School District 36 Surrey operates schools in

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

, White Rock, and

Barnston Island Barnston Island is an unincorporated island located in the Greater Vancouver metropolitan area of British Columbia, Canada. Most of it is part of Metro Vancouver Electoral Area A; the remainder is Barnston Island Indian Reserve No. 3, which is ...

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

. It is the largest school district in British Columbia with 80,208 students and 195+ languages represented during the 2022-23 school year. District 36 includes 103 elementary schools, 21 secondary schools, 5 learning centres, and 3 adult education centres. While the district was established in 1906 its first school opened in 1882. The district is Surrey’s largest employer with 12,540 employees including 6,716 teachers.

Administration

The Surrey School District's administration hub is the District Education Centre and was officially opened on September 11, 2011.

Schools

Elementary schools

Secondary schools and other programs

Budget

For the first time in history, the Surrey Board of Education passed an annual budget totalling more than a billion dollars for the 2023-24 school year consisting of $602 million for teacher costs and $451 million for all other costs. The largest sources of funds are $945 million in provincial government grants, $17 million in tuition, $9 million in investment income, $4 million in rental and lease income, and $3 million in federal grants.

In the news

The Surrey School District was reported in the national news numerous times during the 1990s and 2000s, most notably for its stand on social issues.

Overcrowding

Surrey had 361 portable classrooms in use by the end of the 2022-23 school year. This number had increased by 20% over the 15 years prior.

Book banning

The District School Board was the focus of major media attention from 1997 to 2002 over its stand on not allowing books about families with same-sex parents to be included as optional learning resources. These books were requested by James Chamberlain, a

kindergarten Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th cen ...

teacher A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. w ...

, to reflect on the realities of today's families and to teach his pupils about diversity and tolerance. A legal battle to overturn the decision to ban the three books went all the way to the

Supreme Court of Canada The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC; , ) is the highest court in the judicial system of Canada. It comprises nine justices, whose decisions are the ultimate application of Canadian law, and grants permission to between 40 and 75 litigants eac ...

, where the school board's decision was overturned. The judgment, '' Chamberlain v. Surrey School District No. 36'', cited the need for families headed by same-sex couples to be respected. Chief Justice

Beverley McLachlin Beverley Marian McLachlin (born September 7, 1943) is a Canadian jurist and author who served as the 17th chief justice of Canada from 2000 to 2017. She is the longest-serving chief justice in Canadian history and the first woman to hold the ...

dismissed the Board's concerns that

child A child () is a human being between the stages of childbirth, birth and puberty, or between the Development of the human body, developmental period of infancy and puberty. The term may also refer to an unborn human being. In English-speaking ...

ren would be confused or misled by

classroom A classroom, schoolroom or lecture room is a learning space in which both children and adults learn. Classrooms are found in educational institutions of all kinds, ranging from preschools to universities, and may also be found in other place ...

information about same-sex parents. She pointed out that the children of same-sex parents are rubbing shoulders with children from more traditional families, and wrote: "Tolerance is always age-appropriate, children cannot learn unless they are exposed to views that differ from those they are taught at home." The legal fees ended up costing Surrey taxpayers over $1,200,000.

Drama production

In 2005, the Surrey School District made national news for cancelling production of ''

The Laramie Project ''The Laramie Project'' is a 2000 American play by Moisés Kaufman and members of the Tectonic Theater Project (specifically, Leigh Fondakowski, writer-director; Stephen Belber, Greg Pierotti, Barbara Pitts, Stephen Wangh, Amanda Gronich, Sar ...

'', a play that deals with the murder of a gay university student, in Elgin Park Secondary. Advocates for the play noted that it is designed to teach tolerance toward

LGBT LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, asexual, aromantic, agender, and other individuals. The gro ...

people. The school district's administration said that the play contains sex, violence and foul language and is not appropriate as family entertainment. The decision met with outrage from LGBT advocacy organization

Egale Canada Egale Canada is a Canadian charity founded in 1986 by Les McAfee to advance equality for Canadian lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBTQ) people and their families, across Canada. The organization's current executive director is former To ...

. A school in neighbouring

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

Lord Byng Secondary School Lord Byng Secondary School is a Public education, public secondary school located in the West Point Grey neighbourhood on the west side of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It opened in 1925 and was named in honour of the then Governor Gener ...

, subsequently chose to stage the play.

Climate change

In May 2007, the Surrey School Board made national news when it voted to instruct teachers not to show

Al Gore Albert Arnold Gore Jr. (born March 31, 1948) is an American former politician, businessman, and environmentalist who served as the 45th vice president of the United States from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. He previously served as ...

Academy Award The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...

-winning documentary on

climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...

, ''

An Inconvenient Truth ''An Inconvenient Truth'' is a 2006 American documentary film directed by Davis Guggenheim about former vice president of the United States Al Gore's campaign to educate people about Climate change, global warming. The film features a slide s ...

'', until trustees were able to review the film. On the issue of climate change, Board Trustee and social activist

Heather Stilwell Heather Stilwell (January 26, 1944 – December 4, 2010) was a Canadian political activist and former school trustee in Surrey, British Columbia. A staunch Roman Catholic, she was well known for her opinions opposing homosexuality, abortion, and ...

stated: "I am not sure. I mean I see evidence. I think there is climate change, there's no question about that. Whether what Al Gore says about it is the truth, I have questions."

Bible study

In early November 2009, a Cloverdale father, Paul Jubenvill, requested an extra-curricular, non-instructional, voluntarily-attended Bible club be established during lunch-hour at his sons' school, Colebrook Elementary. The school would not permit the club on their property, and the Surrey School District supported the school's position. The father argued that this ban violated the provincial BC Human Rights Code by disallowing a normally available service on the grounds of discrimination against religion. The school district was concerned that permitting the club may have given the appearance of the school endorsing a particular religious ideology. Jubenvill argued that there is a difference between endorsing a faith versus "accommodating" spiritual needs. A complaint was filed with the BC Human Rights Tribunal; however, Jubenvill withdrew the complaint because he felt that the resulting media attention and the reaction it generated did not accurately represent his intentions and he preferred to address the matter with the school district out of the public eye. Some secondary schools in the School District have, or have had, overtly Christian clubs (for example, LA Matheson has a prayer club titled "PUSH", Semiahmoo Secondary had a Crossroad Christian club in 2008 and earlier years, and Fraser Heights Secondary had a Bible Club in 2007).

Roof collapse

At Colebrook Elementary in July 2010, a 75-foot portion of a roof over an exterior walkway collapsed, with no injuries reported. In 2011 the school district initiated legal action against the contractor and architect involved in the design and construction of the roof, which had been built in 1987.

Anti-discrimination code

In November 2013 the School Board adopted an anti-discrimination code to provide protection for students and staff against

homophobic Homophobia encompasses a range of negative attitudes and feelings toward homosexuality or people who identify or are perceived as being lesbian, Gay men, gay or bisexual. It has been defined as contempt, prejudice, aversion, hatred, or ant ...

and other forms of

bullying Bullying is the use of force, coercion, Suffering, hurtful teasing, comments, or threats, in order to abuse, aggression, aggressively wikt:domination, dominate, or intimidate one or more others. The behavior is often repeated and habitual. On ...

. Approximately one third of all school districts in the province have policies against homophobic bullying.''Surrey School Board adopts anti-homophobia policy'', News1130.com, November 15, 2013
Retrieved January 21, 2014

Gallery

File:PA171445.JPG, Holly Elementary School by day File:hollyelementarymoon.JPG, The moon sets over Holly Elementary School, October 14, 2008. File:Princess Margaret Secondary (on 72 Avenue).jpg, Princess Margaret Secondary School File:Colebrook_elem.jpg, Colebrook Elementary School; evening shot of the south wing in October 2009 File:Surrey_Centre_Elementary.jpg, Surrey Centre Elementary School; Dec 2, 2009 (full moon) HDR shot at 11:10 pm File:CambridgeElementary.jpg, Cambridge Elementary School; May 1, 2011

References

External links

*
BC Ministry of Education - school information webpage

Supreme Court says B.C. school board wrong to ban same-sex books

Affidavit used in Chamberlain case

Book banning in Surrey, What happened?
{{School districts in British Columbia 36 Education in Surrey, British Columbia Municipal government of Surrey, British Columbia Educational institutions in Canada with year of establishment missing