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The Canberra Times
The Canberra Times
National
Sarah Lansdown

Yarralumla teachers to get compensation for lead paint disruption

At least eight rooms at Yarralumla Primary School were closed for deep cleaning after above-threshold levels of lead were detected. Picture: Dion Georgopoulos

Teachers at Yarralumla Primary School will get extra leave and compensation for lost teaching resources after they were barred for their classrooms because of lead contamination.

The deal comes as the Canberra Liberals have pledged $15 million for school maintenance based on a proposed audit of all schools if it wins government.

Australian Education Union ACT branch secretary Glenn Fowler said the Education Directorate had agreed to give teachers who were affected by lead contamination at Yarralumla Primary School five extra days of leave and financial compensation for their personal teaching resources which had to be destroyed.

He said the directorate had also committed to replace any school-owned resources that were unable to be cleaned of lead contamination after lead-painted windows were replaced in eight classrooms over the July school holidays.

Mr Fowler said a representative of the chief health officer would be available to answer teachers' questions regarding potential health impacts.

Children were in the affected classrooms for two days at the start of Term 3 before they were moved to alternate spaces to allow for specialist environmental cleaning.

Students in the preschool, Montessori school and grade 3/4 were moved to other parts of the school, including the hall and library.

An Education Directorate spokesperson said all rooms at the school were expected to be open by the end of this week, five weeks into the school term.

Opposition education spokeswoman Elizabeth Lee said a Liberal government would commit an extra $15 million for school building maintenance after an audit of all infrastructure was completed.

"What we know is that there are failing infrastructure and maintenance concerns in all ACT government schools," Ms Lee said.

"There's no surprises there because of the vintage or age of the schools that we have in Canberra."

Education Minister Yvette Berry said the government had invested $115 million in school upgrades in the past four years and invested in new schools.

"Labor will announce our plans to continue to make sure every school in Canberra is a great school and we'll be committing much more than $15 million," Ms Berry said.

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