Warning: This story contains references to suicide that may be disturbing for some readers.

For Prasayis Hotti, the South Surrey White Rock Learning Centre gave her a second chance and motivation to have a bright future, when once she was thinking she wouldn't have a future at all.

"I never thought I could be something or be someone, and I always thought ‘I’m just going to die after.' I thought I was just going to kill myself after," the 18-year-old student said.

"Ever since I came to this school, I realized that I could actually be somebody. Now I’m thinking I want to be a flight attendant, but before that, I literally thought I couldn’t do anything because mainstream (school) made me feel so stupid and I didn’t believe in myself at all, and I just thought my life would be over.

"And this school and these teachers did that."

Hotti is one of many students who have found success in learning centres, which is why the pending closure of the South Surrey White Rock site is hitting hard for her and many others.

Lease on learning centre site expires in June

The lease on the South Surrey White Rock site will expire in June, and according to Surrey school board chair Gary Tymoschuk, the building is in need of renovations and repairs, therefore, an alternative option has been decided upon. With funding being a seemingly evergreen issue for the district, Tymoschuk said the cut is necessary.

Instead, students from the learning centre will get an opportunity to attend an "alternate program" that will be introduced at Earl Marriott, Elgin, Semiahmoo and Grandview Heights Secondaries, the four South Surrey high schools.

That idea, however, isn't sitting well with learning centre students.

"I would be a drop-out if not for the learning centre," shared another student, Spirit Broomfield, whose own parents attended the learning centre and now have successful careers.

"I’m afraid of losing my family, (because) that’s how I feel when I’m at the school."

Learning centres are alternative educational environments for students who, for various reasons, are not a fit for regular mainstream schools. Enrolled students are able to take courses from Grades 10 to 12 and graduate with a Dogwood Diploma or an Adult Dogwood Diploma.

Broomfield, 16, is in Grade 11 and is worried about going into Grade 12 next year, as the alternative provided by the district is less than ideal, she said.

"I know students who have gotten hardcore bullied, beat up, sexually assaulted, experienced racism and homophobia and more, and it seems the Surrey school district has forgotten about this," Broomfield said.

The learning centres' student demographic consists of students with mental health challenges, youth in care, Indigenous students, youth living in poverty, students with or at-risk of having substance abuse issues, students who were bullied in mainstream schools, and those who are gifted but may have trouble in social situations.

Learning centres fall victim to funding challenges

The closure of the South Surrey White Rock site is part of broader changes to learning centres in the Surrey school district – all being done to manage overcrowding and funding challenges.

Already, Guildford Learning Centre students have joined students at the North Surrey Learning Centre site, which is located at the District Education Centre. As a result, the district is able to cut costs by no longer renting the Guildford location, with the lease having expired on Nov. 30, 2024.

City Central Learning Centre will also be closing and reopening as an elementary school. Where those students will go is yet to be determined, with a choice between moving them also to North Surrey or transferring them to Queen Elizabeth Secondary's modular complex.

While there were rumours swirling at the beginning of the school year that the Peninsula's learning centre would be going the way of others in the district, the students did not want to believe them.

The school community was officially given notice of the closure on Wednesday (Jan. 8) in a letter from the district sent via email.

"It feels like they don’t care about us, that they’re trying to push us to the side," shared student Octavia Macdonald, 17.

"I tried going to mainstream and I tried online, but the support from these teachers — the low student-to-teacher ratio helps so much. I came here when I was really depressed and I had really bad social anxiety. Without this school, I probably would’ve dropped out or worse, and the alternatives they are trying to give us don’t feel adequate at all."

While Macdonald is set to graduate this year and won't be directly affected by the school's closure, she says the school still needs to stay for other students in the future who need the support that she does.

'The board wrestled with this decision': Surrey school board chair

Tymoschuk, in an interview with Peace Arch News, said the school district will make sure the alternate program offers that support.

"We’ll make sure there will be structured programming that meets their needs, and by that we mean things like smaller classrooms because we know that works for these students, options to attend alternate programming that would be available in the schools and just making sure that the supports are there for those students to make sure they don’t fall through the cracks," Tymoschuk said.

"The board wrestled with this decision. It wasn’t taken lightly by any means, and we know that students who attend any of the learning centres, do so for (many) reasons."

The board chair brought it all back to funding, again urging the provincial Ministry of Education to increase the school district's budget "so that we don't have to scale these kinds of things."

"I would urge any student — all the students that are in the South Surrey White Rock Learning Centre today to keep an open mind and just make sure that they dialogue with us as we start down this path so we can make sure that we attend to their needs."

Mainstream schools not the answer: students

For students at the learning centres, going back into mainstream schools is their worst fear.

"If you put us back in those schools in those smaller classes, we’re going to feel more stupid than the other kids, and they will look at us as if we’re more stupid and that’s not what we want," Hotti emphasized.

For 16-year-old Jordyn Dempster, it was clear that mainstream high school was not right for her from the jump. Grades 8 and 9 were challenging, but once she was able to attend the learning centre, she can't imagine going back.

"Here I feel like I can be myself and no one will judge me, and it’s just so much easier and less stressful coming here than going to mainstream with over 2,000 kids," the former Semiahmoo Secondary student said.

Another soon-to-be graduate, Asia Johnston, went to Earl Marriott Secondary for two years before coming to the centre after struggling with addiction, anxiety and a learning disability, she said. Johnston, 17, ended up dropping out of school once students returned to schools after restrictions lifted.

She credits her educational success and her graduating this year to the staff she has met at the learning centre, which another student, Eva Sadler, 16, echoed, saying that the teachers at the centre are supportive and treat them as equals.

"I feel like I had this icy coat around me when I left EMS, and it just melted away as my years went on at the learning centre," Johnston explained.

The students are planning on reaching out to the school board to find another solution that they deem more suitable.

"I think the learning centre is looked down upon because it’s a 'bad kids' school or it’s full of dropouts, but that’s not the truth. Most kids here aren’t even dropouts; they just need that extra help or that comforting space to help them work better," Broomfield said.

"The staff are worried about us going to mainstream schools, worried that we’re not going to make it. ... This is going to stop a lot of kids from having a second chance."