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How alligators move house in Surrey PHOTO, page 5 SLIDE SHOW, thenownewspaper.com
TUESDAY, AUGUST 31, 2010
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❚EDUCATION/Carole James slams province as local schools get ready for ‘tough start’ to year
Surrey ‘ripped off’ as schools rely on portables New Democrat leader Tom ZYTARUK Carole James says the Staff Reporter Liberal government could use some learning assistance itself when it comes to funding B.C.’s public education system. The leader of the Opposition was at Newton’s Panorama Ridge Secondary School on Monday to decry what she says is the provincial government’s shortsighted approach to funding, especially in evergrowing Surrey. Flanked by local NDP MLAs, James
was in Surrey as part of her province-wide tour focused on public education. She’s predicting a “tough start” to this school year, thanks to underfunding. “They expect school boards to squeeze when there’s nothing left to squeeze.” But in her government’s defense, education minister Margaret MacDiarmid noted that under the NDP in 1988, Surrey had 363 portables and now, under the Liberals, has 232. Since taking power in 2001, she said, the Liberals have built nine schools and 51
CAROLE JAMES/ “They expect schoolboards to squeeze when there’s nothing left to squeeze.”
projects in Surrey, totalling $219 million. That, MacDiarmid said, is “by far and away the greatest investment in any district.” Lynn Walters, the vice-president of the
school’s parent advisory council, said four of her daughter’s Grade 9 classes will be held in portables this year, without direct access to a washroom or the internet. Panorama Ridge school opened only four years ago, with under 1,000 students, but already has 11 portables and a projected student population this year of 1,500. “The children are our future,” Walters said. “No future should be in that (a portable).”
see PORTABLES page 8
Car couldn’t be saved but the trees were
A Surrey firefighter works feverishly to douse a car fire in a wooded arewa near 64th Avenue and King George Boulevard on Saturday afternoon. Firefighters ❚PHOTO/Brian Howell extinguished the fire quickly, preventing the nearby woods from catching fire.