Students and graduates from the South Surrey White Rock Learning Centre are questioning whether the Surrey school board followed its own policies when it decided to shut the centre down.
At the regular Feb. 12 school board meeting, a. During the presentation, former students called into question the board's policy on school closure, which doesn't appear to have been followed.
The district maintains the school is "not closing" but being "relocated."
The wider school community is not convinced, however.
The citing "significant budget pressures" 鈥� meaning the school will no longer be in operation at the beginning of next year. Learning centres are typically for students who ar at-risk of leaving school, were bullied, have socialization issues or other concerns which have made them unfit for mainstream.
Students from the site are being transferred to (Helping Others and Providing Education) programs, which are being expanded.
HOPE programs are designated classrooms inside mainstream schools that are smaller classes for students who need more learning support than the traditional classrooms provide. HOPE programs have been running at schools for years, in addition to learning centres, but the district is claiming that they are now one and the same.
South Surrey White Rock Learning Centre's closure was announced to its students on Jan. 8, the first they heard the news. A proposal to close the school was not communicated to the school's students or families or to the public, which is required under Surrey Schools' policy 6801.1.
"Any proposed closure of a school should first be raised at a regular board meeting," the policy states.
On Surrey Schools' website, learning centres are listed under the 'school' category, along with mainstream schools, Montessori schools, adult education centres and traditional schools.
Further, according to Surrey school district policies, school closures also require a process of public consultation at least 60 days from when the proposal to close a school is first introduced at the public board meeting.
"The process of consultation should provide an opportunity for those who will be affected by a proposed closure or alternative community use(s) of part or all of a school(s) to participate in the process. Such participation should include trustees, parents, community members, district staff, school staff and any community agencies or organizations known to the district to be interested in participating in alternative community use(s) of part or all of a school(s)."
There was no public consultation before the final decision for the learning centre was announced.
In Surrey school district's response to queries on not following policy, spokesperson Rena Heer states that the centre is not closing but is being relocated, claiming the situation requires "nuance."
"One-on-one transition conversations and large group sessions are continuing with current Learning Centre students and their families to determine next steps and ask questions," Heer added.
While it is clear the community wants to provide input to the board on the learning centre's closure, Heer said the board is meeting to discuss the topic.
She added that the public was able to speak directly to the board during the public board meeting, however, this delegation came after the decision to close the centre was already finalized and shared with the school.
While this learning centre is the third to be closed in the district, the process to were in alignment with the Surrey school district's policy on school closures.
In the case of CCLC closing and the building become a regular elementary school, the proposal was first announced at the April 10, 2024 public board meeting, followed by public consultations. The final decision of closure was announced at the June 12, 2024 meeting.
The potential to close Guildford Learning Centre and merge it with North Surrey Learning Centre at that school's site located at the District Education Centre was first introduced at the April 10, 2024 public meeting. The public consultation for this proposal occurred until June 10 of that year, with the final decision of closure also announced at the June 12, 2024 regular school board meeting.
Trustees themselves raised the importance of public consultations during school change decisions in the December 2024 meeting, when they were accused of having made a final decision before the consultations were underway for the proposal to
"The board has never and will never believe in wasting our own, our staff鈥檚 and the public鈥檚 time in consultation that we鈥檒l ignore," trustee Bob Holmes said at the Dec. 11, 2024 meeting.
Holmes and trustee Laurie Larsen insisted that final decisions had not been made on the proposal to convert the district's traditional schools into regular elementaries and that the board was impacted by the consultation process.
In an interview with Education Minister Lisa Beare, she took a similar stance as the school board, claiming no policy was broken.
"Well, it's a program. They're moving locations of a program, it's not a physical school closure, those are completely different," Beare claimed during an interview with Black Press Media.
She later said the board has decided to "close this one location" but is relocating it to another site.
The school itself is not being moved to another separate building, but students are being transferred to other mainstream school locations as the centre will no longer be in operation after June.
"Ultimately, it's the board's decision," Beare added.
The minister said she understands how important learning centres are to the students and has reached out to the board chair Gary Tymoschuk and will be meeting with the students soon, adding that elected boards have a responsibility to listen to their community.
The school district did not answer questions about why public consultations were not conducted before any final decisions and why there was no proposal announced prior to the decision of closure.
- with files from Wolfgang Depner
