Back to school in Surrey means back to portables and crowded classrooms

As Surrey students head back to school, they’re also heading back to crowded classrooms and a growing number of portables.

Enrolment in the Surrey School District, B.C.’s most populous, is expected to increase by up to 2,000 students for a total of 85,000 this year.

The rapid population growth is far outpacing the construction and expansion of schools, leaving the district reliant on between 350 and 400 portables this year.

“We need 20 new schools, 19 additions and 21 site acquisitions just for today, not counting … students who are here new this year,” Surrey Board of Education chair Lori Larsen said.

5:23 Back to school: Big issues to address in Surrey School District

The crowding issue has already forced the school district to extend teaching hours for senior students in six schools, who are now on a five-block system.

“What that means for us is it allows us to increase the capacity of the school by about 10-15 per cent, allows our kids to be able to have all the same services, all the same classes, but just spread them out through the day,” Surrey School District superintendent Mark Pearman said.

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“It is something we are looking at for this year obviously with the implementation of six, and we may have to do that moving forward as well.”

Parents have long expressed concerns about both the crowding and the use of portables.

Those concerns are also being echoed by Surrey’s business community, which says the government needs to move to build five to seven schools immediately.

“What we need is a dedicated emergency fund for our Surrey school system, and we know we need to work with the development community to ensure that there is adequate space for our students and growing population,” Surrey Board of Trade spokesperson Jasroop Gosal said.

“We need to make sure we are investing in Surrey. Surrey has been left behind.”

Portables have long been a contentious political issue in the district. Prior to the 2017 election, then-NDP leader John Horgan vowed to eliminate them.

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Education Minister Rachna Singh acknowledged the district is facing mounting enrolment pressure, but defended her government’s record.

“In Surrey itself, we have 13,000 new student spaces that have already opened or are on the verge of opening,” Singh said.

“We are also looking at new tech and newer ways of construction like prefabricated classrooms. Surrey is getting almost 1,000 new student seats this year alone.”

Some of those pre-fabricated units will come online soon.

Larsen said 54 modular school additions are expected to open in Surrey in the “next few months.”

“They’re a slight upgrade in that the students do no have to travel now into the washrooms, the staff do have their own staff rooms and it’s wheelchair accessible,” she said.