Surrey trustees demand city suspend development in three neighbourhoods
Posted April 22, 2016 9:44 pm.
Last Updated April 22, 2016 9:59 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
SURREY (NEWS 1130) – The Surrey Board of Education is making an unusual move in dealing with overcrowded schools.
Trustees are asking the city to temporarily halt new development in three neighourhoods.
“At the moment we are in a crisis. This is the worst I have ever seen it on the board,” says Laurae McNally, a 30-year veteran of the board, who spearheaded the motion directed at the city.
The board wants the city to “temporarily suspend all new development approvals in the Clayton, Grandview/South Surrey and South Newton regions until the Surrey School District receives adequate provincial capital funding to support the many new students in these regions.”
“We have 275 classroom portables, which we have to pay for out our operating budget. We have four high schools on extended days,” McNally explains.
Plus, a couple of schools need to run five kindergarten classes to meet demand.
“The $4 million a year that the portables cost us is the equivalent of 50 teachers that we could put in our system.”
She says teachers, students and parents have been very patient but they are getting very tired of the situation.
“Everybody wants to see a light at the end of the tunnel.”
