Students from Rochester may return to virtual-classroom learning as a result of Rochester primary and secondary schools being completely inundated by floodwater.
No announcement has been made by the Victorian Department of Education and Training, but online study is one of the options being considered for students from the two flood-damaged education facilities.
Rochester Primary School principal Kate Whitford said she expected the online learning model to be the easiest to implement, given the experiences of teachers and students during COVID-19 lockdowns.
The school made its own sandbags on Thursday, but those efforts did not prevent floodwaters from rising to almost a metre inside some buildings and, in the case of the administration area, to 40cm.
“Someone had a walk around on Sunday morning, to inspect the damage. There was water damage in every classroom,” Mrs Whitford said.
While the flood damage was bad enough, the contaminated water was another issue, sewerage in the water adding another dimension to clean-up plans.
Mrs Whitford said, depending on the level of damage, there were a number of options other than online learning that could be investigated.
“Depending on logistics the school could make some sort of arrangement to bus students, with their teachers, to other unaffected schools in the district,” she said.
“I am sure they will be pushing for schools to have face-to-face learning.
“That may mean the option of busing kids to other schools, with their teacher, just to use a classroom could be considered.”
She was not at the school during the 2011 floods and in 24 years of teaching said she had never been in this situation.
Mrs Whitford said there had been a real push by the education department to have kids return to face-to-face learning after two years of intermittent COVID-19 lockdowns and virtual learning.
She said, aside from the option of busing students and teachers to other schools, the education department may consider bringing portables onto the property.
The damage bill will be enhanced by the fact new construction works at the school will have to re-commence.
“Work is currently happening on an existing toilet block, which had only started before the flood,” she said.
Staff from the primary school have made contact with students and work will be available in some form for those who haven’t impacted by the floods
A buik of the school’s 176 students live in the town, all but 35 arriving by bus. Of the 14 staff members six live in Rochester.
“Two haven’t been impacted, three were assessing the damage and one has been wiped out,” she said.
Mrs Whitford, who lives in Kyabram, had been communicating with the school population in tandem with Rochester Secondary College principal Melissa Gould — whose home was also in a flood-threatened area.
Mrs Whitford said the schools, which are bordered by George, Edward and Cromwell Sts, along with the Northern Hwy, would require major repairs prior to education resuming on site.
With the school year due to end in just two months (on December 20) a return to normal activity seems a stretch, particularly given safety protocols surrounding state-operated organisations.
Mrs Whitford said the entire school precinct had been subjected to flood damage and the pride of the playground, its multi-coloured court area, had lifted and resembled more of a jumping pillow.
“It is obviously too early to make any calls on a return to school, but the department has been in contact and will assess the site as soon as they can,” she said.
“My staff and I will be doing whatever we can to get the kids back with the classmates as soon as we can.”
Floods in a number of other regional centres, including Echuca, Benalla, Seymour and Shepparton, may delay any repair works that are required before schooling resumes.