For those entering high school in Surrey this year, learning may look a little different.
The Surrey School District is expanding its use of extended days and piloting hybrid learning to cope with overcrowding of its existing infrastructure.
B.C.’s second largest school board has been grappling with overcrowding for years, largely due to what the school district says is inadequate funding from the province. The solution has often been to purchase portables to house extra students. But Gary Tymoschuk, the board chair at the Surrey Board of Education, said this solution is no longer viable.
The provincial government pays for built schools but does not fund the purchasing of portables, something Tymoschuk said doesn’t make sense given they act as replacement infrastructure. The school district is then left paying for these structures out of its own operational budget.
“Millions of dollars a year was essentially being taken out of the classroom every time we had to move or relocate portables,” Tymoschuk said. “That’s not where the money should be going. The money should be going to student education.”
But with an enrollment of 83,000 across the district, and a trend of adding upwards of 2,000 students per year — save for 2024 — the Board of Education needed to find other solutions.
One of those solutions is extended days. High schools across the district are currently sectioned off in to four blocks, two in the morning and two in the afternoon. Tymoschuk says there will now be five blocks at some schools, but students will still only attend school for four.
That solution was introduced into six schools last year and will be brought to two more starting in September.
The other measure that the district is taking is implementing is introducing a hybrid learning model through Zoom or Microsoft Teams. Tymoschuk said some courses, where it is feasible, will be taught online, while others will require students to be on campus.
“Certainly if you’re doing a chemistry lab you can’t do that through Zoom or Microsoft Teams so that’ll be in class, he said. “It’s just another way to manage that growth.”
Another benefit that Tymoschuk hopes to see from the hybrid pilot is introducing students to skills they will need when they enter the workforce.
More and more jobs are moving into the hybrid or fully online workspace, especially since the pandemic. These jobs utilize digital tools like Zoom and Microsoft Teams on the daily.
“This helps teach the kids and prepare them for their future in how to do work online,” he said.
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While these solutions may not be ideal for everyone, Anne Whitmore, President of the Surrey District Parents Advisory Council, said the board is doing what it can with what it has been handed.
“It’s the equivalent of having peanut butter and jelly everyday when you just don’t have enough food for interesting and diverse needs,” she said.
She also recognizes that the shift may be very difficult for parents with multiple children who will end up on different schedules.
“The complexity of what families are facing has just really increased,” she said.
Tymoschuk said he understands that the change can create a lot of unknown at first but that extended days is something that the district has used before to deal with overcrowding.
He also said that any concerned parent should reach out to their school’s principal who will be happy to discuss any necessary accomodations.
These changes are only being implemented at the high school level. Tymoschuk said growth in elementary schools is currently being monitored and that younger kids greatly benefit from the in-person attention.
Overall, Whitmore said she has hope that the conditions of the school year and continued advocacy will prompt bold action from the provincial government.
CityNews has reached out to the Ministry of Education for comment.
– With files from Raynaldo Suarez