History
The Langley School District is one of the earliest school districts in British Columbia. It was established on April 30, 1871 prior to British Columbia becoming part of Canada. The first teacher appointed to the Langley School board by the Province of British Columbia was Mr. William W. Gibbs on June 21, 1872. There were 30 students in the district that year.[1]
In 1906-7, the school district formed a single board of trustees to cover all schools, rather than boards of trustees for each individual school. That year, schools in the district included Belmont, Aldergrove, Glen Valley, South Aldergrove (Patricia), Langley Prairie, Port Kells, Lochiel, Beaver, Langley, Otter, Springbrook, Glencoe, Douglas, East Langley, and Glenwood.[2]
Grades 9 and 10 were taught in the district for the first time when a room was rented at the Billy Murray Hotel for 23 students. In 1909, the high school students were moved to the old cheese factory, and then to Belmont Superior School in 1911.[2]
The District's first permanent secondary school, Langley High School, was opened September, 1924. After 1948, the school was converted into Langley Central Elementary School, which continued to operate until it burned down in 1993.[3]
In December 2011, Royal Canadian Mounted Police Superintendent Derek Cooke announced that charges of sexual interference and sexual assault had been laid against a 57-year-old female teacher in the school district.[4]
Langley Schools Music Project
The school district gained some fame in 2001 with the re-release of The Langley Schools Music Project, a collection of children's chorus recordings made from 1976–77 by Canadian music teacher Hans Fenger in the Glenwood Elementary School gymnasium. The students from Glenwood, South Carvolth, Lochiel and Wix-Brown performed unique versions of pop hits by the likes of The Beach Boys, David Bowie, and Paul McCartney. The recordings were quickly forgotten until Irwin Chusid, a DJ on the New Jersey radio station WFMU rediscovered them in 2000. He managed to get them released on Bar/None Records, and they immediately created an international buzz, making many end-of-the-year best album lists in 2001. VH-1 orchestrated a reunion of the students and their teacher in 2002, and aired a documentary as well.[citation needed]
