WHITEHALL — Multiple local citizens called for the resignation of Whitehall School Board trustee Tim Cross during Monday's regular monthly meeting due to what they considered his substandard response to a sexual abuse scandal at another branch of his church.
Cross, who was absent from Monday's meeting, drew the ire of multiple citizens after reports emerged in April regarding a sexual abuse scandal at the Midland branch of the Living Word Church. (Cross, who was elected to the school board in 2022, is the pastor of the church's Muskegon branch.)
Three ministers at the Midland church, two of them this year, have been imprisoned after being convicted of sexual misconduct involving children. According to WJRT-TV in Flint, Cross posted a video to YouTube in March stating that he did not initially believe the victims in those cases and apologized for it. In the video, Cross noted that he'd known all three men convicted and felt they were not capable of such acts. Soon after, Cross stepped down from his role as a member of a faith coalition supporting U.S. Senate candidate Mike Rogers, a Republican who is running for the seat Democrat Gary Peters is vacating following the November election.
Among the citizens calling for Cross to resign was Angel Coon, who also spoke about LifeWise at the Montague board meeting earlier in May and is running as a Democrat for the state House of Representatives seat currently occupied by Republican John Moolenaar. She expressed disappointment Cross was not at the meeting as she had hoped to directly tell him he should resign.
Citizens also criticized the possibility of LifeWise Academy opening a chapter at Whitehall District Schools during the meeting, with some Monday repeating concerns shared at last week's Montague board meeting. Superintendent CJ Van Wieren said at the end of the meeting that he has not to this point been contacted by anyone from LifeWise regarding starting a chapter and would let the public know if he is contacted.
LifeWise Academy is a nationwide program founded in 2018 that shuttles public school students off campus for Bible study during school hours. The academy, which operates under a franchise model, is legally allowed to do so under the terms of a 1952 Supreme Court ruling, Zorach v. Clauson, that allows public school students, with parental permission, to have release time for religious instruction during school hours if the instruction is privately funded and not on campus.
As at Montague, several citizens urged the board to either prohibit or at least limit LifeWise activities at Whitehall to the extent it can, expressing concern for what they viewed as the academy's disinterest in supporting public education.
"I do not believe LifeWise truly has God at the forefront," stated Whitehall resident Gary Greiner, who called the academy a symptom of "insidious white Christian nationalism."
Fellow resident Bob Brown shared similar concerns and asked the board to govern LifeWise, should it start a chapter in Whitehall, with the chief goal of protecting Whitehall students.
In other board business, the board featured the robotics program, which recently capped a successful season with the high school team's trip to the state competition. Both the high school and middle school teams were presented the Sustainability Award by FIRST Robotics, honoring the strong programs they have built. The program showed off projects it undertook this year to aid special education students and physically disabled students in the district, including using recycled plastic water bottles to construct materials that more easily enabled wheelchair users to sit at tables with their peers.
Student representatives Kate Beda and Emily VanDam, set to graduate this week, marked their last meeting by sharing that senior-to-be Mason Pardue has been appointed next year's student representative to the board. They also, by request from board secretary Paula Martin, shared the several awards each won during the district's senior awards night Sunday.
The board gave 6-0 approvals to the intermediate school district's budget resolution, the second budget amendment for the district, and the district's 2026-27 budget hearing taking place during the June 15 board meeting.
Van Wieren said the district is facing a small budget deficit this year that was expected. Next academic year, the district is returning to the usual five mills due to the bond request that was passed by district voters last fall; the district only levied 3.2 mills this year.
