Kilsyth Electorate News

YEARS of waiting for an upgrade means Pembroke Secondary College must now spend $400,000 on a new roof for a building that will be abandoned if its redevelopment proceeds. Pembroke was given $1 million to develop a master plan in 2006, but it missed out on cash for new buildings at the 2007 and 2008 state budgets.

Last Tuesday, after months of lobbying, Parliamentary Secretary for Education Steve Herbert visited the school with Youth Affairs minister and Monbulk state Labor MP James Merlino and Eastern Metropolitan Labor MP Shaun Leane. College principal Aidan Ryan said the trio toured the school and met the college council president, and he was pleased with the discussions.

"I think it's a good sign when you get two very senior members of the government and a local member. It was very positive,'' Mr Ryan said. However, the school needs to urgently replace the roof at the Cambridge Rd, Mooroolbark, campus, which would be abandoned if a new school was built on the site of the present senior school.

Kilsyth state Liberal MP David Hodgett said the State Government should have funded the new school buildings years ago. ``The great irony that has arisen from the Labor Government's continued delays is that we now find that the school must contemplate replacing the roof of the college's Cambridge Rd campus for a cost of $400,000, (on) a site that will become redundant once the master plan is acted upon, and built at the Reay Rd site,'' Mr Hodgett said.

Mr Ryan said the new roof was needed due to extensive corrosion. ``If the new buildings go ahead it will take two to three years for the building work to be completed and we will be using these buildings until we move in, so we do need the roof,'' he said. Mr Hodgett also called for Education Minister Bronwyn Pike to visit the school.