Prairie Rose meeting hears a lot of positives

By Anna Smith

Commentator/Courier

With the first month of the school year come and gone, Prairie Rose Public Schools plans for the rest of a productive year for students and staff alike at the October Public Board Meeting.

The meeting opened with a presentation from New Brigden School, which was pleased to announce significant growth since previous years where the continuation of the school was in question, with a current 28 students.

The school maintains a focus on early literacy and giving back to the community.

With enrolment numbers settled, Chief Financial Officer Ryan Boser shared that the division has gone up .5 effective full time students since the initial count at the beginning of September. The count is overall very positive, with an increase of 47 students from last year across the division.

“That’s a great sign for all the different things that are happening in Prairie Rose, in all of our schools and honestly some of the programming that we have in place, and all the amazing teachers that we have, it matters and it’s making a big difference,” said Boser.

While there are still challenges hiring for the division in places, especially in the rural areas, it was noted that presently, Prairie Rose has 476 employees, and enjoys lower than average class sizes and increased FSLW support. 

This report was submitted by Deputy Superintendent Mark Heinricks, who noted during the meeting that the Acadia Valley colony teacher position has been successfully filled.

The board approved the South Central High School field trip to Iceland, which will take place in April of 2023, as well as the Eagle Butte High School Cross Country field trip to visit New York and Boston from April 10-18, 2023. The motions were put forward by Lois Bedwell and Shauna VanderSpruit respectively. 

The board also congratulated Nichole Neubauer, who presently works with the division at the Irvine Agricultural Discovery Centre, for receiving The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee medal.

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