There are fears for the safety of a severely disabled boy after an application to avoid the town’s only secondary school was refused due to student violence.
Key points:
- A young boy with a severe disability must attend a “violent” high school.
- NSW Education Minister Sarah Mitchell visited Walgett to discuss the school
- Walgett Community College has ongoing problems with fights on campus
Walgett resident Xander McKenzie, 12, has hydrocephalus, a condition that means he is tube-fed, in a wheelchair and has a brain shunt.
Her mother, Kylie McKenzie, formally asked for her to stay at the local primary school for another year, but the NSW Department of Education refused her request.
He is now due to start at Walgett Community College in 2023.
But Ms McKenzie said her son would be too vulnerable and said Xander’s therapists agreed.
“We’ve had meetings here before and chairs and tables have been blown off the second level,” Ms McKenzie said.
“He can’t get out of the way. A hit between the head and the stomach where he has a bypass site could be life-threatening.”
“Let common sense prevail”
Walgett is a town already devoid of educational options due to its isolated location, almost 300 kilometers from the nearest inland city, Dubbo.
Zoning rules dictate that children can only attend either of the two local elementary schools and the only high school, which has been affected by the violence.
Ms McKenzie was informed that Department of Education guidelines dictated that her son should be transferred to secondary school due to his age.
“The Department of Education looks at all disabled children equally,” he said.
Kylie McKenzie [C] says she fears for her son’s safety if he is forced to attend Walgett’s only high school. (ABC News: Olivia Ralph)
Ms McKenzie said it had taken Xander years to get help with the staff and modifications he now had access to.
“We’d like to keep Xander where he is, where he’s happy,” she said.
“The department for education has spent a fortune in the last 12 months on primary school provision for him and now we’re being told he can’t stay.”
He attended a protest during NSW Education Minister Sarah Mitchell’s visit to Walgett yesterday after requests for help went unanswered.
“Let common sense prevail,” said Ms McKenzie.
“He has a mental age of three.”
Big sister’s fears
Xander’s older sister Anicia left Walgett Community College last year after being assaulted twice at school, moving away from her family to attend school in central Queensland.
“Like her sister who went through trauma here and is suffering [poor] mental health of this school, I don’t want him, a vulnerable person with severe disabilities, to go to a school like this,” the 16-year-old said.
NSW Education Minister Sarah Mitchell speaks to protesters outside Walgett Community College. (ABC News: Olivia Ralph)
“If there’s a fight and he’s near that fight and he gets hit, I might not have a brother anymore.
“I want the minister to hear how terrible the school has become over the years.”
Meeting with the minister
Education Minister Sarah Mitchell met Xander and spoke to his family when they attended the protest in Walgett.
“Now it’s about seeing what other things we can put in place for Xander, how we can make sure he has support,” Mitchell said.
“I have already made a commitment to his family that I will get back to them and work with him to see what options we have, so that Xander can continue to have great opportunities and receive that love and support that he so clearly has from his family and his community”.
Xander meets with Education Minister Sarah Mitchell. (Courtesy: Kylie McKenzie)
He congratulated Anicia for standing up for her little brother.
“I was very impressed by how strong these young people were in their advocacy for their community, especially in relation to Xander and getting to know his sister, his mother and his grandmother,” she said.
“It was really wonderful for me to get to know them and understand them.”
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