The school community was last month thrown into turmoil when children were handed letters to give to their parents, telling them the Steiner stream had been cut.

Letters were also sent home to parents who are on the school council with the news they would be sacked.

The department's western metropolitan region said there had been a failure to "build a harmonious relationship between the Steiner stream and mainstream", a claim vigorously disputed by Steiner parents.

Parents met Education Minister Martin Dixon on Monday seeking an explanation of the department decision.

The minister's spokesman, James Martin, said the department's senior officers were reviewing submissions put to the department by the school council as well as Steiner and non-Steiner parents. Mr Martin said the department was considering only the fate of the school council and there would be "no change" to the decision to end the Steiner stream.

He said the minister agreed the process could've been handled better by the department and that people could have been upset with the manner it was done.

With only a few weeks until the end of the school year, parents are frantically trying to enrol their children in other Steiner streams across the city. Former school council president Tim Sharkey said he and other parents faced the prospect of sending their children to different schools next year.

Staying at Footscray City was not an option, Mr Sharkey said, because most parents believed in the value of Steiner and there was a fear former Steiner-stream children would be "stigmatised" if they returned to mainstream.

‘‘We’re looking at Collingwood and Thornbury [Steiner stream schools] or going private,’’ he said.

‘‘If you’re convinced the program is delivering the outcomes with your children that you’re more than happy with [you would want to stay with Steiner].

‘‘They could be stigmatised because their program has been cancelled or because they are seen as though they were from a sub-optimal program and parents [who] were being problematic.’’

‘‘Implicitly the children will feel that because they were the ones that got kicked out of one program and put into another.’’