The Portage la Prairie School Division is gearing up for a future without a piece of the puzzle which has been there for them for almost three decades.

Earlier this week, Yvette Cuthbert announced her resignation from her position on the school board. With that, a motion was passed at Tuesday night's school board meeting declaring the seat vacant.

Board chair Marie Hélène Hoggarth says that Cuthbert will be greatly missed.

"We had to accept her resignation on Tuesday. She's a very smart lady and brought a lot to the board," Hoggarth continues. "She was a good coworker, a great team worker, and yeah, she'll surely be missed."

Todd Cuddington, the current superintendent of the division until the end of the school year, says seeing a dedicated board member for 27 years like Cuthbert leave will create a big hole to fill at some point through a by-election.

"According to the Public Schools Act, we as a board would have to initiate the election process with the electoral officer. So, we'll be providing more details as to a date at a later time."

He says there are no specifics in the Public Schools Act as to how fast a by-election has to take place, but the board will want to expedite the process.

"We would like to give people time to figure out what is required of a school trustee and what the commitments are, and then we would obviously get the word out to the community for people who might be interested."

Regarding Cuthbert's departure, Cuddington notes it was an honour to have worked alongside her.

"She's been a really dedicated trustee, and all of our board members, past and present, would all say the same thing: she was a great champion for students and wanted to see Students and staff and everyone associated with the school division succeed, and she was always very dedicated in that regard."

PortageOnline will provide more details regarding a by-election for the vacant school board seat as the information becomes available.