The fact that the School District of Mystery Lake (SDML) is getting more provincial funding for next school year is a good thing, even if the total mount of the increase – $850,000 – isn’t all that. . .
R.D. Parker Collegiate notified students’ parents and guardians in a Feb. 5 email that at least one person who had tested positive for COVID-19 was in the school Jan. 28-29 and Feb. 1-2 in the L to. . .
The southern, Interlake-Eastern and Prairie Mountain health regions reported only 12 cases between them, while there were 18 in the Winnipeg region and 53 in the Northern Regional Health Authority (NRHA). Forty of the northern cases – nearly half of the province’s total – were from the Island Lake health district, while the Thompson/Mystery lake health district had six new cases. “A large number or most of our cases are from the north, so two-thirds, 53 cases from the NRHA, and three-quarters in one defined area in the north that’s related to a couple of First Nations communities,” said Manitoba acting deputy chief public health officer Dr. Jazz Atwal at a media briefing on Tuesday. “Our test positivity’s coming down in the southern half of Manitoba. In the NRHA it still remains a little high.”
Photograph By Ian Graham School District of Mystery Lake (SDML) co-superintendent Lorie Henderson laid out the reasons why Wapanohk Community School extended and expanded remote learning at the Jan. 26 school board meeting, while trustees urged people with questions to contact the district directly. “Wapanohk Community School was moved to remote learning for all K to 8 students out of care and concern for the school community,” Henderson said, a few days before the provincial government declared a COVID-19 outbreak at the school. “What was considered was the many intergenerational households along with large families in multi-family dwellings with common areas and the number of families who were not sending students to school for a number of COVID reasons. The decision was made to give people the opportunity to stop, stay home, to lessen the chance of moving the virus. At the end of the day it is a decision that helps the whole community. All staff are
The notification came a day after the school posted a letter on its Facebook page advising that the school would be moving to remote learning for all students beginning Jan. 18 and ending Jan. 29. “To date, there have been no confirmed cases of transmission in the school but there has been an increase in the number of cases in the community,” said the letter. “We hope that this time together will allow families to take the necessary safeguards to protect themselves from COVID-19. We want to keep our students and community safe. Grade 7 and 8 students at the school had been learning remotely already since school restarted after the Christmas break on Jan. 4. Kindergarten to Grade 6 students will now be learning remotely as well, with the exception of those whose parents are essential workers.