LNP raise concerns about school demountable buildings

THE Education Department is being urged to check its repair work in ageing demountable buildings at a Gold Coast State primary school.

LNP Broadwater candidate David Crisafulli and parents have raised concerns about the safety of repaired classrooms at Coombabah State school.

A leading building industry operator on inspecting a demountable found more repairs were needed to secure the ceilings.

“There’s missing bolts from the column bracket (supporting the ceiling),” he said.

“They’ve patched it incorrectly. It’s not a good look for a classroom. They’re pretty cheap and nasty demountables. Someone should fix it sooner than later.”

After Mr Crisafulli raised the concerns, a spokesman for Education Minister Kate Jones said the buildings were safe.

“Mr Crisafulli needs to do his homework before he attempts to become the member for Broadwater,” the spokesman for Ms Jones said.

“Biggera Waters and Coombabah primary schools have at least 30 per cent spare classroom capacity. The demountable buildings at these schools remain fit for learning.”

The Gold Coast Bulletin understands the rooms are often used for parent meetings specialist classes.

Mr Crisafulli yesterday maintained he was not raising the issue about capacity, rather the quality of the learning environment for student.

“These are growing suburbs and we need to have facilities that match the quality of our teachers and our kids,” he said. or

“To say there’s spare capacity ignores the fact our kids are learning in buildings that are ice boxes in winter and furnaces in summer and in some cases appear unsafe.

The Department is yet to respond to questions about whether the demountables had been assessed and found to be safe.