Although she did not give out specific figures for each school, Henderson said that Wapanohk Community School continues to have very low attendance – only 46 per cent last month. “The school administration and team are working very hard at trying to get students into the school, locating students,” Henderson said. “Homework packages are being delivered on a regular basis. Well over 300 packages have been delivered. The rate of return not as great but the school is doing what they can to get the packages to the schools.” Parents of some kindergarten to Grade 6 students at SDML schools opted to have their children learn remotely during the first two weeks after the Christmas break, but Henderson says Thompson students are not using the provincial remote learning website that went live earlier this month.
Howe says this is the first year that R. D. Parker has formalized the teen mom program, but he says the school has been very involved with teen mothers for a long time now, making it a leader in all of Manitoba for its work with that particular set of students.
Prior to starting the program, Howe says that the committee that set it up researched other teen parent programs and tweaked them to make a program all their own, partnering with the Futures Program in Thompson. Our primary goal is to work as a team with young moms to help them achieve an education as well as offer support when issues arise that may interfere with young people achieving their goals and dreams, Howe explains. The program also assists young parents in connecting with organizations such as the RCMP, legal aid or social services. On-site counselling is offered at the school along with a pre-natal program put on by Baby s Best Start.
People with COVID-19 may be infectious for two days before they begin showing symptoms. The letter says that the initial public health investigation assesses the risk of exposure to be low due to thorough and consistent application of COViD-19 prevention measures. People identified as close contact of the person with COVID-19 will be contacted and provided instructions by public health staff and testing may be recommended in some cases. Contact tracing divides people into three categories: close contacts, medium-risk contact and low-risk contacts. The first group includes anyone who spent 15 minutes or more within six feet of a person who has tested positive for the virus. Medium-risk contacts are those who were not that close to or were in the company of an infected person for a shorter period of time.