The Provincial Exhibition of Manitoba held its annual shareholders meeting and director election at the Dome Building on Tuesday, January 28 and voted in a new board for the next year. Yesterday, Tuesday, February 4, the annual executive board meeting and election was held. Greg Crisanti will begin his term as President and Kathy Cleaver will fill the Vice-President position. “As the 61st President of the Provincial Exhibition of Manitoba, I am very Honoured for the privilege to represent this amazing organization. The knowledge and strengths of our 39 Board of Directors and the amount of volunteer hours donated is simply outstanding! My focus for term as President is to continue what we do best, ensuring we bring smiles to many and the legacy of our great events are successful and financially rewarding. This commitment to our community can only be possible with strengthening the relationships of our neighbours at the Keystone Centre, support from great sponsors and assistance from all levels of government”. -Greg Crisanti, President Greg Crisanti, President Kathy Cleaver, Vice-President Brent Miller, Past-President Connie Bok Wayne Buhr Kevin Cameron Dallas Johnston Mitch Kaminsky Shirley Neudorf Angela Pearen Clark Swain Provincial Exhibition of Manitoba Executive Board 2020/2021. Full list of directors available at www.provincialexhibition.com. (Submitted)

Maryland Park School is asking for help/input from their 2020/2021 students on choosing a school colour, identifying a mascot, and creating a school logo. The students/parents can participate by responding to the survey online or completing a paper copy, and creating a logo that could be used to represent our school. The online Survey can be found on our school website or by clicking here. A paper copy of the survey can be picked up from the Brandon School Division Office, and a copy will be sent home with each child who is registered at Maryland Park School for September 2020. Copies will also be emailed out to parents who have already provided their email through the Parents as Partners group. If you still don’t have access to the survey, please email us at marylandpark@bsd.ca and we will email you a copy. Deadline for submission is Monday, February 10, 2020 at 11:00 p.m. (Submitted: BSD)

Two SUVs crashed into each other Monday afternoon, in the intersection of 5th St and Southern Ave. Brandon Fire and Emergency Services and Brandon Police responded to the call, and found both SUVs sustaining damage, with one narrowly missing a hydro pole. The intersection was icy at the time of the crash, however it is not clear what caused the collision. No occupants were injured, and Accel Towing & Transport arrived to tow both vehicles away. Photos by Liam Pattison Photography.

Source: Brandon Police Service Media Release AIDOO is WANTED on a Manitoba wide warrant for Sexual Assault, Falsely Represent Peace Officer, and Fail to Attend Court in Accordance with Release Order. AIDOO was living in Brandon recently; however, he has not been seen in this area since January 16, 2020, and is believed to be staying in Winnipeg. If you have information on his whereabouts please call Brandon Police Service at 204-729-2345.

Brandon University is working to build a collaborative culture of ethical and empathetic behaviour in the wake of a significant recent challenge to academic integrity on campus. Academic integrity is paramount, and deeply valued at Brandon University. We have a commitment to our community and to our students that everyone who graduates will have earned their degrees both with the knowledge and skills required and also with the ethics and integrity to guide them in their careers and lives. An investigation over the past few weeks at BU has confirmed that a nursing exam last semester was seriously compromised. The exam had been prepared based on a Test Bank provided by a textbook publisher and was believed to be secured for faculty use only. This is common practice. These professionally written Test Banks include answer rationales, desired learning outcomes and expected sources of knowledge along with links to professional standards and competencies. These Test Banks have been crafted by testing experts to ensure a full and fair assessment of all of the knowledge covered by the curriculum while freeing up teachers to focus on their students in the classroom. Unfortunately, today’s technology means that pirated versions of these exams and Test Banks can be found for sale online. This compromised exam and its Test Bank was purchased on a website specifically devoted to the sale of such materials, then circulated and made available to students in the class. The investigation discovered that students used the Test Bank questions they had obtained to prepare for their class exam expecting, and then finding, the questions to be the same. Other students declined to make use of the Test Bank. Brandon University was faced with a limited amount of time to deal with a large and complex situation that is unlike anything envisioned by our existing policies. As an expedient, all students were offered the immediate opportunity to write a new version of the exam, with a penalty applied, so that upon satisfactory completion, they would be able to move on to second-term classes and clinical placements without having to lose a year of their studies. All students re-wrote the exam, and all students passed. Penalties may be adjusted as appropriate for individual circumstances as determined in the fullness of the investigation. Students also have the opportunity to appeal their penalties or final grades through the normal university appeal processes. To be as fair as possible to everyone involved in this recent case, we have carefully limited our public statements while we began our investigation, and as we assessed and worked through the processes outlined in our policies. This takes time, and we regret that our silence allowed rumours to circulate in the community and online. We must balance the legitimate public interest in this incident against our equally vital need to protect the interests and the privacy of all of our students, both during the past few weeks and in the future. Though academic dishonesty is nothing new, we know that Brandon University has much work to do in our efforts to strengthen our culture of academic integrity. Our students and their Student Union representatives will be our partners in all of that work. Already in this new year, we have had a series of productive and positive discussions with both students and faculty about this incident and we will be considering important changes to our admissions criteria, curriculum delivery and student evaluation processes in Health Studies. The aim is to better support our students’ personal growth and professional development and to continue to foster a caring and collaborative culture on campus and among our graduates. These changes will also aim to de-centre the longstanding focus on grades as the sole measure of student performance. New criteria will be used to expand our consideration of the full measure of each student as a whole person, starting with their admission, which may include personal interviews and portfolios. There will be renewed focus on professionalism, ethics, collaboration, teambuilding and empathy. These are in line with current best practices in healthcare education and are expected to make BU a leader in this area and improve our already excellent outcomes for nursing graduates. We thank everyone for their patience, understanding and support. (Brandon University Release, January 31, 2020)