The Portage la Prairie School Division held a board meeting yesterday evening where they covered a variety of topics, including:

-The October enrollment update, which saw an increase of 16 students from the month prior but a decrease of 18 students from last October.

-Parent-teacher interviews are coming up on November 25th and 26th, to again be held virtually unless need be.

-And Remembrance Day ceremonies scheduled to be held today across Portage schools.

Portage la Prairie School Division Superintendent Todd Cuddington speaks about what the division has planned for Remembrance Day this year.

"Obviously, you know COVID has changed things quite a bit regarding what we would traditionally do." Cuddington carried on, "We always would look forward to a colour guard, flag ceremony and welcoming veterans into the building. And so, we're going to try and do as much as we can to make it an authentic experience. Obviously, schools, you know, use this as a great learning opportunity for students to understand the important sacrifices that soldiers made to give us freedom. So, those will be touched on in the presentations, but it will be more in a virtual format. So, it'll be sharing between classrooms, some of the students will be watching things remotely or small groups gathering in the gymnasium."

When asked about what the day means to him, Cuddington says it's always one of reflection.

"To me, it's always moving and emotional. I know it's just a tradition on the day for us to get up and, you know, see the memorial in Ottawa and watch, and I always think of those sacrifices and appreciate the things that we have as a result."

Students will be receiving an extra long weekend this week too. Thursday of course will be Remembrance Day and the board mentioned that Friday would be a day off for students as teachers go back to school for a professional development day.

Cuddington switched gears and went on to give comments on the two cases of COVID-19 that were identified at PCI earlier this week.

"Unfortunately, yeah, we had a couple of cases." He continued, "We've done a really excellent job within the division, keeping our numbers low, and I think that's a result of, you know, good communication between school and home. We had a couple of cases reported also in Fort La Reine that letters were sent out there, and we've kept the province aware. Having a conversation with superintendents this morning from across the province, everyone is noticing the numbers are starting to creep up, and Public Health is certainly advising everyone to continue to follow the fundamentals. Most importantly, we've just got to encourage vaccination. It's really the only way back."

The superintendent notes that he is optimistic that vaccines will soon be available for younger students, adding that the board would be very supportive of that.

"That's something that Public Health and Manitoba Education advise that for in-school clinics, they're going to be leaving it up to local school divisions to kind of determine how that will roll out. And I think from the very beginning, Portage has been, you know, a strong proponent of the vaccination. So that's what we anticipate sometime in December. If approvals come through."

The next scheduled board meeting is set to take place on November 23.