Three area schools were added to the state’s School-Related Outbreak Report on Monday, May 3.
Holland’s Jefferson Elementary, Holland Christian’s South Side Elementary, and Fennville High School were added to the report. The three schools were listed as having two linked student cases, the minimum number required to be considered an outbreak.
Holland Public Schools acknowledged Jefferson would be added to the report in a district update Friday.
HPS reported 17 total active cases of COVID-19 in the district, which included eight cases at Holland High and four at Holland Language Academy. To date, there have been 198 student and 49 staff cases in the district.
My Take: Letter promoted misinformation, stereotypes
Sarah Le Febre
I didn’t sleep well last night. My stomach was turning and I just couldn’t seem to turn off my brain. This has happened to me before, but I am not usually able to pinpoint exactly why. Last night was different. I knew full well that my discontent and sadness was caused by Randy Kiekintveld’s letter published in The Sentinel encouraging the community to vote “no” on the HPS Millage. I will sleep better tonight if I respond.
Randy, I wish you knew Dan Telgenhof, AP government teacher at Holland High School. Dan is a Holland Public Schools graduate, University of Michigan alum and now one of the finest government teachers around. I wish you would have taken his class. If you had, you would know how government funding for public schools works. You would know that millage dollars can not be spent on teacher salaries.
A local elementary school was added to the state’s School-Related Outbreak Report this week, the first in the area to be added since schools returned from spring break.
West Ottawa’s Pine Creek Elementary was added Monday, April 26, with a COVID-19 outbreak of two cases, the minimum to make the report.
The state defines an outbreak as two or more linked cases who may have shared exposure on school grounds and are from different households.
West Ottawa reported 34 active cases in its weekly update Monday morning, down from more than 40 last week. The active cases included 10 at West Ottawa High School.
Period Project making a difference in Holland Public Schools
HOLLAND An new initiative at Holland Public Schools to provide students with menstrual products continues to grow and be successful.
The Period Project 49423 started earlier this school year and aims to reduce period inequity for female students, while destigmatizing talking about the subject for all students.
“Period poverty or period inequity is the barriers in place for menstruators to access hygiene products such as pads, tampons and liners,” said Candis DeBoer, a Junior Great Books Facilitator for HPS who helped organize the project.
“Period inequity isn’t new, much like food insecurity isn’t new. But the pandemic has served as a catalyst to widen that gap. We recognized that need and decided to try and see if there is a way we could help.”
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