By LACHLAN MOORHEAD
CASEY councillor Rafal Kaplon has ramped up his calls for the neglected Endeavour Hills Secondary College site to be put to use again, after a suspicious fire destroyed the former school’s disused gym last month.
Cr Kaplon pushed for the Amalfi Drive facility to be put to “community use” as quickly as possible at a council meeting last week, with a strategy plan now to be presented by the first meeting in February.
Police are still searching for a man seen fleeing the fire on Thursday 20 November at the former Endeavour Hills high school gym, which the City of Casey has a partial stake in.
In July Labor pledged to provide Hallam Senior College’s Sports Academy with partial access to the old campus, which shut down in 2012, if it won the state election.
At the time Narre Warren North MP Luke Donnellan said an ALP Victorian Government would authorise the Department of Education to hand over the site’s gym, now ruined by the fire, and oval.
But Cr Kaplon said Hallam Senior College’s potential use of the old facilities was a “long-term project”, and called for the site to be put to immediate use to deter vandals.
“I wanted to push the council further that these buildings have to be used or more acts of vandalism will occur. We lost a major asset,” he said.
“The destruction needs to be stopped.
“Let’s get the building used and prevent vandalism and provide a much needed community space.”
Cr Kaplon also asked for a report to be put together on the “financial implications” to council after the old gym was torched.
Mr Donnellan said it was too early to tell how the fire would affect Labor’s pre-election promise, but he re-iterated Hallam Senior College would still be gaining partial access to the site.
“Nothing’s going to change, there’s no change to policy full stop,” he said.
“The school will get access to the site for sporting uses.”
Low enrolments led to the closure of Endeavour Hills Secondary College two years ago, one of the smallest and oldest high schools in the region.
