THE education department’s decision to sell the old cas “shocked and disappointed” Whittlesea mayor Stevan Kozmevski.
The 2.13 hectare school on Johnsons Road has been severely vandalised since it closed about 18 months ago, but Councillor Kozmevski said it was short-sighted to sell it as surplus to the area’s growing needs.
He said the department last week offered the council first option to buy the site and council officers were estimating its cost.
But the council faced a tight budget with a “modest” rate increase of 5 per cent, he said, and might not be able to afford it.
“I am shocked and surprised at the decision; the site should not be sold,” he said. “It is a public asset and should remain in public hands.
“The department should have consulted the community; it is an asset that belongs to us and it is short-sighted to say it is surplus.”
Cr Kozmevski said the land would be needed in the future despite a new school opening in Mernda Villages.
“Once we have lost that education precinct it will be gone forever.”
A department spokesman said the site was being monitored after the building and grounds suffered vandalism and graffiti.
Resident Norma Bradley (pictured), who sent her three now adult sons to the school, was “horrified” by the extensive damage.
“I was a member of the mothers’ club, which raised money to improve the school, and to see how it has been trashed by feral kids is devastating,” she said.
Mrs Bradley, a founding member of the Mernda District Residents Association, said in one classroom alone 36 rear windows were smashed, while gas heaters, hot water services and fixtures had been ripped from walls.
She said walls had been kicked in or spray-painted, and the verandah’s metal roof had been removed.
