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Dear supporters, Urgent, Urgent, Urgent. This weekend (13 March 2pm) the Hurlstone P and C is proposing to debate a motion, put by a minority group, to try to split the school, farm and boarding school. We believe this arises out of a last ditch effort by the Government to try to split the solidarity of SHEAP, the community and parents. See the Notice of the Meeting here. Please come and stop the split. Vote for a united and better future toward the proposed Centre of Excellence, but keeping this historic asset united not divided. See the full article and see the letter and Q and A sent to the Pand C that answers the Frequently Asked Questions. But we need people to turn up to stop the minority being used by Government.
In all of our dealings we have been upfront with all stakelholders and stayed in contact with community, supporters, parents, students, expert groups and teachers. We have found virtually nobody among these groups who support the proposal to split the school, the farm or the boarding school under a proposed commercial manager. The strong feedback we have had from thousands of supporters is that they accept SHEAP's proposed compromise position, don't like any land sale, but appreciate that a small sale is possible if the proposed land swap of 30 adjacent hectares for 10 current heactares occurs. But they are steadfastly opposed to any suggestion of splitting the farm and/or boarding school from the school and placed under control of a Commercial Manager who will report to the DET bureaucrats and not to the school. If this proposal, moved by a group we believe is unrepresentative of broad school and community views gets up, it will allow the Government to divide our unified campaign and split the school from its farm. This is an option highly likely to fail, won't be supported by experts, country parents, many day parents or other stakeholders. It will put the land in the hands of the bureaucrats who have tried 3 times in 30 years to sell this land. Without future stakeholder support, the split option will see the land isolated from its long time custodians and will be easier to sell next time. It is worth noting that both the School P and C and the School Council have opposed the split. The School Council has twice resolved against the split, but still the Government ferments disharmony with a minority group. But if you don't have your say, they could get their way. There was no evidence to support a split administration option. Indeed, the Peter's report condemned the DET's negligence of the agricultural schools. As a united community we won the intellectual battle against the sale. SHEAP's submission along with many community and expert contributions won the day and the Peter's Report agreed the farm was in active use, was needed and indeed the school needed more land. The cause of the obselete farm was underinvestment and negligence by bureaucrats. At the end of the day, SHEAP decided to support most of the Peter's recommendations including a land swap, a very small 10 ha sale (because that was forced), heritage listing, all proceeds to the boarding school and farm and a new Centre of Excellence to be developed under an expert Board. The Centre of Excellence was our idea with expert stakeholders and we have a structured plan to get there. We strongly oppose any suggestion of splitting the school, the boarding school or the farm, all of which should be retained under day to day control of the Principal to ensure the educational focus, ease of administration and pastoral care of boarders is under an educationalist, not a DET appointed and controlled 'commercial manager'. Experts, the Isolated Parents Children's Association, country parents, NSW Farmers, Teachers Federation and many others believe the split structure is unworkable. We are almost at the end of this fight, but we must ensure that the good work and goodwill is not undermined at the end. If you are a member of the P and C, please turn up, support the proposed amendments to save the unified school structure while proposing a win-win model for the future. Vote to support the position advocated by SHEAP, teachers, the community and experts. If you are not a voting member please send a letter, fax or email to President of the P and C through the School and indicate your strong preference for the unified management model and opposing the proposal to split the school from its farm. Please find attached a letter that David Moore,who compiled the SHEAP submission and reviewed the Peter's Report, sent to the President of the P and C . He has offered to be avaiulable to answer questions of detail on the SHEAP report and outlining answers to the common questions about the Peter's Report and the risks of this last ditch attempt to steal the farm from Hurlstone. Don't give up now, the fight is almost done, with a united voice the right outcome of keeping Hurlstone united as a combined day, boarding agricultural school and farm - as a future Centre of Excellence - can be achieved.
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