New Education Minister To Visit Griffith MRHS

There was no cooling of heels for the newly re-elected Independent Member for Murray, she has hit the ground running.

Dalton met with Deputy Premier and Minister for Education, Prudence (Prue) Car in Sydney to discuss the demerger of Murrumbidgee Regional High School (MRHS).

As a result of that meeting, Ms Car will travel to Griffith during Term 2 to meet with senior members of the school.

Mrs Dalton said it was great news for the school community, staff and Griffith in general who had been calling for action since the merger was enacted in 2019.

“This merger has been an absolute disaster from the start,” Mrs Dalton said.

“In fact, it was so bad a damning University of NSW report recommended this model never be replicated again.”

Mrs Dalton has supported the call to demerge MRHS from the beginning, regularly meeting with teachers and concerned members of the education community.

“I know there is a wonderful group of teachers at MRHS who just want the best educational outcomes for their students,” she said.

After meeting with the Griffith Teachers Association recently, Mrs Dalton said the general consensus moving forward appeared to be separate schools (with separate NESA numbers), with one principal at each site, possibly with an overarching principal administrator.

“Over 300 students have been lost to competing schools since the merger and there are currently 16 vacant teaching position across both sites - this model has decimated student numbers and educator recruitment outcomes,” Mrs Dalton said.

Mrs Dalton said the demerger must be completed as quickly as seamlessly as possible.

“I commend the new education minister on her commitment to rectifying this issue and are support of a demerger,” she said.

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• Education