Closure of the Rockmount section of the Flagstone Creek Primary State School Flagstone/Rockmount bus run

Eligibility - Queensland citizens
Principal Petitioner:
Robert Gratwick
PO Box 7016
TOOWOOMBA MC QLD 4352
Total Signatures - 197
Sponsoring Member: Ian Rickuss MP
Posting Date: 18/3/2010
Closing Date: 12/4/2010
Tabled Date: 13/4/2010
Responded By: Responded Minister on 18/5/2010
TO: The Honourable the Speaker and Members of the Legislative Assembly of Queensland
Queensland citizens draws to the attention of the House the closure of the Rockmount section of the Flagstone Creek Primary State School Flagstone/Rockmount bus run. This bus run has been serving the families of the Rockmount community for over 40 years. The Flagstone Creek School in 2010 serves eighteen families; four families come from the Rockmount area and are directly impacted by this decision. The solution provided by Queensland Transport and Education Queensland is that these children should be going on the high school bus that departs from the top of the range and travels to various schools in Toowoomba. This solution is totally unsatisfactory as these children live in the Flagstone Creek School catchment and the families have decided to support the community in which they live. The reasons for the closure decision appear to be bureaucratic and economic, with little consideration for the human cost to these families and the wider cost and disruption to the local community should the school fail to enrol enough students to keep the doors open after 124 years of exceptional service. This decision however does save the Queensland Government $215 per week.Your petitioners, therefore, request the House to ensure that the Rockmount section of the bus run is reinstated immediately and move to ensure the policies of Queensland Transport and Education Queensland are aligned. Specifically to formalise the bus run catchment to encompass the area of the Lockyer Valley Regional Council up to the shire boundary with the Toowoomba Regional Council.