My first week at Leader in Melbourne after landing from Tassie state politics I went to Eastwood Primary School with then state govt backbencher @DavidHodgettMP. The school hadn't been renovated in 60 years, kids were learning in cupboards, toilets didn't work. We did a campaign:

Eastwood was a designated deaf school. It had been built in 1950 with a design life of 30 years. 60 years later it was almost entirely the same. The roof leaked. Deaf kids were learning in repurposed storage cupboards. I wrote a lot of articles, so did journos after me.

The campaign succeeded. A full rebuild of the school, proper facilities for kids with hearing issues, toilets that didn't need to be specifically flushed every night, the copier didn't need to be moved to avoid roof leaks. It made a difference to a lot of families.

Without local newspapers it's going to be harder to get the pressure to make these sorts of changes. Eastwood had been pushing for a rebuild for years and years. Who knows what happens when the next neglected and overlooked school needs help?

An example: @DavidHodgettMP got the Education Minister out to visit, and that meant some of the #springst gallery came too. When they Googled Eastwood, my stories came up. They pinged the minister on it, on camera, asking why kids were studying in these conditions. It all helps.

Every journo who has worked in local or community journalism would have stories like this. Kids with cancer who needed help. Community groups doing amazing work about to lose their meagre budgets. Bad council decisions. It's just a real shame what's happened to our industry.

In the pics at the top of the thread you can see what the school looked like in 2009 (it looked the same when I went there in 2011), in 2014 when it was partially rebuilt, and in 2019. Thanks to a passionate P&F president and a principal determined to get more for her students.