With Surrey Board of Education chair Laurie Larsen and musicians from Coyote Creek Elementary looking on, Surrey-Fleetwood MLA Jagrup Brar speaks about a four-classroom addition currently being built at the school.
More Surrey students will soon say goodbye to portables as construction has begun to add a combined 250 new student spaces at Frost Road and Coyote Creek elementary schools.
The Government of B.C. is providing a combined $11.8 million for the two expansions, which will add 10 classrooms to the Fleetwood neighbourhood and eliminate portables at the schools. The projects are part of the province's plan to reduce portables as quickly as possible in Surrey.
An official ceremony to mark the ground breaking of both projects took place outside Coyote Creek Elementary on Dec. 16.
"We are all very excited to see the construction well underway here," said Surrey Board of Education chairperson Laurie Larsen. "The new addition will include four new classrooms that will allow students to move out of the portables and into the school community."
Frost Road's expansion will add six classrooms to that school.
"Our community has been waiting for these additions for years, and I'm so excited to join students and families to celebrate the construction of their new classrooms," said Jagrup Brar, MLA for Surrey-Fleetwood. "I can't wait to see these expansions completed and for the students at these schools to say goodbye to portables."
Both projects are scheduled to be complete by next September.
Since fall 2017, the province has approved nearly $250 million in new schools, expansions and seismic upgrades in Surrey. The investments are helping up to 7,300 students in Surrey move from portables to classrooms between 2018 and 2022.
Following the announcement, officials visited a Grade 3-4 class inside a nearby portable, where they helped students make gingerbread houses. Below, left, trustees Laurie Larsen and Bob Holmes help a student start her construction, while (below, right) Surrey Schools Supt. Jordan Tinney and trustee Laurae McNally work with students to secure their house foundations.
Click here to view all the construction project progress in the Surrey School District
by Sheila Reynolds
