Latest News from Southwest Horizon School Division
The Board of Trustees of Southwest Horizon School Division is excited to announce the appointment of Lori Pople as the Principal of Waskada School, effective September 5, 2023. Lori has been a member of Southwest Horizon’s team since 2011 as a physical education and classroom teacher, as the Indigenous Academic Achievement Facilitator, and as the Interim Principal of Waskada School. Lori holds a Master of Education in Educational Administration and is currently completing a Master in Inclusive Education through Brandon University.
Lori believes that public education is all about the students and is firmly committed to her belief that relationships are the foundation of student engagement and ultimately student learning. Lori is committed to working alongside Waskada Staff to provide the support, guidance, and resources to mitigate challenges as they arise.
Congratulations Lori!
Cardboard Challenge (2023)
This past week the Grade 5/6’s from Souris School had the chance to host the 2nd annual Cardboard Challenge at Souris School! Last year, the Cardboard Challenge idea was brought to the Grade 5/6 classrooms to take part in a Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) challenge by Stacy Martin. We had no clue what it was all about, but wow were we happy she introduced us to the global program!
In Cole’s Notes fashion, the Cardboard Challenge is a worldwide celebration of child creativity, and the role communities can play in fostering it. On Friday, May 19th we were able to go outside in our outdoor classroom and students were able to design and build something out of cardboard, recycled materials, and imagination. We were very excited to have some of the Early Year’s classes down to try them out as well!
A HUGE thank you to all our sponsors:
· Look Out Café with cookies and card board
· Pharma Save, cardboard and old magazines
· Fun Time Pottery, paint and cardboard
· Co-Op Grocery, cardboard
· Jenna Marwick, cardboard
· Darlene Higgs, paint and cardboard
· Oliver Martin, assisting with pick up of the cardboard
· Check Right First Aid, collecting and storage of the cardboard
· Richie Bison, donated cardboard
We are already looking forward to the third annual Cardboard Challenge next Spring!
This year’s award winners are:
1st – Skee Ball
Honorable Mentions: Tank, Pickle Toss, Castle, & Camper Van!
Thank you to the community for their ongoing support of the outdoor classroom and its initiatives!
The Board of Trustees of Southwest Horizon School Division is excited to announce the appointment of Dayna Leslie as the Principal of Hartney School, effective February 5, 2024. Dayna has been a member of Southwest Horizon’s team for ten years, as a classroom teacher, a resource teacher, and a principal at Waskada School. Dayna believes that education is a right for all learners. As a principal, she has the passion for encouraging a school climate that allows staff and students to stretch their learning, pursue their interests, and develop leadership skills that will benefit not only the school but also their future endeavors. Dayna is proud to work within rural schools as they provide students with strong connections, community awareness and a sense of belonging.
Please join us in welcoming Dayna to Hartney School!
Southwest Horizon School Division is pleased to offer a Literacy
Program for pre-school and school aged children this summer in your
community! With the assistance of the Green Team Grant from Manitoba
Children and Youth Opportunities and Southwest Horizon School
Division, we have hired four summer students who will work in teams
and travel to each community within the division one day a week to
offer a literacy-based recreation program.
Please click link below:
Summer Literacy Program Information and Registration Forms
May 2023
Superintendent Announcement
The Board of Trustees of Southwest Horizon School Division is delighted to announce the appointment of Stephanie Emberly as Superintendent effective July 1, 2023.
Stephanie is committed to promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion and believes that all students deserve access to a high-quality education, regardless of their background or circumstances. Her leadership is grounded in collaboration, communication, and transparency and believes in building strong relationships with stakeholders to create a shared vision for the division. By fostering a culture of trust and respect, she empowers staff and community members to work together towards common goals.
Mrs. Emberly is currently the principal of Boissevain School and was the former vice-principal at Wawanesa School.
Please join us in welcoming Stephanie Emberly back to Southwest Horizon as the next Superintendent!
Sincerely,
The Board of Trustees
Terry Fox Run 2022-2023
Congrats to Hartney School - Ranked 37th - Elementary Division
Southwest Horizon School Division
Donation History Report
Statistics as of March 2023
2023 Terry Fox School Run Fundraising Total
Wawanesa School
$2,064.50
Melita School
$1,995.10
Hartney School
$2,426.25
Pierson School
$1,675.00
Waskada School
$1,560.00
Souris School
$2,027.20
Grand Total
$11,748.05
Curriculum and Strategic Initiatives Coordinator
The Board of Trustees of Southwest Horizon School Division is excited to announce the appointment of Valerie Kachur, who will be joining our Senior Admin team in September 2023 as our Curriculum and Strategic Initiatives Coordinator. Valerie believes in the value of relationships and that authentic connection with both students and adults is the bridge to effective coaching. She comes to us with experience in k-12 classroom teaching, Numeracy and Literacy Coaching, Social Emotional Lead Coordinating, as well as her work in ELA with Curriculum Leadership, and the mRLC.
Please join us in welcoming Valerie Kachur to Southwest Horizon!
A HUGE THANK YOU FROM HARTNEY SCHOOL
A huge THANK YOU to Elder Susie McPherson Derendy and dancer Sam Jackson for coming to perform in the Grade 3/4 classroom at Hartney School.
Hartney School raised $2,700.00 for the Heart and Stroke Foundation with their Jump Rope For Heart!
Mrs. Carlisle promised the top fundraisers they could choose a staff member to “pie” in the face! On Tuesday, March 21 the following students got to do exactly that! Having been “pied” by her grandson a second time in as many events, Mrs. Combs offered to top up our donations to $2,700 if she could pie Jaxen! (first picture)
Last Picture - Greyson C got Mrs. Hale, who was a good sport – she was subbing in Kindergarten
Student Services Coordinators
The Board of Trustees of Southwest Horizon School Division is excited to announce the
appointment of Kristin Polnik and Jill King, who will be joining our Senior Admin team as
Student Services Coordinators for the next school year.
Kristin Polnik has a vast array of experience as a Classroom Teacher and Resource Teacher.
Kristin will be putting her experience to work by joining the Senior Admin team to support our
division. Kristin Polnik will be .5 Student Services Coordinator and maintain a .5 position in
Hartney School.
Jill King is pleased to return to the role of Student Services Coordintor and looking forward to
continuing to support staff and students next school year. Jill King will be .5 Student Services
Coordinator and maintain a .5 position in Waskada school.
Southwest Horizon School Division
PUBLIC NOTICE is hereby given that the Southwest Horizon School Division intends to conduct the following Pesticide Control Programs in 2023:
To control rodents and crawling insects within the Southwest Horizon School Division.
The projected dates of application will be Monthly from
May 1st, 2023 to December 31st, 2023.
The following products supplied and administered by Poulin’s Pest Control will be used in and around the crawlspace of schools in the communities of Wawanesa, Souris, Hartney, Deloraine, Waskada, Melita and Pierson:
· Contrac Blox
· Rozol RTV
· Resolv Dragnet
· Dr. Doom Residual
· Dr. Doom In and Out
· Contrac Grain Bait Bag
· Pro Ant and Roach Pyrodust
· Dr. Doom Wasp and Hornet
· Temprid SC
· Drione
· Permethrin
· Bromadiolone
The public may send written submission or objections within 15 days of the publication of the notice to the department below:
Environmental Approvals Branch
Manitoba Sustainable Development
1007 Century Street
Winnipeg, Manitoba R3H 0W4
Trustee Janice McDonald Receives Long-Service Recognition
Trustee Janice McDonald was recognized for her 12 years of service as a Southwest Horizon School Division Board of Trustee at the Manitoba School Boards Association’s 59th Annual Convention on March 17, 2023. Trustee McDonald was first elected in October 2010 for the Wawanesa Ward and has held the seat since then. She has been the Trustee representative for the Souris River Recreation District and served as Board Chair for the 2018/19 and 2019/20 school years. Janice has also served on many Board committees and is the current chairperson for the Negotiations committee.
Congratulations Janice!
Festival du Voyageur (2023)
This past week the Grade 5/6’s from Souris School had the chance to go to the Festival du Voyageur in Winnipeg! The grade 5/6’s planned and coordinated this incredible experience. As a result, they developed an awareness and appreciation of Manitoban and Indigenous culture within Manitoba. You could tell the Grade 5/6’s from Elder, Filewich, and Ray’s room were engaged and excited to experience meaningful and authentic experiences that we talk about in our Social Studies programs.
Hartney School Metis Winter Fest 2023
A fun day was had at the Hartney School Metis Winter Fest this past week including building travois, dot art, flint fire starter demonstration, making leather pouches, exploring Metis artifacts, furs and hunting areas and so much more! Check out all the fun in the pictures below.
Fun Fact: A travois is a historical frame structure used to drag loads over land. Evidence supports that travois were used in other parts of the world before the invention of the wheel.
February 2, 2023
SOURIS, MB - Southwest Horizon School Division Superintendent, Carolyn Cory, has informed the Board of Trustees of her intent to retire at the end of this school year, effective July 1, 2023.
Carolyn has been an educator for 37 years, 29 of which were with Southwest Horizon School Division (SHSD). She is a graduate of Brandon University, earning a Bachelor of Education and a Master of Special Education. Much of her early career was spent in Early Years, Reading Recovery, and Resource positions, after which she moved into an administrative role as the division's Student Services and Curriculum Coordinator in 2010. Carolyn became Superintendent of Southwest Horizon in 2013 and has overseen the education of thousands of learners throughout her tenure.
Describing herself as an "Instructional Leader", Carolyn along with a strong leadership team, championed Literacy and Numeracy initiatives for Southwest Horizon. Carolyn has forged strong relationships with students, families, and staff, focusing on wellness, equity, and expanded opportunities. She believes in a strategic, data-driven approach to learning, allowing educators to provide top-quality instruction in the classroom.
Carolyn is well-respected among her peers and has earned multiple accolades throughout her career. She is a member of the Executive of the Manitoba Association of School Superintendents, and a strong advocate and support for the Manitoba Rural Learning Consortium.
The Board of Trustees is grateful for Carolyn's leadership and dedication to the division over the last decade and throughout her career, “We sincerely thank Carolyn for her years of service to our division and to the larger educational community,” says Board Chair Cheryl Rushing. “Her remarkable ability to lead transformational change has guided the division toward educational excellence. Our division, our educators, and especially our learners are grateful for her years of service.”
Carolyn looks forward to a well-deserved retirement filled with gardening, travelling, and spending time with her family.
The SHSD Board of Trustees will soon begin the task of finding someone new to take on this important lead role.
Valeria Naumann Kaylee Phillips
Ms. Salamondra’s Social Studies class in Hartney School took part in the Manitoba Council for International Cooperation #GoForTheGoals Classrooms Challenge. Grade 7-9 students were to design a new $20 bill based on the theme of the United Nations Sustainability Goals in social studies. The students were required to choose one goal and incorporate 5 symbols into their design. They were also required to explain their choices in a written paragraph. Entries were submitted to a provincial contest through Manitoba Council for International Cooperation.
We are very proud to announce that Valeria Naumann won the school competition with the first picture and write-up below.
Kaylee Phillips’ design was chosen as the Provincial winner! Not only will her whole class enjoy a pizza lunch to celebrate, her $20 Bill design will be featured on displays and in videos during their International Development Week 2023 Kick-off event on February 7. They have also invited her to join them that day to share her voice at the kick-off event at the Manitoba Legislative Building. If she can’t make it, a recorded video or voice memo has been requested, to be used in her absence.
Congratulations, girls!
Congrats to the Souris Varsity Girls Basketball team who captured the tournament title in Hamiota over the weekend. Our Junior Varsity Girls and Boys teams also went undefeated in tourney action at Crocus! Go Sabs!!
Decade of inflation crunches funding for schools
MAGGIE MACINTOSH
LOCAL JOURNALISM INITIATIVE REPORTER - Winnipeg Free Press
THREE-quarters of Manitoba’s public
school divisions are receiving fewer
operating dollars today than they were
a decade ago, when those figures are
adjusted for inflation over time.
Despite the rising cost of running
a classroom in the 21st century, new
data reveal only nine boards have recorded
an overall percentage increase
in annual provincial base funding
since 2012. The inflation-adjusted value
of the majority’s funding has fallen
between one and 20 per cent.
Concerned about his employer’s
worsening budget crunch, accountant
Michael Harder — a rural resident
who self-identifies as “a small-government
guy” — set out to analyze K-12
budgets across the province.
“For kids that are very competent at
school, that are good at school or good
at a certain subject, a lack of resources
isn’t going to hold them back. But when
kids struggle with a subject, (it does),”
said the school division employee.
Harder compiled a spreadsheet
using public division revenue statistics
and Canada’s annual rate of inflation
over the last 10 years.
The resulting data show Beautiful
Plains, Western, Brandon, Hanover,
Garden Valley, Seine River, Seven
Oaks, Mystery Lake and the francophone
district are in the minority
group that has had base funding increase
between 2012-13 and 2021-22.
Alan Campbell, president of the Manitoba
School Boards Association, called
the findings “completely unsurprising.”
“When it comes to the ever-increasing
operational realities of running
schools in Manitoba, the funding was
way behind before COVID (pandemic)
and it’s much worse now — both in
terms of the costs of the system and
in terms of the needs of the students
and the staff,” said Campbell, a veteran
trustee in the Interlake School
Division, which has recorded an 18 per
cent decrease in base grant dollars
Manitoba’s funding formula for
public education, which was implemented
in 2002-03, has long been
criticized for creating inequities
across the K-12 system, despite
an equalization formula built into
it. It allocates dollars based on
student population, transportation
requirements and building expenses,
among numerous line items and
supplementary grants.
Only one of the 15 divisions that
have suffered the greatest losses
— meaning base funding, when
adjusted with inflation, has dropped
by 15 per cent or more — is not a
rural district.
Five of them have added more
students to their schools since September
2012.
In the Prairie Spirit School
Division, encompassing Treherne,
Cartwright and many farming
communities between, funding has
dropped, even though enrolment
has increased by nearly 100 pupils.
“It’s a difficult combination,” said
Jan McIntyre, chair of the south
central district’s board. “Basically,
for the last two years, we’ve been
running a deficit budget to maintain
basic services and we’ve had to
make cuts that have directly affected
students.”
The division has scaled back its
literacy and numeracy support staff
and consolidated bus routes, while
aiming to obey the province’s expectation
no child spends more than
one hour on a one-way bus commute
to class.
While noting trustees no longer
have the ability to raise funds
through local taxation, McIntyre
said reduced provincial funding
ultimately results in increased
pressure on hardworking staff and
burnout.
The Tory government announced
its plans to overhaul the K-12
funding model in November 2021.
A new version was anticipated to be
in place for the 2023-24 school year,
until Education Minister Wayne Ewasko
announced more time was needed late last year.
In a statement, Ewasko said the
review team is developing a model
“that is equitable, supports longterm
planning, and provides schools
and school division leaders with
additional flexibility to address
local needs.”
“The (spreadsheet author) uses
school divisions’ budget reports,
which reflect the funding budgeted
by the school divisions at the beginning
of the school year and does not
take into account in-year funding,”
he said, noting recent COVID-19-related
funding announcements and
grants distributed to address wage
pressures.
(The latter sums have been
distributed after divisions were
ordered to back pay staff because
the Tories’ proposed public-sector
wage freeze legislation was ruled
unconstitutional.)
The minister noted Manitoba has
earmarked $460 million for K-12
education — $308 million for capital
projects, $77 million for wages
and other costs, and $22 million
“to strengthen student support and
learning” — on top of base funding
for the current school year.
“Top-ups will never fulfil what’s
needed in communities and schools,
simply because there are costs that
go up every year — heating the
buildings, salaries, benefits,” countered
NDP education critic Nello
Altomare.
The Transcona MLA criticized
the government for wasting time
on Bill 64, the now-defunct piece
of legislation that aimed to abolish
school boards.
Harder says the main problem
with the current equation is a failure
to recognize that salaries drive
increased expenses, not class size.
Manitoba Education should come
up with “a reasonable definition of
what a classroom is,” and distribute
base funding per classroom
rather than per pupil, the accountant
said.
Manitoba is expected to release
2023-24 funding details in the
coming weeks; school boards must
submit upcoming budgets before
March 15.
maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca
Waskada School Coffee News
Students from Waskada School had coffee time with the seniors, looks like they had a great time!
A big Thank you to Jo (& grade 5's) for the baking, the seniors loved the ginger snaps!
The seniors are eagerly waiting for the next visit from the students!
SHSD Strategic Plan 2022-2026
Please click the following link to view our new Strategic Plan 2022-2026
