GRAND HAVEN, Mich. — Those Grand Haven Area Public School students who selected in-person learning will now start the school year on Sept. 8.
That was the decision made by the Board of Education following a three-and-a-half hour special board meeting held Saturday.
Monday evening, at its regularly scheduled meeting, the board voted unanimously to approve a plan presented by district Superintendent Andy Ingall, which asked parents to select either in-person or virtual learning for their students.
Since that time, the board was bombarded with emails, mostly from members of the Grand Haven Education Association, who weren’t comfortable with returning to in-person learning.
During Saturday’s meeting, dozens of teachers, parents and students spoke passionately, with some advocating returning to school and others insisting a lack of social distancing made such a return unsafe.
After listening to all who spoke, board member Nicole Stack made the motion to push back the start of in-person learning to Sept. 8.
“I have gotten the good sense over the last week and a half that we have a lot of things figured out, and I know I’m throwing a curve ball into that, but with feedback from teachers, we need more time with our plan.”
The board voted 6-1 to pass Stack’s motion, with board superintendent John Siemion casting the no vote.
“We hired Andy to do a job for us,” Siemion said. “He bought us a plan, we voted for that, and I’m not going to second guess that.”
Stack then motioned to allow parents to re-evaluate their decision to choose virtual or in-person learning, as many parents claimed they felt rushed into making that decision. The motion died due to a lack of of support.
RELATED VIDEO:
►Make it easy to keep up to date with more stories like this. Download the 13 ON YOUR SIDE app now.
Have a news tip? Email news@13onyourside.com, visit our Facebook page or Twitter. Subscribe to our YouTube channel.