School numbers steady in Neepawa
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- Published on Thursday, September 10, 2015
By Kira Paterson
The Neepawa Banner
On Wednesday, Sept. 9, kids across the region started their new classes for the 2015-2016 school year. With the new year comes new students, new teachers and new developments within the schools and divisions in the area.
In Neepawa, the enrolments for both Neepawa Area Collegiate (NACI) and Hazel M. Kellington School (HMK) are expected to increase by about 10 each. There are about 70 new kindergarten students joining HMK and about 86 students from Grade 5 that will be going over to NACI. Jason Young, the superintendent of Beautiful Plains School Division (BPSD) says they anticipate more growth for at least the next two years and he expects to see around 20 more students during this school year.
Because of the continued increase in numbers over the past few years, NACI will be adding another portable classroom for a fourth Grade 6 class this year. They have also added an office space to the middle years resource room. Young says BPSD is continuing to request additional space from the Public Schools Finance Board. They have submitted a proposal for an addition to NACI that would include eight more classrooms and another gymnasium.
Along with adding new space, they have made some improvements to current spaces, such as a new dust collector and upgraded ductwork in the NACI woods shop.
They have welcomed 17 new staff members to BPSD since last December. There are six new members at NACI and one new member at HMK.
In the Pine Creek School Division (PCSD), overall enrolment is expected to stay the same. Brian Gouriluk, superintendent of PCSD, says some of the schools are expected to have a lower enrolment than last year, while others are expected to be higher, keeping the division鈥檚 total numbers about the same.
Although the amount of students hasn鈥檛 changed, they have made some major changes to some of their schools. At Gladstone Elementary, the students will be returning to a newly renovated library and computer lab. The computer lab at Austin Elementary has also undergone renovations and is essentially now a double space classroom and computer room. They have also made improvements to an office space at Austin Elementary that will be used for administration for the area鈥檚 colony schools and as a shop area for the school鈥檚 tech department.
Gouriluk is very pleased to announce some of the new programs that will be part of PCSD this year. He tells us that PCSD is in partnership with BPSD and Turtle River School Division (TRSD) with a new career development program that will span from early elementary ages up to high school ages. There will be a part-time coordinator for the program who will be going to each school division and providing opportunities for students to explore different careers at a younger age. The hope is to help students get a better idea of what they may or may not want to do through experiencing and learning about different jobs.
Another topic that PCSD has been focused on in the last couple years is mental health. Gouriluk says it is very important for the staff and students to have good mental health. This year they have established a wellness committee to ensure that the needs of everyone in the division are taken care of.
