The Pine Creek School Division is launching several changes for the new school year, designed to enhance both student learning and staff development. Superintendent for the division, Sandra Meilleur, shared the latest updates.
“One of the things we heard last year from our Educational Assistants (EA) was that they needed more training to work and support our students, especially our students with learning differences,” Meilleur explained. “So, we will be offering an educational course which will be done through some modules. We’re hiring an instructor as part of our team to implement this program. This will not only bring additional skills and training into the school division, but it will help the EAs with additional benefits and an increase in wages.”
The training is open to all current and future EAs, with catch-up sessions available for new hires.
Pine Creek is also joining forces with other school divisions to launch a leadership program for educators. This program, aimed at teachers, vice principals, and principals, seeks to build leadership capacity and prepare staff for future administrative roles.
In line with the province-wide cell phone ban, Pine Creek is enforcing new rules for K-8 students.
“K-8 cell phones will not be permitted at all in the school during instruction hours; that is right across the division. For high school, not a whole lot of changes. It will be at the teacher’s discretion if they’re going to be using cell phones as a part of their instruction. However, with the new procedure in place, teachers do have the authority to have cell phones put away.”
The division is also expanding hands-on learning opportunities through a new student apprenticeship program in their transportation bus garage.
“We hired a student over the summertime, which is going to transition into a student apprenticeship. I think that’s exciting for Pine Creek, that we’re building on those opportunities for students.”
Lastly, Pine Creek is introducing an Employee Family Assistance Program (EFAP) for all non-teaching staff, ensuring all employees have access to valuable support services. This new program, implemented in partnership with the Manitoba School Divisions Board Association, is set to launch this fall.