March 30, School Closure Update

Hello everyone,

I am not sure how to start this update.  Unfortunately, on Saturday, the Provincial Government came out with a surprise press release on the weekend announcing an immediate cut to a significant portion of operational expenditures.  We do not know the full extent of this announcement as the Government did not make themselves available afterwards to answer many of the obvious questions that would result from such an announcement. 

Among other things, they did announce is that funding for educational assistants will be reduced since they are not being utilized.  As you know, that is not the case at PBHS. Our educational assistants are an integral part of our new method of delivery. They were the ones to begin the communication process with all of our families on March 17 after the Government’s last weekend announcement and now they are the ones that are supporting our teachers in rolling out curriculum during these less than ideal times.  To be frank, it would be a huge loss to the PBHS community if this possible direction becomes a reality. Our support staff has been an essential partner in our response to this crazy new landscape.

For now, we await government clarification and we are all working towards offering the best educational delivery that we can.  We ask that our parents check in with their teachers if work appears to be outstanding. Finally, if there are any out there struggling in this new environment, please let us know and we will assist you as best as we can. 

We have been in contact with all our grads and have agreed to move from May 23 to August 29 (Saturday) in an attempt to still be able to run Grad.  Please help us show the school support by saving this date and planning to attend Grad on August 29

Take care everyone,

Mr. Lowe