The new assistant superintendent sat in for the first Portage la Prairie School Board meeting of 2017 last night.

Pam Garnham officially stepped into her role replacing the retiring Mike Mauws on January 3rd.

"I've taught almost every grade level there is, I've been an administrator for grades kindergarten to grade 12 and spent the last seven years at the high school (PCI)," says Garnham. "I felt this was going to be another challenge that I would like to tackle in my career. When you're in the Assistant Superintendent role you're working with curriculum and you're working with the direction that the board is going to go in along with the board and the Superintendent and I felt I really wanted to try this challenge."

She says outgoing Assistant Superintendent Mike Mauws has really helped ease her into her role, and talks about what she'll miss most about teaching.

"When I accepted the job the first thing my daughter said was I was really going to miss the kids, and I do. I really enjoyed working with every age group that I've worked with, I've really enjoyed building the relationships I have with them. That part I know I'm going to miss, but this is a leadership opportunity, a leadership role, where I can help implement ideas and programs into the division for all the students."

Garnham adds she won't see students as often, but she'll now be able to help more students as a whole.