WHITEHALL — Several public comments at Monday's Whitehall school board meeting surrounded commenters' ongoing concerns about LifeWise Academy potentially forming a Whitehall chapter, though one has not yet been formally created.
LifeWise is a nationwide organization that has formed chapters at many public schools, including at Reeths-Puffer. Utilizing language in a 1952 Supreme Court decision, Zorach v. Clauson, that permits students to leave school for privately funded off-campus religious instruction during school hours with parental permission, the academy periodically buses students off campus for Bible study. Recent board meetings have included commenters scrutinizing the academy and questioning why religious instruction must take place during school hours rather than outside of them.
One commenter, who said she lives in the Reeths-Puffer district, shared a piece of mail she received from the academy and offered concerns about it portraying itself as a school-sponsored organization. Another said he was Catholic and had raised his children Catholic "on my own time and on my own dime," disagreeing with the utilization of public school time for religious instruction.
Another, Republican county commissioner Kim Cyr, did not directly address the LifeWise issue but noted that founding father Thomas Jefferson wrote correspondence in which he said the separation of church and state was about protecting the church from the state, rather than vice versa.
Superintendent CJ Van Wieren said that apart from receiving an informational pamphlet from the organization, he has not had any contact with LifeWise to date. The organization's website said it has collected over 60 signatures in support of its involvement in Whitehall and is seeking volunteers for its launch team.
Public comments also included Angel Coon, the Democratic candidate running against Curt VanderWall for his Michigan Senate seat, reiterating calls she made at May's meeting for board member Tim Cross to resign. Cross was absent from that meeting but was at Monday's.
Coon's calls for Cross' resignation followed a YouTube video he posted in March in which he admitted he did not initially believe victims of a sexual abuse scandal at the Midland branch of the Living Word church. That scandal resulted in two ministers there being convicted in March of sexual misconduct involving children. Cross is the pastor of the Muskegon branch of the church, and soon after the convictions stepped down from a faith coalition supporting Mike Rogers, a Republican who is running for U.S. Senate this year. Coon asked why Cross felt the scandal was sufficient for him to step down from a political campaign but not from a school board seat.
Outside of the public comments, which took up the bulk of the meeting's time, the board also approved the 2026-27 millage levy, which will be 18 mills on non-homestead properties for operating purposes and five mills for debt service. This matches the numbers previously approved by district voters. The approval was 6-0, with board president Rachel Fekken absent.
Treasurer Jimmy TenBrink added a comment noting that there was a time early in his tenure on the board when the district was struggling financially and posting budgets with fund balances of 4% and shared his pride in the district and board for getting to a place where the district is in a healthy financial position.
During the superintendent report, Van Wieren said the district remains on track to obtain bids for the first phase of work funded by last fall's bond approval this fall, which would set up those projects getting underway following the 2026-27 school year.
