Community Leader Award winners Special section inside
Three Surrey murders over five days page 5
Tuesday June 24, 2014
Serving Surrey and North Delta www.surreyleader.com
School staff cut to help balance the budget
Teen writer wins national award Highway of Tears story examines B.C.’s notorious Highway 16
Reductions will be largely through attrition, but there will be some layoffs, Surrey School District says
by Evan Seal by Sheila Reynolds
LORD TWEEDSMUIR Grade 11 stu-
THE SURREY SCHOOL District is reducing staffing by 135 full-
time positions to help shave $9 million from the operating budget for the next school year. And while most of those jobs are expected to come largely through attrition, some layoffs loom. In all, there will be about 49 fewer teachers, 56 fewer education assistants, 27 fewer support staff members such as clerical and maintenance workers and three fewer principals and other professional staff for 2014-15. Of those, said Trustee Terry Allen, the equivalent of about 30 positions will be layoffs and cuts to clerical and education assistant hours, as well as fewer district helping teachers. The rest of the reduced staff are expected to retire or leave voluntarily, but will not be replaced. But with 49 departing teachers not Terry Allen being replaced, Allen said schools will have to adhere even more strictly to class size restrictions. “Where there was a certain amount of leeway before, there will be very little leeway now,” he said. In addition to staff reductions, the district is using unspent contingency funds from the current year to help balance the $588.5-million budget, in an effort to make cutbacks that would have the least direct impact on classrooms. See DISTRICT / Page 3
“My dad was the one who suggested writing a story...”
EVAN SEAL / THE LEADER
Andrea Lanouette, a Grade 11 student at Lord Tweedsmuir Secondary, has won first place in the Aboriginal Arts and Stories writing competition for her story about a dangerous B.C. highway.
Editorial 6 Sports 14 Classifieds 16
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dent Andrea Lanouette has been awarded first place in the annual Aboriginal Arts and Stories writing contest entitled “Our Story” organized by Historica Canada. Her story, titled “Tears,” is written through the eyes of a young boy and how his close friend, a young aboriginal girl named Caroline, is found murdered on Highway 16 – an 800-kilometre stretch of Andrea road between Prince Lanouette George and Prince Rupert in northern B.C. It is referred to as the Highway of Tears due to the large number of women who have been killed or gone missing along the route. See CONTEST / Page 4
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