Surrey schools will open their doors to 1,000 new students this fall but in some cases, the only place to put them is in a portable.
Larry Strohan, who helps oversee work on the Surrey School District’s portables, said there are “lots of townhomes going up, lots of homes going up and they can’t build the schools fast enough.”
Many of the district’s 71,000 students will be squeezed into 275 portables. Eighteen of those portables will be located in one school alone.
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New enrolment in Surrey is double that of last year’s. The district says the region’s housing boom is the biggest source of growth.
“It’s a place where young families, relatively speaking, can still afford a home,” Doug Strachan of the Surrey School District said. “We’re happy to have them, it’s a great school district, but it does have challenges.”
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In May, Premier Christy Clark promised funding for up to 2,700 new student spaces in Surrey, a new high school, a new elementary school and the purchase of land for a future elementary school.
Still, the district is struggling to keep up with demand, meaning teachers have to get creative.
“Some of the secondary schools, their gym area is in the shop area of the school,” Strachan said. “They use the hallways – which are wide hallways – for some of the exercises, and it works.”
– With files from Tanya Beja and Amy Judd