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Kent County COVID Relief subcommittee approves $2 million in PPE for schools

Kent County seal
Kent County

The Kent County Board of Commissioners is taking steps to provide COVID-19 funding to county schools for the purchase of Personal Protective Equipment.

Currently, the state is in Phase 4 of the MI Safe Start plan allowing schools to provide in-person instruction with required safety protocols. Some school districts are making plans for virtual learning, others a hybrid of virtual and in-person instruction.

For those districts offering a mix or face-to-face, the Kent County Board of Commissioners COVID Relief Subcommittee has unanimously approved $2 million for the purchase of Personal Protective Equipment dedicated to state required safety protocols.

The “Get Back to School” assistance funding was unanimously approved by a 7-0 vote late last week. The $2 million is a portion of the $115 million received through the federal government’s CARES Act.

Kent County Board of Commissioners Chair Mandy Bolter said, “As schools consider how to reopen this fall, the safety and mental health of our children are the primary concerns of every parent I know.”

The Finance Committee will consider the approval along with a formula for distributing PPE from an approved list. The full Board of Commissioners will make its decision August 27th.

Schools must approve reopening plans by August 15, or seven days before the first day of school, whichever comes first.

I’m Patrick Center.

Patrick joined WGVU Public Media in December, 2008 after eight years of investigative reporting at Grand Rapids' WOOD-TV8 and three years at WYTV News Channel 33 in Youngstown, Ohio. As News and Public Affairs Director, Patrick manages our daily radio news operation and public interest television programming. An award-winning reporter, Patrick has won multiple Michigan Associated Press Best Reporter/Anchor awards and is a three-time Academy of Television Arts & Sciences EMMY Award winner with 14 nominations.