When classes resume next month, some Surrey, B.C., students will learn some of their lessons virtually, from home.
The hybrid remote learning model is part of a pilot project the Surrey School District is rolling out this year as it grapples with surging enrollment and limited class space.
Surrey’s school enrolment hit more than 83,000 last year, an increase of 1,500 from the year before.
While the district has long relied on some 400 portables to accommodate the students it doesn’t have classroom space for, Surrey Board of Education Chair Gary Tymoschuk said it simply can no longer afford to do that and has stopped adding more.
“The province does not fund portables, and therefore, we’ve been forced to find a way to figure it out … They fund schools, like the bricks and mortar construction, but they do not fund portables, and it has been a bone of contention for quite some time,” he said.
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“Is the need there? Yes, but what we decided to do instead is to look at extended days at some of our schools. And we’re now, just this fall, going to be launching a pilot project of hybrid learning.”
Surrey has already implemented extended day schedules for ight high schools.
The new optional hybrid learning program will see some students in grades 10, 11 and 12 learn partly online through tools like Microsoft Teams and Zoom and partly in class, on a rotational schedule.
The Surrey Board of Education approved the pilot last December, which would offer up to three senior level courses in a format that “supports 21st century learning skills” and reflects the reality of a hybrid and remote workforce.
“The response is mixed. In some ways, yes, this is the reality of the work world, I work remotely, and so in some ways it is preparing students for what they’re going to be facing once they graduate,” said Anne Whitmore, president of the Surrey District Parent Advisory Council (DPAC).
“On the other hand, for parents like me who work from home, having your kid at home or somewhere when they’re not in a structured environment coming in and out is also disruptive.”
Ultimately, Whitmore said, Surrey’s classroom crunch, portables and the hybrid option are symptoms of the province underfunding Surrey schools, which has left the district making difficult decisions at the expense of students.
She pointed to the recent elimination of alternative learning centres, the scrapping of Grade 7 band and a reduction in education assistant support as other symptoms of the same root cause.
“The cuts that we’re seeing are actually removing students’ abilities to fully participate in their education and they’re shortchanging them now, but really they are going to pay in their future,” she said.
In a statement, B.C. Infrastructure Minister Bowinn Ma said the province has committed $1 billion for new and expanded schools in Surrey since taking office, opening 9,000 new seats with another 11,000 in progress.
“We know there’s more work to do and are working quickly to address these pressures by using innovative solutions like prefabricated additions that can deliver learning environments twice as quickly, while still offering the comforts of a traditional classroom,” Ma said.
Parents, meanwhile, say they feel like they’re lost in the b
“We want someone to say, ‘I am responsible. We have a plan,’” Whitmore said.
“What ends up happening is it’s insulated in terms of who’s actually responsible, and so parents get pitched back and forth.“
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