A group of parents in Surrey are speaking out against school district plans to reintroduce hybrid learning for some senior secondary students.
While so far optional and with plans to keep it optional, Surrey school district will be piloting hybrid learning — a mix of in-person and online learning — for secondary students in Grades 10, 11 and 12 beginning next year. Introduced as a mitigation strategy to free up more classroom space, some parents at the regular April 9 board meeting expressed concern for the plan.
"While we do understand the pressure on facilities and financial constraints, we do understand, but the hybrid model brings serious and lasting drawbacks that deserve far more scrutiny. We’ve already seen the impacts," said parent Sally Huang during a delegation.
"Students have struggled. Many of them found it’s hard to engage online, widening academic gaps especially in math and science."
To combat overcrowding in Surrey's schools, the district is reintroducing the model, which students first got a taste of during the pandemic years when schools were running classes virtually.
According to Huang and the other parents she spoke on behalf of, the COVID years were not easy for students, teachers and families, so seeing a partial return to that is not ideal.
"Those who rely on structure or in-person supports have been hit the hardest. And equal access to internet, to devices and even a quiet study room further compounds the issue," Huang said.
The district has stated, however, that for students who do not have access to technology, it will be provided through a grant Surrey Schools received to make the opportunity more inclusive to interested students.
Assistant superintendent Perry Smith explained at the December 2024 board meeting that students will have a choice of going home for their online blocks, staying at school in shared spaces or being out in the community, for example, at a library.
"Our teachers are struggling, too. Many have told me privately that they struggle to juggle online and in-person instruction at the same time without proper training and support. Many feel burnt out, frustrated and unable to meet their students' needs. ... A lot of them are hesitant to speak out directly, so I am here to speak on their behalf," Huang shared.
"And on the family side, the experience has been discouraging. Parents like me have seen our kids come home withdrawn and unmotivated. With less peer interaction and teacher connection, engagement and emotional health declined. Unpredictable stress made it harder for students to focus or unwind."
Another parent, Eva Wang, also spoke about her personal experience with her child who has ADHD and a learning disability. After removing him from private school and enrolling him in public school, she says his learning capabilities improved – that is, until the pandemic began.
Wang is worried that if hybrid learning expands to more classes that will not be available in-person as well, her child's improvements in school will begin to regress, as she says they did during COVID.
"This is not just the concern of me but all parents who raise special kids like me," Wang said.
Huang says the risk is back on the table with hybrid learning, adding the issues with hybrid learning go beyond a few students and are instead system-wide.
Trustee Garry Thind shared that he, as a parent, is not happy with hybrid learning himself, either.
His son will be in Grade 10 next year and is looking forward to taking online classes, he said, but as a parent, the learning model is not ideal.
"If you ask me am I happy? No, even though my Grade 9 is excited, I don’t know why, but he said ‘I’m fine with doing a couple classes sitting at home.’ But if you ask me as a parent am I happy, no I am not," Thind said.
However, "our hands are tied," he added.
With the $16-million budget shortfall for next year, 315 portables currently in use for classrooms and not receiving the amount asked for in capital funding by the Ministry of Education, certain difficult decisions are having to be made, Thind said.
"We have to cut busing, we have to cut programs, very essential programs in the district, those are not easy choices for us to make.
"What I ask from all of you is to please talk to your local MLAs. ... That’s the only way we can solve this problem, we have to do this together."
Trustees are meeting with Education Minister Lisa Beare soon, but "that's not going to solve the problem because we have been doing this for years," Thind said.
