Surrey council declares ‘school infrastructure crisis’

Surrey’s council has declared a “state of school infrastructure crisis,” saying children’s education is being impacted.

This comes after B.C.’s largest school district warned that it may have to bring in double-decker portables if it doesn’t get more money from the province.

Read more: Surrey MLA speaks out against potential for double-decker portables in schools

In a news release from the Office of the Mayor, it explains Monday’s council meeting, a meeting between the city, Surrey School District, and the Minister of Housing and Minister of Education and Child Care is in the works.

“The state of school infrastructure in Surrey has reached a crisis level,” Surrey Mayor Brenda Locke said. “It’s shocking to hear that by September 2024, we may have nearly 400 portables across our city. I know the Board of Education has continually advocated for funding from the Province, but we’re not seeing the action that our community so desperately needs. We know that without rapid investment, our schools are facing a dire situation. We need action and investment in building more schools in Surrey now.”

The release says that the district added more than 2,200 new students in September, a number that is continually growing.

“We’ve had significant growth in our district over a number of years now, but last September, was particularly a large growth for us,” Gary Tymoschuk, the vice-chair of the Surrey Board of Education, said.

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Tymoschuk tells CityNews that with that growth, there hasn’t been enough space to keep up.

“To put it in perspective, for the 2,200 students we received last year, since then, the provincial government has only come up with 700 additional new spaces for us, which means our district has to continue to use portables. I think that’s where…the whole issue of crisis, if you will, is come up with.”

In regard to the concept of double-decker portables, Tymoschuk says it is a possibility.

“At our last board meeting last week, we passed a unanimous motion to have our staff look into the feasibility and costs of having double-decker, or two-storey, portables. The reason for that is simply from a land availability issue here in Surrey. As we continue to grow in some of our school sites, we just don’t have the land in order to put additional portables,” he said.

Tymoschuk says over the next decade, thousands of more students are expected to come to the district.

“We’re projecting now, over the next 10 years on average, probably…in the range of 1,500 new students per year,” he said.

“We are going to need 10 new schools, 14 new sites, so that’s anticipating the sites for the building of the new schools, and also additions — I think that’s another key part,  additions to 22 of our existing schools.”

Teachers, students face challenges in portables

Tymoschuk explains both students and teachers face challenges in portables.

“For everybody, whether it’s students or teachers, a portable is not the same as a classroom,” he said.

“The portable is not part of the school, so it’s not as simple for students who may have to use restroom facilities, for example, or when it’s their time for their block to go into the gymnasium or the library, the cafeteria, any of those portions of a building they have to exit the portable and go into the building which is fine and weather like this. But when you’re talking about winter and rain and other weather conditions, it becomes a little more challenging not only for the student.”

Jatinder Bir, the president of the Surrey Teachers Association, says she thinks declaring a crisis “is a great move.”

“We’ve been calling for better infrastructure planning with school districts, community centers, so this is really great,” she said.

“We have a boom in growth in Surrey and yet our infrastructure is not keeping pace with that growth.”

Bir says that with more people coming into the city, more needs to be done.

“Kids and families are moving into the area, and we need schools to be accessible for those kids learning,” she said.

She adds that when more portables are put in place, there is a cost.

“If we need to put in portables that means that we’re taking out playgrounds and that green space for kids to play. We are putting portables into parking lots, where now students and staff have to park in the neighborhoods,” she said.

Bir says the simplest solution to the portable problem is to build more schools, but to do so she says the money has to come from somewhere.

“Release capital funds for the school district to be able to build schools, add additions to schools. Let’s get away from the temporary classrooms. And let’s build more schools,” she said.