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The current school board was elected in November 2005 and will serve until 2008.
The Surrey school district was the focus of major media attention from 1997 to 2002. The board voted that books dealing with families where both parents were of the same sex not be included as optional learning resources. These books were requested by
, to reflect on the realities of today's families and to teach his pupils about diversity and
A legal battle to overturn the decision to ban the three books went all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada, where the school board's decision was overturned. The judgment, Chamberlain v. Surrey School District No. 36, cited the need for families headed by same-sex couples to be respected. Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin dismissed the Board's concerns that children would be confused or misled by classroom information about same-sex parents. She pointed out that the children of same-sex parents are rubbing shoulders with children from more traditional families and wrote: "Tolerance is always age-appropriate, children cannot learn unless they are exposed to views that differ from those they are taught at home." The legal fees ended up costing Surrey taxpayers over $1,200,000.
In 2005, the Surrey School Board once again made national news for prohibiting the production of The Laramie Project in one of its secondary schools, Elgin Park Secondary. A Vancouver school, Lord Byng, subsequently chose to stage the play.[1]
