Alphington Grammar School is tackling yet another contentious issue this year, after receiving news of a proposed mental health facility to open next to the school grounds.
Earlier in the year, the school entrance gate was removed by the City of Yarra, allowing the public to access a dead end path to Darebin Creek that runs through the school. The council enforced this action, even though nearly 3,000 people signed a petition asking for this to be reconsidered, as children as young as 3 years old were attending the school.
Today anxious parents reached out to Neos Kosmos, about the proposal of a mental health facility to open just a few steps from the school.
The school principal Dr Vivianne Nikou and parents of Alphington Grammar students, are rallying to get the word out that time is critical and objections to the plans can be submitted to the City of Yarra until Monday, 19 December. They are worried that not all parents or residents are aware of what it entails, as the notice went up in the school just a few days before the end of the school year, at the beginning of December.
“We’re asking everybody to look at the plans and put in their objections,” Dr Vivianne Nikou told Neos Kosmos. “It’s very important and it takes only five minutes to lodge in a submission.”
“It’s an inappropriate development, for a suburban street that has a school right next door. In the application it is described as a facility similar to a nursing home. It is not like a nursing home. We would welcome a nursing home,” she said, adding that they were very happy for their children to even come into contact with the elderly residents staying at the aged care home that was functioning there for years.
The Alphinton Grammar principal has concerns over the facility stating that “all we know is that there will be inpatients and outpatients with drug and alcohol issues. We had a relocation house here, two blocks away, several years ago, and they would just wander down into the school and you’d have to get the police involved to get them off the school grounds.
“It’s not like it’s going to be an Olivia Newton John Wellness Centre. And we’re not against people with mental health issues because the last two years has shown us the impact of the COVID pandemic on mental health and we’ve put a lot of programmes into the school this year to help with mental health on our young people, but we don’t need adults with their own issues that are beyond just well being.”
A group of parents have been working tirelessly to raise awareness about the plans to the community, as they have a very short time-frame to respond.
“We were made aware of this right before the school holiday break came up. So we’re just concerned that not many people may have realised, what these plans are,” a parent that wishes not to be named told Neos Kosmos.
Mother of two young boys attending the Alphington Grammar Primary School, the parent is especially anxious for Yarra Council to vote against the opening of the mental health facility.
“They’re proposing to put an actual hospital here. There’s no indication of whether, inpatients would be supervised, when they leave the facility. I think they will be free to come and go.
“Our primary concern as parents is that after the City of Yarra ordered us to remove our gate, members of the public are accessing the section of the road that leads to the Darebin creek via the school. Mind you that path only leads to the creek and nowhere else – and so we’ve had issues with members of the public just walking through the school grounds at any time of the day and they actually go on our oval and take their dogs there. The school has had to hire extra security to monitor the movement and the traffic going through the school. And so we’ve now got another issue compounding our anxiety, because it’s gone from just having nearby residents walking through the school to possibly people who have mental health problems that are significant enough for them to be looking for therapy and for help to resolve their issues.
“When you check into a mental health facility, you’re not at your best, you’re not making your best decisions. And these are going to be the people who will be trying to access the creek and the surrounds via the school.
“I just I can’t believe that they’re planning to allow this to go ahead. I work in a primary school and many of the other schools that I have visited they are all allowed to have a fence all the way around their property to protect the people using that school.”
Another parent, Martha Vazenios, who also has a child attending the Alphington Grammar Primary School, has been working hard to drum up parent participation in the objection process. Around 650 letters have been dropped off in letter boxes to nearby residents.
“I’m really conscious of the importance of mental health support in society. Education and health are both noble institutions but there is however a time and place for how they exist and coexist.”
In their application for the opening of a mental health hospital next door to the school, the Australian Unity Specialist Disability Accommodation Fund, that recently acquired the property for $15 million, states that the nature of the service will be similar to that of a nursing home, and that it will accommodate low-risk patients.
Ms Vazenios states however that the applicant has not disclosed sufficient information in order for the community and residents to clearly understand, and form an opinion on whether the facility being planned will have the same ‘use’ as the aged care home or if it is a completely new one.
Inpatients, according to the plans, will be permitted to leave for social or recreational purposes and “they’re not precluding people with criminality, they’re not precluding people with offences against children, they’re not precluding individuals with alcoholism. They say that it will function similar to the aged care facility that used to be there. But it is not. Residents of a care home occupy their space permanently whereas clientele at the proposed facility are transient, relying on a myriad of support service that would bring disruption to what is typical for a residentially zoned neighbourhood. Residents attempting to enjoy their legal right of peaceful enjoyment of their home and children going about their schooling experiences, would have their typical experiences disrupted,” Ms Vazenios continued, urging parents of school children in Alphington and residents to exercise their right to object to the proposal.
At the time of this report 102 objection submissions had been lodged against the plans to open the mental health facility with 5 submissions in support.
The deadline to file a submission is Monday 19 December. Anyone who wishes to lodge a submission can do so through the following (shortened) link: https://bit.ly/3j5Smqb