Victoria Day
Schools closed. Victoria Day (in French: Fête de la Reine) is a federal Canadian public holiday celebrated on the last Monday before May 25, in honour of Queen Victoria's birthday. The da...
Departments
Guidance Counsellors
Guidance counsellors are assigned to all Portage la Prairie School Division schools from Kindergarten to Grade 12. The Portage School Counsellors' Association also includes: Division Psychologists, Social Worker and Addiction Foundation of Manitoba Counsellors. Together, we organize programs within the Division to help foster the growth of all children.
GUIDANCE COUNSELLORS
École Arthur Meighen School - Paulette Rheault
École Crescentview School - Paula Neill
Fort la Reine School - Jody Budz (Middle Years); Donna-Lynn Barnett (Early Years)
La Verendrye School - Blair Hordeski
North Memorial School - Michelle Laidlaw, Robin McCartney
Oakville School - Monika Metzlaff, Greg Burnett
Portage Collegiate Institute - Dana Pruden (letters A-G)
Jason Green (letters H-M)
Kellee Clifford-Bousquet (letters N-S)
Marie Bertholet (letters T-Z)
Carol Stewart (Career Counsellor and Mature Students)
Yellowquill School - Sheryl Ross
ADDICTION FOUNDATION OF MANITOBA COUNSELLOR
Brenda Miller-Adams
Barry Rud
ONLINE SUPPORT
www.manitobatriplep.ca (Positive Parenting resources)
www.tsfrc.com (Tupper Street Family Resource Centre)
mac.mb.ca/ (Friendship Centers)
www.gov.mb.ca/health/publichealth/ (MB. Public Health)
www.klinic.mb.ca/counsel-crisis.htm (Crisis line numbers)
www.areyouok.ca (Central Region Suicide Hotline)
www.rha-central.mb.ca/service.php?id=76 (Regional Health Authority Mental Health)
www.anxietybc.com (Anxiety Information Website)
www.gov.mb.ca/fs/childfam/cfsagencies.html (Child & Family Services)
www.gov.mb.ca/fs/childfam/for_sake_of_children.html (For the Sake of the Children)
http://www.abuseprevention.ca/services/ (Family Abuse Prevention Centre)
www.rootsofempathy.org (Roots of Empathy)
Student Services Department
The staff of the Student Services Department of the Portage la Prairie School Division provides specialized clinical services to students throughout the Division, as well as generalized supports to our administrators, teachers, educational assistants and parents. Our primary role is to support our students in taking full advantage of the educational opportunities provided by the Portage la Prairie School Division
Staff
The Student Services Department supports the students, staff, and parents of the Portage la Prairie School Division by providing a variety of specialists. The Division employs a Director of Student Services, three Psychologists, five Speech-Language Pathologists, a Strategic Initiative Learning Coordinator, an English as an Additional Language Consultant, a School Social Worker/Attendance Officer, an Outreach Facilitator, an Aboriginal Academic Achievement Facilitator, and an Aboriginal Language Teacher.
If you feel that your school-aged child requires the services of one of these professionals, you can consult with the Resource Teacher at your child's school.
Objectives
The general objectives of the Student Services Department include:
- providing clinical services to meet the diverse needs of students;
- assisting school teams in guiding and supporting the programming and planning for all students;
- working closely with parents and school personnel to identify, assess and intervene to support students with speech and language difficulties, social/emotional problems and other learning difficulties;
- promoting both an awareness and understanding among teachers and parents of the difficulties experienced by students through the provision of workshops, consultation and special programs;
- working cooperatively with local agencies and community groups to establish effective community-based supports for students;
- promoting prevention programs both within the school and at a community level.
Contact Information
535 3rd Street N.W.
Portage la Prairie, MB R1N 2C4
E: rrands@plpsd.mb.ca
T: 204-857-8756
F: 204-239-5998
Director of Student Services
The Director of Student Services is Rochelle Rands. Her primary responsibility is to organize supports for students throughout the school division, particularly those with special needs. The Director of Student Services is also responsible for coordinating the following programs:
- Aboriginal Academic Achievement
- At-Risk Funding
- Early Behaviour Intervention
- Early Childhood Development Initiative
- Low Incidence Funding
- Unified Referral and Intake System (URIS)
In supporting students across the school division, the Student Services Department works with school principals, school support teams, parents and collateral agencies to identify needs and explore solutions.
Aboriginal Academic Achievement Facilitator
The Portage la Prairie School Division employs Winston Hrechka for 50% of his time as the facilitator for the Aboriginal Academic Achievement program to work with the Director of Student Services in this area. The facilitator provides an important leadership role in looking after the on-going support to resource teachers and classroom teachers regarding effective learning strategies for aboriginal learners. The facilitator assists in identifying professional development needs and tries to match those with in-service opportunities. The facilitator also assists with school and Division planning, and coordinates the annual Division report on Aboriginal Academic Achievement.
Winston Hrechka can be contacted at Portage Collegiate Institute at 857-6843 ext. 11115 or by e-mail at: whrechka@plpsd.mb.ca.
Psychologists
At present there are three psychologists in the school division. The role of the psychologist is to:
- Assess students’ cognitive, behavioural and social-emotional development and identify their strengths and weaknesses;
- Determine students’ processing and learning strategies and identify teaching interventions that can improve their learning;
- Support and collaborate with school teams to develop and implement effective intervention plans that address behavioural, emotional, social and/or educational needs of students;
- Consult with parents, school staff, and other service agencies regarding their concerns about students’ mental health needs and provide information on specific mental health issues; and
- Conduct risk assessments for students who may be a danger to themselves or others.
Psychologist Assignments
Louise Lelièvre: École Arthur Meighen School, École Crescentview School, Oakville School
Karen Pain: Hutterian Schools, Portage Collegiate Institute, Yellowquill School
Maxine Mutcher: Fort la Reine, La Verendrye, North Memorial, Portage Collegiate Institue
School Social Worker/Attendance Officer
June Murray is the School Social Worker and Attendance Officer for the Division. She provides services to all schools within the Portage la Prairie School Division upon request from school administrators, parents, or referring social agencies. The School Social Worker / Attendance Officer services include:
School Social Worker Services
- consultation with school administrators, teachers and parents to assist students who are experiencing social/emotional/behavioral difficulties in home/school community
- individual counselling and support to students
- family counselling and support to parents
- group counselling for students
- parent education
Attendance Officer Services
- follows up on reports of school-aged children who are truant
- works with school staff, parents and the child in identifying and resolving issues that will see the child attending school regularly as soon as possible
- accesses alternative learning programs for students
- advocates for student's rights to attend school
- investigates circumstances which are impacting school performance or attendance
June can be contacted at:
Student Services Department
32 5th Street N.E.
Portage la Prairie, MB R1N 1J2
T: 204-857-7861 ext 231
F: 204-239-5994
E: jmurray@plpsd.mb.ca
Outreach Facilitator
Dawn Wood is the Outreach Facilitator for the Portage la Prairie School Division. She supports students and families and schools throughout the Division. The Outreach Facilitator's services include:
- helps to maintain a connection between home and school
- supports families in order to improve attendance concerns of students in the early years
- helps to establish a workable plan to reconnect students with the school
- works with school teams to support the programming and planning of students
Dawn can be contacted at:
Fort la Reine School
36 13th Street N.W.
Portage la Prairie, MB R1N 3T5
T: 204-857-7867
F: 204-239-5740
E: dwood@plpsd.mb.ca
Speech-Language Pathologists
At present there are five Speech-Language Pathologists in the school division serving city, rural and Hutterian schools. The role of the Speech-Language Pathologist includes:
- direct assessment of student's speech and language disorders in order to develop in-school programs
- training and supervision of speech/language assistants who carry out the programs at each school
- training, modelling, and establishment of communication systems/programming in regular and/or special classrooms (LAC, Lifeskills)
- organization of timetables and groupings for the speech/language assistants
- presentation of in-service sessions for staff and parents related to speech/language and literacy issues
- direct language enrichment with small groups of students through the Aboriginal Academic Achievement program
- development of screening processes to assist with the early identification of children with speech/language difficulties
- collaborating with school teams, parents and collateral agencies to support students across the Division
Assignments for the Speech-Language Pathologists are selected to balance caseloads as much as possible.
Speech-Language Clinician Assignments
Hema Harrysingh, Communication Specialist: North Memorial School, Portage Collegiate Institute
Brenda Curle: Oakville School, Hutterian Schools (Ingleside, Brantwood, Norquay, Sommerfeld, Sunnyside, Woodland, Brennan, Good Hope)
Alana Jack: Yellowquill School, École Arthur Meighen School, Hutterian Schools (Northern Breeze, Westroc)
Rhonda Lyle: Fort la Reine School, La Verendrye School, Preschool Wellness Fairs, Tupper Street Resource Centre
Megan Bamburak: École Crescentview School, Aboriginal Head Start
Portage and Area Reading Council
Operations / Transportation
Portage la Prairie School Division
Transportation Department
3000 Crescent Rd. W.
(behind Yellowquill School)
Portage la Prairie, MB
T: 204-857-5841
F: 204-239-7275
Tom Henry - Supervisor of Operations
Marilyn Bachalo - Assistant Supervisor - Transportation
MSDS Form - Enter WellNet MSDS Site