The Surrey, B.C., school district’s surging enrolment and proliferating number of portables have created yet a new problem for students: cold classrooms.
The Surrey Teachers Association is raising concerns that more than a dozen portable classrooms still haven’t had their heat turned on.
Association vice-president Lizanne Foster said teachers began to raise concerns about the delay in October, when cold weather rolled in.
“We do know that for quite a few days both students and teachers had to layer up as if they were outside,” she said.
“When that uncomfortable conditions were reported to the district, the district responded at first by providing one space heater per classroom, and when that was proven to be inadequate, they then said there could be two or three space heaters per classroom, which is quite astounding.”
Foster said she didn’t understand why the district wasn’t able to plan ahead for the the heating hookups, or why it hadn’t secured more contractors to speed the work up once the scale of the challenge became clear.
“Students have trouble focusing, they have trouble being their best selves, because they are trying to accommodate being cold with trying to accommodate paying attention,” she said.
Surrey Board of Education Vice-Chair Gary Tymoschuk confirmed there were still 13 portables throughout the district that lacked heat, down from 22 at the start of the school year.
The problem, he said, was an unexpected surge in enrollment this year.
“It’s always disappointing if we can’t have our classrooms, any classroom, all classrooms ready on opening day, however when you are hit with an unprecedented 3,000 new students at the start of the school year it does present challenges,” he said.
Surrey had expected about 1,500 new students this year, according to Tymoschuk, and was caught “scrambling” to allocate portables to the necessary schools where enrolment exceeded the forecast.
“It just takes time to put the order in and the delivery of the propane tanks and the propane to start heating classrooms,” he said.
Surrey is the province’s most populous school district, with more than 77,000 students enrolled last year.
The NDP government has long pledged to tackle the portable issue in the city, and has opened six new schools and 11 expansions since being elected in 2017. It says 12 more schools and expansions are in the pipeline.
But the pace of construction has not been able to keep up with surging enrolment, and the number of portables this year has grown to 375, up 15 from last year. Tymoschuk said the number would likely hit 400 next year.
“We understand that nobody wants to have their child in a cold room during class, but we are taking every step possible to make sure we get the propane tanks on site, get the heat turned on, and until that time we’ve got portable heaters in the classrooms,” Tymoschuk said.
“And if it is still too cold, the teachers and the principal of the school will make sure the kids are moved inside.”
Parent Kathy Li, who has three children at Walnut Road Elementary, one of the schools affected, described the situation as “Really not good.”
“If there is no heat and kids will get sick. It’s very cold in B.C. especially after December,” she said.
“Right now they can wear a coat, absolutely, but we do need proper classrooms for them.”
Tymoschuk said he expected the heat issue to be sorted at Walnut Road by the end of the week, while all affected portables should have their propane heating system activated by the middle of November.
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