Woy Woy local and retired school principal, Gab McIntosh, has announced her candidacy as an Independent in next year’s state election, labelling the NSW educational system as a “dreadful mess”.
McIntosh is considering either the NSW upper house or the lower house seat of Terrigal, currently held by Adam Crouch MP.
McIntosh, who received an Order of Australia in 2007 for her work in education, was the principal of the alternative school in Kincumber, Eagle Arts and Vocational College.
The free institution for “school refusers” was a school for teenagers struggling to cope with mainstream schools on the Central Coast.
The State Government shut the school down in 2018, but according to McIntosh, it had successfully passed a full inspection in July 2017.
“Thirty kids with nowhere to go were simply tossed onto the streets of the Central Coast when Eagle Arts Vocational College was closed by the NSW Education and Standards Authority (NESA),” McIntosh said.
“These were kids trying hard to give schooling a second chance, and of course, none of them ever went near a school again.”
McIntosh claimed that the State Government had ignored written advice from the Anti-Discrimination Board in 2018 that detailed six breaches of the Act that could occur if the school was closed.
She said the Anti-Discrimination Board had accepted a complaint, initially on six counts of discrimination, against closing the school, which was later reduced to two counts, based on discrimination against students with a disability and Aboriginal students.
“The Anti-Discrimination Board wrote to NESA on February 5 2018, and directed them not to close the school until they had a meeting with the school’s representatives,” McIntosh said.
“However, NESA did not attend any meeting.”
Joined by Convenor, Uncle Owen Whyman, McIntosh also reached out to multiple State and Federal Coast MPs, asking if they were aware that the State Government had ignored the advice.
“What is the point of an elected representative if they can’t protect the most vulnerable teenagers in the community,” McIntosh said.
“The only option I had left was to stand up and represent these kids myself.”
McIntosh said she was running as an Independent for either the NSW upper house or for the lower seat of Terrigal, focusing on education reform, closing NESA and reinstating the NSW Board of Studies education board.
“I don’t just want Eagle Arts and Vocational College back; I want the Central Coast to have half a dozen more schools like it,” she said.
“Additionally, TAFE used to be a terrific provider of free quality education for both kids and adults but has now been squashed as private providers have been elevated.
“Research suggests that 50 per cent of teachers are keen to leave the profession, and they cite ridiculous amounts of paperwork as a reason.”
McIntosh is also the co-founder of the Indigenous Party of Australia (IPA) and said one of its policies was to focus on Indigenous-friendly schools.
“Eagle Arts and Vocational College was one of these schools,” McIntosh said.
“It might seem like water under the bridge, but the refusal of the State Government to listen to the advice from the Anti-Discrimination Board should send a shiver down the spine of every parent, of every school-aged kid, on the Central Coast.
“We want the school or its equivalent re-opened.”
Although IPA could not field candidates in time for next year’s state election, McIntosh said it was committed to supporting Indigenous women who had announced their candidacy.
The NSW state election will be held on March 25, 2023.
Hayley McMahon