Grand Rapids Public Schools To Expand In-Person Learning Days

A sign that there's finally a light at the end of the tunnel for the COVID-19 pandemic is that a lot of stuff is opening back up, and schools and businesses are now trying to bring their staff and students back into the physical buildings.

WZZM reports that as of last night, Monday, the Grand Rapids Public School District board voted unanimously to expand their in-person learning model to 4 days a week rather than the current 2 days in-person, 3 days virtual.

The decision to expand the in-person learning days was following the advice of the Kent County Health Department which stated through their numbers that in-person learning only contributed to a small number, under 2% according to Joann Hoganson, director of community wellness for KCHD, in positive cases in Kent County, WZZM says.

Interestingly last night during the meeting, WZZM said 17 people called into the meeting to either support or oppose the plan, with a few parents on board because they believe their kids do more work when in-person.

The big opposition in the WZZM story came from a teacher who was opposing to expanding the number of days in-person saying that she works in the environment, not just looking at numbers from the health department and she doesn't feel like the protocols are enough, especially since she's lost a student to COVID-19.

From WZZM, Lisa Honeycutt, who's a teacher with GRPS told the meeting,

"All the mitigation things are not in place. I work here, I know," says Honeycutt. "I don't care about statistics that are a week or two weeks old from the health department. I personally have been to the funeral of a student. COVID is real."

GRPS returns to 4 days a week in-person learning as of Monday, April 19th.