It’s not just Surrey. Parents and educators in New Westminster are raising the alarm about surging enrolment and the growing need for portables.
“We are bursting at the seams,” said Laura Kwong, New Westminster District Parent Advisory Council Chair.
“Almost every school has portables. The high school does not yet have portables, it was just built, but it is something we are having to consider.”
According to the New Westminster School District, enrollment climbed to about 8,000 this year, a figure expected to top 10,000 by 2037.
Kwong said some students are already facing a lottery system to get into the packed downtown schools.
“The district is basically scrambling in the short term and the ministry really needs to push to catch up and support districts,” she said.
New Westminster Board of Education Chair Maya Russell said the district was left facing “difficult decisions” about to deal with the enrollment “crisis.”
Possibilities include keeping Grade 6 students in elementary rather than middle school, adding an extra block to the high school schedule, and adding more portables which will eat up limited play space or teacher parking.
She said in the long term, the district needs both a new elementary and a new middle school.
“None of the scenarios we are looking at for the short term, for the next few years, are ideal at all,” she said.
“We would like to provide students with a rich, full experience where they are getting music instruction, they are doing art, they have access to those extra programs. We are not going to be able to do that the way we want to do it in New Westminster Schools for the next few years.”
Kwong said none of the options on the table are appealing to parents.
Adding an extra block to high school schedules could leave students starting or ending their day at different times while holding Grade 6s in elementary schools will only increase crowding there.
“Adding portables doesn’t add any library space, gym space,” she added. “Same thing with the library and music and resource rooms.”
Education Minister Rachna Singh said the province has heard the concerns from New Westminster.
She said she had met with Mayor Patrick Johnstone Wednesday to talk about possible solutions.
“To see how we can all work together, the school district, the ministry and the city and we can look at some innovative ways, whether it is in the form of urban schools where there is lesser footprint,” she said.
“When we approved the funding for the addition at Queen Elizabeth Elementary, we heard the school district they wanted one extra floor on that school and we listened to them … the way to add more seats for them was density, going up.”
Kwong said parents want to hear strong statements from both the province and the district that there will be swift action to deal with the crunch.
“Not a five-year plan,” she said. “We need support now.”
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