Pressure ramps up to save Surrey learning centres, but province cool to intervening – BC [Video]

Surrey parents and teachers are ratcheting up a pressure campaign aimed at saving stand-alone alternative education centres — but the province’s education minister shows no sign of stepping in.

The Surrey School District is planning on closing several stand-alone learning centres, alternative schools that cater to kids who have struggled with education for a variety of reasons.

“There is a reason that learning centres were created in the first place about 40 years ago: there are vulnerable, at-risk students for whom mainstream schooling doesn’t work,” Surrey Teachers’ Association President Lizanne Foster said.

“They are talking about how they’re achieving goals they never thought were possible, and some of the graduates talked about how they completed school and went on to university and it really changed the course of their lives,” added Anne Whitmore, chair of the Surrey District Parent Advisory Council.

“Many of these students have experienced bullying, exclusion, and a …