WHITEHALL — Whitehall District Schools superintendent CJ Van Wieren shared testing data the district collected last spring during Monday's regular meeting of the school board. The data showed that in most areas, Whitehall students ranked highly among county districts.
Elementary students and sixth and seventh-graders in the district each were among the top two in the county in both math and English/language arts. The eighth-grade results were around the county average, and Van Wieren said the district was looking into potential factors that may have resulted in those scores.
Van Wieren also shared data from high school testing, which rated Whitehall students above average in both Michigan and nationwide. More robust comparisons were possible for high school testing because they were from the PSAT and SAT, which are nationwide exams.
Van Wieren also noted the district's increased focus on exposing students to potential career options at an early age. He said he feels that if students develop an idea of what they might want to do after high school, it provides more motivation to excel while in school.
The district also honored National History Day competitors as coach Jan Klco and several students who participated last year were present. Kallie Sapp, who was national runner-up in the junior individual performance category, spoke on behalf of other NHD students and shared that the program has done a lot for her in building skills that will serve her well later.
The board's new student representative, senior Mason Pardue, introduced himself. Pardue is president of Whitehall's National Honor Society chapter and said he plans to attend college after graduation, potentially to pursue neuroscience.
The board continued to field public comments requesting the resignation of board member Tim Cross due to what commenters felt was a substandard response by Cross to a sexual abuse scandal, which drew media reports earlier this year, at the Midland branch of the Living Word Church. Cross is pastor of the church's Muskegon chapter. Angel Coon, a candidate for the state House of Representatives, also played a clip of Cross expressing opposition to LGBT behaviors, criticizing those views and his decision to share them publicly.
