Some high schools in Surrey will be looking different next year, as changes to mitigate over-crowding in classrooms are coming.
Approved at the regular school board meeting on Wednesday night (Feb. 14), trustees listened to a presentation from deputy superintendent Andrew Holland on some schools having extended days beginning September and what that would look like.
“We are in a very significant growth cycle at this time and that is certainly causing pressure for us when it comes to utilization of schools and ensuring we have adequate space for schools. With that, we’ve had to look at different mitigation strategies in terms of how we will manage this growth,” explained Supt. Mark Pearmain.
Extended days would mean that a school day would be split into five periods per day and students would attend four of the five periods.
“However, some students attend a longer day with time off in the middle,” Holland said.
While some positives may arise with the new model, Holland and the board expressed discontent with having to make this change, which would likely affect seven high schools in the district.
Capacity at the school sites may increase with the new model, but likely only by 10 or 15 per cent, the deputy superintendent said. The schedule change may also be a welcome one for students who have extra-curricular activities and starting earlier or later in the day would help accommodate that.
But, Holland said, these cases are “rare”.
“If you think about parents and they have two students at a high school and they’re on different schedules. Or a (child) in an elementary school having a different schedule than a student in a high school.”
The extended day model would also present challenges for teachers who also coach sports teams at the school, since some games begin immediately after the school day ends. Staff meetings would also see disruptions in planning, Holland predicts, if teachers are also on different schedules.
Costs related to these changes would also increase for staffing, but would be effectively reduced for the purchasing of more portables.
“If you’re extending your day to a fifth period, you have to make sure you have staffing for the library, have supervision staffing, you have to have youth and childcare available, you need staffing for students with unique and diverse needs.”
A minimum staffing cost increase would be $65,000, according to the district.
“(It) takes me back to 2011 when I was president of DPAC and we were advocating, along with some of my colleagues who are on the board… we were advocating for it back then because that’s when we first started back at Earl Marriott and Lord Tweedsmuir,” said Trustee Bob Holmes.
Grandview Heights, which opened in 2021 to alleviate enrolment at Earl Marriott, is one of three high schools that is seeing increasing growth. With a capacity for 1,500 students, it is actually seeing closer to 1,800 students. Lord Tweedsmuir, meanwhile, has a capacity for 1,450 but also has 1,800 students.
Sullivan Heights Secondary, which recently got additional space after being one of the district’s most crowded, is nearing 2,000 students, while the increased capacity sits at 1,700.
“There were a lot of people upset about extended days because while there is flexibility for some people, it’s not a good solution…It’s not an ideal solution but it’s where we’re at right now,” Holmes added.
The change to come in September is not just for that school year, Pearmain predicted. He expects this change and other possible ones to stick around for the next three to five years.
Once the extended day model is no longer providing any capacity, Holland said other changes that parents were previously provided a survey on may be implemented, such as online learning and a tri-semester option.
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“The mess we’re in with over-crowding in schools isn’t something that this district has created. This is a disaster created by ministry and ministry just keeps telling you they want to increase housing and yet, nobody provides infrastructure to go with the extra people,” Trustee Terry Allen said.
“At the end of the day, parents have every right to be annoyed and say they don’t like what we’re trying to do but we have no other choice.”
Which schools will see the extended day model will be determined and released to the public in the coming weeks, the board said.