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Schools still offering free meals during summer months
GRPS, Holland, Kalamazoo, Muskegon participating
FOX 17
and last updated 2021-06-22 16:21:08-04
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. â Hunger doesn t take a break even if students take a break from school.
That s why local area school districts are still offering free breakfast, lunch and snacks to students during the summer months.
Forty locations, including MLK Park, Roosevelt Park and Grand Rapids Public School locations, will be serving the food Monday through Thursday with some pick-up days offered on Fridays as well. We re back to actually feeding our students hot breakfast and hot lunch in a much more traditional setting that they haven t seen in over a year and a half. So we re very excited, Grand Rapids Public Schools Food and Nutrition Services supervisor Jennifer Laninga said.
The decision not to expand in-person learning at the high school level was made based off social distancing guidelines from the Kent County Health Department, according to the Grand Rapids Public Schools announcement Friday, April 23.
Pandemic worsening Michigan s teacher shortage
Retirements increased 44% between August and February
and last updated 2021-04-21 19:26:02-04
WXMI â Teacher shortages were already an issue in Michigan pre-pandemic, but exhaust from a year of coronavirus and virtual learning have skyrocketed educator retirements, exacerbating an already overwhelming problem for public, private and charter schools.
âNot just for teachers but for educators in general,â said Tina Kerr, executive director of the Michigan Association of Superintendents and Administrators. âWe have a staffing shortage with para-pros, bus drivers, administrators. The pandemic just exacerbated it; we already had a critical issue in the state.â
According to ChalkBeat, Michigan teacher retirements between this past August and February increased 44% compared to the same time period in 2019-2020. It represents just shy of 800 educators.
GRFD and GRPS Team Up To Teach Students Fire Safety
Not only was last year one of the deadliest in American History because of COVID-19, but it was also the deadliest in Grand Rapids for house fires, according to the Grand Rapids Fire Department and WZZM.
There were 9 deaths in 5 different house fires in Grand Rapids in 2020 which is more than the last two decades, as Grand Rapid Fire Department Lt. William Smith told WZZM, This was a very, very high number for us. We haven t had that many fire fatalities for a very long time, nearly 20 years. So, the fire prevention division decided to change, or pivot, the way we operate. One of those operational things that we came up with was to partner with Grand Rapids Public Schools (GRPS) to help our children be safer.