00:00School might be back, but not for everyone.
00:05Schools at six locations across the state are staying shut after being put into recess.
00:10Some of them had enrollment numbers in single figures,
00:13but parents say the department's decision came with little warning.
00:17Why did they close the school within about three months of when they first told us that they were considering it?
00:22At the heart of the issue is whether recess is different from closure.
00:26Under law, parents need to be given at least 18 months' notice before a school closes for good.
00:32But no such regulation exists for putting a school into so-called temporary recess.
00:37Parents call this distinction a legal loophole,
00:40while the department argues it allows communities more time to drum up enrollments.
00:45It frustrated me that we never got spoken to.
00:48We never got any sort of consultation, nothing.
00:51Shane Adams and his family moved to Caperty in the Central West specifically for the school.
00:57Now, they're facing an even longer drive.
00:59One of the schools is 180 kilometers a day, is what they're asking us to do.
01:04This is the growth of Caperty, and the Department of Education has now shut it down.
01:10In Gulma, locals fear the loss of their school will further stifle public life
01:14in a town that's also lost its pub, store, and churches.
01:19The department says schools in recess are reviewed every one to two years
01:23and can reopen if there's enough demand.
01:25There are currently 19 schools in recess across New South Wales.
01:29In the past 10 years, only one has reopened.
01:34The Department of Education says it's working with families to help students transition to new schools
01:39and that all legislative rules have been properly followed.
01:44Let's see what happens!
01:46To have a future reflak of students ноя.
01:49I hope you will have arrived.
01:50Who will even get separated from Ass control will possibly możemya.
01:54Is there to be a customary model that of space by the day?
01:59You will know a man?
02:02You will know where these comming's voice gottaűen be left.
02:05We haven't preached the whole three meetings.
02:08We're supposed to be.
