North Kent News

Cedar Springs Public Schools issued the following announcement on Sept 1.

Dear students, parents, and Cedar Springs community members,

The following is an update from your Board of Education. It has been nearly two weeks since we received the unexpected public health order from the Kent County Health Department (KCHD). Since that time, we have worked tirelessly to understand the legal options available for our district.  

When the KCHD issued the order requiring masks indoors for our students and staff in grades PK-6, community concerns immediately swelled. At our most recent Board of Education meeting (Monday, August 23), we welcomed community members to the microphone to share their viewpoints. Several people stepped forward as the Board listened to over 90 minutes of public comments. As a result, our meeting ended with us (the Board of Education members) discussing possible actions we could take to address what we heard.

As our first step, three Board of Education members attended the Kent County Commissioners meeting on Thursday, August 26, at DeVos Place. In collaboration with other NE Kent County school districts, we have held meetings with Ron Koehler, Superintendent of the Kent Intermediate School District (KISD), and our legal counsel.  

Last Friday, two of our Board members partnered with several board members from other districts in northern Kent County to meet with Superintendent Koehler and Chris Glass, Director of Legislative Affairs from KISD. Our goal was to better understand the reasons behind the KISD's letter to Dr. Adam London, Director of the KCHD, dated August 16, 2021. We clarified the Cedar Springs Public Schools Board of Education did not support this letter. Furthermore, we made it abundantly clear that as a Board of Education, we have and will continue to advocate for local control. We requested that Superintendent Koehler retract his letter to the KCHD as it does not represent the positions of each district in Kent County as it insinuates. He was not willing to retract the letter. 

Other topics discussed included the following:

The added pressure on our students, families, and school districts due to the structure and timing of this order.

• The need for clarification within the order regarding additional waiver opportunities.
• The importance of providing frequent mask breaks to our students' overall well-being.
• A clarification of the data used to make the decision.  Districts need to be better informed on the metrics that they need to be monitoring
• The KCHD must provide consistent data points over time for long-term analysis.
• Data be consistently available to the public to empower individual districts to monitor their data. 

The Board of Education wants our students, parents, and community to know we are advocating for the right to represent our district as elected. Our work will continue with meetings, fact-finding, and supporting efforts. Many questions are being asked county-wide regarding the processes within the KCHD. There will not be a simple solution, but we are committed to working towards the best plan for Cedar Springs Public Schools.

While these first weeks of school were not what we had planned, we know that our students and staff were happy to be back in the classroom and learning. 

Thank you, and our work continues together.  

Sincerely,

Cedar Springs Public Schools Board of Education

Original source can be found here.