Langley School Board Chair Rod Ross said he will run for a trustee’s seat in Langley Township again this fall, with Langley’s explosive student growth and the need for new facilities his top concerns.
“I can see a future need for facilities in particular in the Willoughby area where growth is going through the roof,” said Ross, one of the longest-serving members of the school board.
He said that there has been a huge change thanks to the housing boom. Previous district data showed that for every 100 condo units built in Langley, only about two new students entered the district on average.
However, with higher prices, people are buying whatever they can afford, and “if you have to put bunk eds in your condo… you do it,” Ross said.
“Nobody likes to talk about catchment changes, schools on ‘shift’, entire schools embracing on-line learning, building three floor elementary schools, but we ignore it all at our own peril,” Ross added.
He noted that it also takes two to three years to build a new school.
Over the last school year, Langley School District absorbed more than 1,000 new students, including a couple hundred who arrived between September and the spring. It was the largest ever jump in enrolment numbers the district has seen.
“This is likely the most difficult term in my trustee service career,” Ross said.
Ideas are going to have to come from everywhere, he said, noting that the plan for turning the old R.E. Mountain Secondary building into a middle school originated with a custodian.
Unlike at the council level, where mayor and councillors are elected separately, for school boards, all the members are elected as trustees. They then vote amongst themselves to choose a board chair.
Ross became chair in 2020 when previous board chair Megan Dykeman stepped down for her successful bid to win a seat as the new Langley-Aldergrove MLA.
Langley’s school board is split between the City and Township, with two trustees elected in the City and five in the Township.
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