16 May 2018 Mansfield Courier, Mansfield VIC (General News) STAGE two of the Mansfield Secondary Colleges (MSC) renovation should be complete by 2020, but the school will have to wait to hear how and when their money will be released. Last month, Jaclyn Symes (MLC, NorthernVictoria) announced MSC would receive $4.85 million in funding, on top of the already pledged $3.4 million. The money will enable the school to not only build two outside playing courts and an indoor basketball court, but will also see the completion of a new Science and Technology building, and the installation of interior walls. However, acting MSC school principal, Janessa Burkhardt, said it would be ideal to rush through some of the funding for stage two sooner rather than later. The finer details of the grant havent yet been released, she said. However, we are talking to the Education Department about trying to get some of the second stage money faster than first anticipated. As part of the stage one renovation, half of the ageing B block will be demolished with the remaining structure then needed to be made suitable for student use until stage two capital works are complete. We have to sort out heating, interior walls, split systems all of which costs money, Ms Burkhardt said. We are hoping that access to the stage two funding will be available before the completion of stage one works that way we could be more strategic with how we spend the funding to maximise benefit. For example, it makes sense to us to demolish the whole of B block at the same time rather than half now, refurbish the other half, and then demolish that same half in 2020. MSC has asked for details on the funding release dates. Labor is upgrading and rebuilding schools right across the Northern Victoria electorate to make sure they have the best classrooms and the best facilities for our hard working students and teachers, Ms Symes said at the time of stage two funding announcement. No matter where you live in Northern Victoria, students deserve to have a great school.