REZONING DANGER

Realignment plans unrevealed

ITS BEEN a crazy couple of months for Geelong local band All For Darcy, so much so that lead singer Pete Atkinson believes it’s almost like a higher power is watching over them.

Coming off a successful run at the Aireys Inlet Music Festival, the group is getting ready to launch its debut EP Too Beautiful for Earth at The Barwon Club tonight.

“The songs are about my son Darcy, who passed away in 2012,” Atkinson said.

“The band is sort of a remembrance for him — I feel more connected to him when I’m singing about him and writing songs.”

Little Darcy Atkinson was only two years old when he died from a brain injury under mysterious circumstances. The toddler had been in the care of friends of the mother a day before he passed away. Subsequent investigations had failed to determine what happened to the boy.

“We’ll be playing Darcy’s Song on Friday, which is something that I wrote for him,” Mr Atkinson said.

“When we played the song at Aireys, the sky opened up and I could feel his presence — I had to stop myself from blubbering into the microphone.” THE State Government will not detail possible plans to realign school zones impacted by the relocation of Oberon High School to Armstrong Creek until a date for the move is confirmed.

Prospective parent James Blake said families like his, currently zoned to Oberon High School, were concerned their children would be forced to travel almost 15 minutes to the new yet-to-be-built site, despite living far closer to Belmont High School.

He is also concerned famil-

The band has been playing together since late 2014, and the positive feedback spurred them to take a musical pursuit “a little more seriously”.

The band was discovered on ies will be split up or children will be forced to move schools when a rezone occurs.

“I believe that the government should certainly be looking more flexibly at the existing zone boundary, because it has already announced that Oberon is moving and indicated to families with students entering high school in the near future that if they live near the existing Oberon site that child will then be expected some time in the near future to catch a bus to the new Oberon Triple J Unearthed and picked up by a Sydney Label who is handling the release of the EP. Atkinson said the band and its success helped him to feel close to his son and has given site,” Mr Blake said.

The relocation of Oberon High to Armstrong Creek was announced in October 2016, but only last week did the government announce it would allocate $3.9 million in the Victorian Budget 2018/19 to begin design and early works of the new school. No date for the closure of Oberon School or the opening of the new school has been set.

Mr Blake, who lives 400m out of the existing Belmont High School zone, has called him a much-needed creative outlet. “We tried our best to get the people who deserved to be in trouble but unfortunately the law is the law and you can’t assume things,” he said. on the government to implement a transition plan for all families who will be impacted by the school’s future relocation now.

“The announcement of the move was made more than a year ago, and it beggars belief that in that time the Education Department, the Minister or the local Member haven’t identified the issues being faced by local families and been proactive about implementing a transition plan,” Mr Blake said.

“If I put things into the music I can say what I need to say and stick up for my son.” All For Darcy plays the Barwon Club tonight, doors at 8pm and tickets are $10.

Geelong MP Christine Couzens has vowed to meet with concerned parents and promised to raise any issues with Education Minister James Merlino.

“I’ll advocate for their concerns. My understanding of what their concerns is that they would have other younger siblings attending differed schools because of the zoning,” Ms Couzens said.

But South Barwon MP Andrew Katos said the government needed to “come up with some sort of transitional arrangement” to ensure families were not impacted by current zoning and alleviate concerns.