’s very obvious people are crying out for a local high school, they feel they’ve been deprived of the chance to have one.
“Obviously, some of them are sending their kids to GSSC and aren’t happy that is their only option.”
She said the petition was not to detract from the existing school in Shepparton or to be a smear campaign against it — it was to provide choice to parents in Mooroopna.
Dr Campbell said reopening the school was something her partner Paul Wickham spoke to many people about at his Mooroopna pharmacy.
She said it would also provide a place of education for Tatura residents, whose closest high schools were in Kyabram and Shepparton.
The petition called for the school to be opened as “a high-quality and high equity local high school” as soon as possible, and proposed renaming it to Gaiyila College.
Dr Campbell said renaming the school would be beneficial for people in Tatura, Ardmona and surrounding areas “so they can see it as their school as well”.
She said formalising relationships with Mooroopna primary schools would provide feeder schools.
“There’s no town of this size without a public high school, we’re excited for so much of a resurgence in the town.”
Parent Anita Miller has one child in high school at Greater Shepparton Secondary College and four at Mooroopna Park Primary School.
She was disappointed when the schools merged and Mooroopna closed down.
Miss Miller said bullying of her son Caleb was an issue at school, and there were days where he didn’t want to be at school.
Juggling drop-offs between Mooroopna and Shepparton was also a massive issue for parents.
Miss Miller said numerous sporting groups and community organisations supported the petition, which had 765 signatures as of Thursday morning.
The petition could be found at www.parliament.vic.gov.au/council/petitions/electronic-petitions/view-e-petitions/details/12/465