Page 12 — Thursday, October 14, 2021 — The Hastings Banner
Barry ISD receives $224,000 grant for nurses
Taylor Owens
Staff Writer
The Barry Intermediate School District
will have two Spectrum Health nurses at both
of its school districts after receiving a
$224,000 grant from the Michigan Department
of Education.
The nurses will be in addition to those
already at Hastings Area Schools and Delton
Kellogg Schools.During a Barry ISD Board of Education
meeting last Thursday, Superintendent Rich
Franklin said the money is part of the feder-
al government’s COVID-19 response and
will pay for the nurses so long as they areavailable to conduct COVID-19 tests as
needed by the districts.
“But then, the understanding is, they could
provide general nursing services, so it’s real-
ly bonus nursing services,” Franklin said.Franklin has been working with Spectrum
Health Pennock Chief Operating Officer
Bernard Jore to select the nurses, he said,
who will be paid though one year by the
grant.
“It’s hard to imagine a partner more solid
and capable [than Spectrum]” Franklin said.
Money also will be left over to pay for the
ISD’s current nurse to commit one day a
week to working with BISD or its districts,
he added.
The board voted 4-0 to accept the grant.
Trustee Marsha Bassett abstained, due to
her employment with Spectrum Health.
In other business:- Franklin said he is preparing a presenta-
tion for Hastings and Delton Kellogg school
boards, with a cost benefit analysis and
comparison to other ISDs.
The boards of Hastings, Delton Kellogg
and the ISD met in September to discuss a
potential ISD millage, but members of
Delton’s board said they wanted to explore
other, larger ISDs because of the additional
resources they would have available.
Franklin said if Delton Kellogg leaves,
the ISD would be disbanded, since the state
would not allow an ISD to exist for one
district.
The superintendents of Hastings and
Delton Kellogg plan to give their own pre-
sentations on the options to their respective
boards during their regular meetings
Monday.
“In the meantime, I know that what
Delton has been doing is some field trips,
and some conversations with one other ISD,
at least, who they wanted to know a lot
about,” Franklin told the ISD board.
Franklin went on one field trip with a
Delton board member to see Hastings’
career and technical education classes.
BISD Board President Robert Becker
said he plans to attend a Michigan
Association of School Boards’ seminar on
how to successfully pass a millage as an
ISD. - The board unanimously voted to rate
Franklin as “effective” after an evaluation at
a previous meeting. The rating includes a
merit pay of $500, a one-year contract
extension to June 30, 2024, and a 1 percent
salary increase, the last of which was also
received by all other staff. - Franklin said the ISD’s audit is current-
ly underway, and appears to be progressing
smoothly. He anticipated a written report
from the auditors at the November meeting.
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Become a member today.VIDEO TELLERSDRIVE-THRU ATMIN PERSONDelton Kellogg seniors Austin Blocker and Caitlin McManus are crowned the 2021
Delton Kellogg High School homecoming king and queen during a ceremony at half-
time of the Panther varsity football team's 15-14 win over visiting Saugatuck Friday
night in Delton. (Photo by Perry Hardin)
Hastings seniors Jacob Fish and Allison Teed are crowned the 2021 Hastings
High School homecoming king and queen during a ceremony at the Saxon var-
sity football team’s contest against visiting Jackson Northwest inside Baum
Stadium at Johnson Field Friday night. (Photo by Dan Goggins)But Jackson, who serves with Smelker and
Geiger on the health board, said that resolution is
still in play.
“I think there will be a resolution,” Jackson told
The Banner. “I think there’s going to be some inter-
esting debate.”
“De-funding the health department during a pan-
demic seems to be a pretty bad idea when you’ve
got those people who’ve been busting their ass for a
year and a half and now you cut their throat or kick
them to the curb,” he elaborated. “I think there will
be considerable debate and commissioners will
probably rethink that.
“There have been several legal opinions from
other counties that I’ve researched that have pretty
much all said the same thing: County board has zero
authority. You can put as many mandates and reso-
lutions as you want and they’re all toothless.”
Jackson also said he has found that, “once you
commit an appropriation, to pull that puts you in a
very legally precarious position. ... So, I have some
concerns based on what I’ve read. We haven’t dis-
cussed this among the board yet.”
Leaving the health department would have a huge
financial impact on the county, he added.
“David and I disagree on the financial impact,”
Smelker noted.
But the time involved in extricating the county
from the joint arrangement with Eaton County
would take years, they agreed.
Jackson also pointed out that the state favors consol-
idation as opposed to individual health departments.
“We have been told there are fines and penalties,”
he said. “When people want us to snap our fingers
and break away, this isn’t changing a tire. ... This is
complex. It’s many layers of regulations.”
Also, the primary funding sources for the health
department are state and federal – not the county,
he said.
BEDHD is at $7 million now, Jackson said, turn-
ing to Smelker, “What are we? 43 percent? So,
you’re talking $3.5 million if you’re talking funding
your own health department, which is not feasible
until you jump through all the hoops.”
Many of those who have spoken in favor of split-
ting off from the local health department are not inter-
ested in logic, he said. An example he mentioned is the
claim that Scrimger is operating in violation of the law
since she has not taken an oath of office. But
Prosecutor Attorney Julie Nakfoor Pratt has researched
that issue and advised that no oath of office is required
of any health officer in the state of Michigan.
Yet that false claim is still being promoted,
despite the prosecutor’s legal opinion, Jackson said.
“You still hear it.”
In fact, that point is meaningless and would not
nullify any health orders – but it does fit with some-
one’s agenda. The truth, however, is something else
entirely, he said.
The resolution Smelker made last week is not
dead, according to Jackson, but it raises questions
that need discussion to determine what purpose the
proposed action would serve.
“I hate toothless resolutions, and you have to be
careful what you’re legally putting yourself in for,”
Jackson said.
“The state did it with their budget,” Smelker
remarked.
Jackson replied, “You can say anything. You can
put a resolution together. If that’s what we’re trying
to do is putting a resolution together to make people
happy ... but it doesn’t do anything.
“So were going to wake up tomorrow and realize –”
Then Smelker interjected, “What resolution have
we put together here that made a difference?”NO ACTION,
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