Frankly Speaking

The ubiquitous face mask has helped reduce the transmission of COVID-19, but it hasn't done anything to improve mental health or reduce the sense of unease that most people are feeling. The breadth of changes brought to our lives by COVID-19 is long, incomplete and extremely difficult for most of us to accept.  No one wants to get COVID-19, and despite occasional protests and snarky comments online, the vast majority of people accept that it is real. They have encountered it firsthand too often. Most reluctantly accept the significant restrictions on their lives, but in the 15th straight month of measures to counter the virus, it is obvious that the damage to our way of life has been enormous. Spring usually marks the beginning of events and outdoor activities,  due to longer days and warmer weather. Not this year. This spring is a repeat of last year. The huge Vaisakhi Day parade, Surrey’s biggest gathering, was set for April 24 and was cancelled for the second straight year....

Frank Bucholtz photo Plans for 136 new homes across the street from the new Clayton North secondary will be discussed at a public hearing held by Surrey council this month. The Clayton area has a severe shortage of classroom space for students. Surrey schools expect to have an extra 1,000 students in the classrooms when school began on Tuesday. As challenging as that is, even more challenges are coming. Development is continuing at a frenetic pace, despite a 15 per cent foreign buyer tax which seems to be addressed more towards Vancouver, the North Shore and Richmond. There are a number of signs of real estate activity slowing down in those markets, but many people continue to buy homes in Surrey for the simple reason that it is more affordable. If all the development proposals now in the planning stages go ahead, the school district will have several thousand more students in the next few years. Longtime trustee Laurae McNally points to a proposed development in Clayt...

Five hundred more students will be coming to Surrey schools as an expected 1,000 or more Syrian refugees settle here within the next few months. Surrey is expected to take at least one-third of the 3,000 or so refugees expected in B.C. The new federal Liberal government is fast-tracking refugee claims to meet its campaign commitment to settle 25,000 Syrian refugees in Canada by the end of the year. News that Surrey schools will get another 500 students, in addition to the already-burgeoning population at schools in many fast-growing areas of Surrey, has caused the school district to take a close look at how it can cope with the added students. While it has many programs to help new students from other countries adjust, including its Welcome Centre, where settlement and multicultural workers help place students in the right settings, communications manager Doug Strachan says it does not have all the resources it needs to take on so many students. In particular, there will be ...