Maggie Macintosh

Province withholds $4-M grant after Seven Oaks School Division raises taxes

Manitoba Education is striking back against a school board in Winnipeg after its trustees voted to raise local taxes — in defiance of a provincial directive to freeze fees — to avoid sizable staffing and programming cuts.

Louis Riel School Division releases 2021 report that ended its police program

Following more than a year-and-a-half of secrecy, the Louis Riel School Division has finally released a redacted version of the scathing review that prompted its trustees to axe a police-in-schools program.

“At best, the (school resource officer) program is ineffective in its stated goals of ‘building relationships’ and ‘promoting safety and education,’” community researcher Fadi Ennab wrote in the August 2021 report he submitted to the division.

“At worst, the SRO program negatively impacts the school space by making many students and parents feel unsafe and targeted.”.

Union says proposed registry would make teachers vulnerable

A Manitoba bill to create a virtual registry of teachers — resumes and disciplinary records included — has been touted as a step towards transparency, but the profession’s largest union says it must be tossed to protect its members’ rights.

Skunk invasion temporarily closes Stevenson-Britannia School

A pungent odour smellier than a group of pre-teens after phys-ed has forced a St. James elementary school to evacuate until all the critters responsible for the fumes are captured and visitors can breathe easy.

School division brings back exam week

Testing traditionalists have successfully overturned the St. James-Assiniboia School Division’s recent directive to scrap exam periods and enforce a 10 per cent cap on the weight of finals.

Tory budget highlights crackdown on crime

The Manitoba budget appeals to fears about rising violent crime by touting a tough-on-crime approach with more than $50 million earmarked to expand policing.

Teacher calls for updated ELA curriculum before return of Grade 12 exams

The impending return of Grade 12 provincial exams has reignited questions about when the province will roll out a new and long-awaited English Language Arts curriculum for senior years students.

St. James-Assiniboia School Division draft budget cuts staff

The St. James-Assiniboia School Division’s shrinking student population is anticipated to allow its 26 schools to maintain current class sizes and programs in 2023-24, despite annual funding failing to meet the increased cost of living.

Planting hope for the future

The creators of a new climate change curriculum want to help their teacher colleagues overcome personal fears about the planet’s future and learn how to educate students on the subject in a way that empowers them to take action.

River East Transcona struggles to meet tough budget targets

The River East Transcona School Division plans to borrow money to cover one-time expenses, defer maintenance projects and increase the rate of permits for the public to use facilities on evenings and weekends next year.

Few changes expected to WSD draft budget

The Winnipeg School Division’s draft budget for the coming school year cements its support for expanded bilingual programs and partially answers residents’ requests for more educational assistants in classrooms citywide.

Louis Riel division leader blasts racism in budget session

The Louis Riel School Division leader called out community members opposed to funding anti-racism initiatives when he revealed the contents of the 2023-24 draft budget, which relies on dwindling surplus dollars for core operating costs, this week.

Seven Oaks division considers cuts

The future of free instrument rentals, after-school programs and bussing for grade 7-12 students is uncertain in the Seven Oaks School Division as trustees contemplate cuts to address financial constraints in 2023-24.

U of M anti-racism task force calls for streamlined incident response

A new report calls on the University of Manitoba to create a streamlined process for responding to incidents of racism and publish all events that happen both in-person and online spaces.

Crowds for full-scale return of Festival du Voyageur top pre-COVID levels

As they slurped down pea soup, hundreds of attendees relished the full-scale return of Festival du Voyageur and the beloved cook-off contest that has long marked the sunset of winter celebrations.

Early school start time irks parents in Pembina Trails

Parents are warning significant changes to start times will not only upend work schedules and create child-care challenges, but harm the development and well-being of children anticipated to start elementary school 45 minutes earlier next year.

Demand still exists for virtual school

There is a wait-list for the virtual elementary school that Manitoba plans to close after claiming there was a significant drop in demand and in-person learning is superior for students’ mental health.

Gaps in province’s literacy education probed

Manitoba Education’s response to a scathing report that concludes the way Ontario schools teach students how to read — a popular approach in local classrooms — is failing children with learning disabilities is being met with skepticism.

Internal documents shed light on government officials’ limited analysis of Ontario Human Rights Commission’s Right to Read inquiry and responses to public concerns about the findings that informed the launch of a similar probe in this province.

A handful of advocates for students with dyslexia and other related diagnoses say the memos, obtained by the Free Press through freedom of information requests, are incomplete and play down the issue at hand.

“(These documents) underscore the importance of… an initiative that’s Manitoba-based to gain an understanding of what the specific gaps are around students realizing that human right to read through our school system,” said Karen Sharma, executive director of the Manitoba Human Rights Commission.

Brokenhead students back in class after air-quality concerns trigger weeks of at-home schooling

The long-awaited resumption of face-to-face learning in Brokenhead Ojibway Nation is being met with sighs of relief across the community, 40 days after an air-quality alarm triggered an evacuation of the local public school and sent 11 people to emergency rooms.

Pembina Trails adds staff in $206-M draft budget

The Pembina Trails School Division is proposing a significant hiring spree ahead of 2023-24, alongside the end of its full-day kindergarten and a minor adjustment to high school class sizes to balance its budget.