There were extraordinary scenes in Devenish on the first day of the new school year with students turned away from the town’s primary school by education department officials.
Resident Jenny Binion said she was shocked when arriving with her daughter, who was enrolled, to be told there was no teacher and to take her home.
“There were two representatives from the Education Department and basically they said no-one could come in,” Ms Binion said.
“I told them my daughter is enrolled here, she has been since last year.
“I feel like I was fobbed off. They said they will compensate me financially if they move her to another school.”
Ms Binion, however, said she had no intention of sending her daughter elsewhere.
“I live right next to a beautiful school in Devenish,” she said.
“I don’t think we should have to drive 60km-a-day round trip to take my daughter to a different school when we have a perfectly good school here ready to go.
“But they said someone would ring me today to tell me where I stand — maybe they could have made that call before we turned up for the first day of school?
“I’m very much in limbo and don’t know what I’m supposed to do.
“I have a very disappointed, sad little girl at home today and she should be at school learning.
“We’re supposed to be the education state, but no-one is advocating for these children and it’s not good enough.”
Ms Binion said there were four other girls ready to attend the school on Monday morning, but their parents were told they were not enrolled correctly.
“We had four more girls here today with enrolment forms ready to start and all of them got turned away,” she said.
“The school was open last year with two students and we have five ready to go this year. We have no idea what is going on.”
Ms Binion said the representatives from the Education Department told her no decision had been made to close the school.
“I’ll be here tomorrow with my daughter as this is where she’s enrolled,” she said.
“I’ll turn up every day until they decide, I suppose. They might want her enrolled somewhere else, but she loves this school and wants to go here, where she is enrolled.”
A Department of Education spokesperson said there was currently no teachers assigned to Devenish Primary School.
“There is only one enrolment for 2023,” the spokesperson said.
“The school is working with that student to find them suitable enrolment at a nearby school.“