One of Jay Everall’s strongest memories as an Emmanuel student is playing racquetball with loads of kids, in what has proven to be a metaphor for other challenges in his life.
“My main memories of school are of the 40 boys lined up to play racquetball on the courts, and when you lost you went to the back of the line,” he said.
“I remember the school Principal, Br Wright would regularly come and play – and he was good! One time he returned a huge long shot, and tripped over the seating that used to be up the back of the courts – he still made the shot though!”
Going to the back of the line, tripping up, starting over, but never giving up: these are the same qualities of determination that Jay needed to draw upon years later in his role with the Warrnambool Special Developmental School (SDS).
Jay, who works as a sales manager for Stockland, has three children, Oliver, Archie and Isobel. Isobel, who is in Year 9, has attended the SDS since Prep.
As a parent, Jay has always been closely involved in the school and in 2016 joined the school council as treasurer, before becoming president in 2017.
As such, he is part of a dedicated team that lobbied long and hard for State Government funding that was desperately needed to build a new school on Wollaston Rd to meet current and growing enrolments into the future.
“The needs of the school all centre around space. While the facilities are certainly not getting any younger and are located on a steep hill, the key concern is space,” Jay explained.
The SDS was hopeful of funding in last year’s State Budget and was devastated to learn it had missed out.
“We were very much expecting that the funding was going to come through. The shock of missing out was felt well beyond the school community,” Jay said.
It was the equivalent of being sent to the back of the line, but the school was not about to give up.
“We needed to do more,” Jay said and that included setting up four sub-committees to ensure the SDS was primed for the 2018 State Budget.
After an enormous amount of work, meetings and talks with the relevant Ministers and State Government representatives, the SDS received an unexpected phone call just days before Christmas.
Education Minister James Merlino personally rang SDS Principal Robert Dowell to say that the $14.5 million was available for the school build to start.
“The news was so surreal,” Jay said.
“We had been repeatedly told that funding of this level is only offered and announced as part of the annual budget (each May).”
The new SDS on Wollaston Road will have extra classrooms, space for recreation and a purpose-built campus for all abilities.
“If all goes well, the earliest the new school will open is Term 4 in 2019, however it’s probably more reasonable to expect the school to open at the start of the 2020 school year,” Jay said.
Just like Br Wright and his cracking shot all those years ago, there were stumbles along the way, but the final result for Jay and the SDS community has been outstanding.
