Mold Remediation in East Grand Rapids, MI

East Grand Rapids — Katie Michell sees teaching as something larger and loftier than a mere job.

“I think it’s a civic responsibility,” the East Grand Rapids High School teacher said. “It’s a core part of our democracy to have public educators doing good work. That’s a firm part of my belief system.”

Values are inextricable from education, Michell says. She believes it’s her duty to help her build compassion, empathy and understanding among students, and she hopes the world doesn’t lose sight of the importance of that part of the educator’s role.

“If we’re not teaching people to be kind to one another, and to be kind to ourselves, we’re teaching them something else — a different value — and I’m struggling with what values might be more important than kindness and civic responsibility.”

Michell has been at East for 20 years. She teaches English, American Literature and International Baccalaureate Higher Level Language and Literature. She’s also the adviser for the student-led newspaper, The East Vision.

Why do you teach? “I just like kids. I like the age group — full of energy. They’re just developmentally looking for something to look forward (to) … so it’s really kind of exciting to be on the precipice of something.”

Michell attended East herself. Her mother, Sheila Pantlind, was a longtime teacher and assistant principal with the district, who modeled for Michell just how impactful a teacher can be.

“My mom, she changed people’s lives because of who she was,” said Michell, adding that she hopes she also has a positive, lasting impact on students.

What is your biggest motivator that keeps you excited about teaching? “As educators we sometimes feel the opposite of, like, the night before Christmas, because you’re tired and you don’t want to go in,” she said with a chuckle. “But as soon as I get there and see (students’) faces, there really is the joy of knowing you’re going to make relationships. … As soon as I see their faces, it makes everything fun.”

‘It’s a core part of our democracy to have public educators doing good work.’

— East Grand Rapids High School teacher Katie Michell

What’s the best thing about the subjects you teach? Each subject stands out in its own way for Michell. She relishes the extra time she gets to see students grow during the two-year I.B. course, while American Literature allows her to explore some of her passion areas.

“American Literature I like because it’s such a great humanities course. I can talk about history and movements and authors and intertextuality a lot.”

Teaching journalism is a way to pass along her sense of civic duty to students.

“I believe strongly that journalism is the Fourth Estate, and that without a free press we run the risk of being overpowered by totalitarianism,” Michell said. “That sounds hyperbolic, but it has kept us in check.”

What are some of the challenges in your role and how do you strive to meet them? From large class sizes to changing technologies to the uphill battle of encouraging intrinsic student motivation, Michell says there’s no shortage of hurdles for teachers to overcome.

Building strong relationships with students and colleagues, and taking a creative and adaptive approach to teaching helps her make the most of the challenges she faces.

“I like all the kids. They’re good kids,” she said. “And I love my colleagues. … I love collaborating with people in my department and hearing their ideas and the way we support each other.”

What’s the most amazing thing about your students? “It’s easy to form good relationships because they’re still young people who are looking for mentors, but you can also laugh with them and tell jokes. I mean, they make me laugh all the time. … And when that happens, I think I could teach however many more years. …

“When someone has a story to tell, when someone writes something that I’m just, like, ‘Yes!’ then that’s great.”

What would you say to someone considering teaching as a profession? “It’s one of the more creative jobs that you can do, and I don’t think people think of it that way. It’s a creative, fun job with people who really care. The faculty at East cares about the students, and I know that.

“It’s good to be around people who actually care about people.”

What’s something you’ve learned from your students? Michell says her students have taught her about the “human experience.”

“Everybody’s going through something. We can oftentimes think that everybody’s got it OK, but they’re going through something,” she said. “They’ve taught me about resilience and about grief and about moving on. … That requires compassion on their part and mine.”

How has your job changed over the course of your career? Technology has been a major change, and teachers have more responsibilities than they did when Michell first started out.

“A lot of the technology has been for the better, but it’s also been complicated,” she said.

Anything else? “The community has been really supportive of me. The kids have been great. And my colleagues, the faculty here, (have) been awesome in the 20 years that I’ve been here.”

She gave an added shoutout to Sara Edleman, her department head, who helped her design her American Lit class.

Read more from East Grand Rapids: • Aspiring thespian helps younger students find joy in theater• Democracy in action: Leading Lions tackle Lakeside’s big questions

A powerful line of storms moved across West Michigan Sunday evening, damaging buildings, toppling trees and leaving thousands of people without power.

Consumers Energy reports power outages across the state

As of 10:40 p.m. Sunday night, the utility reports that 192,000+ households across the state are without power.

“The severe thunderstorms impacted over a hundred thousand of our customers, and we appreciate their patience as our crews in the southern part of the state move into damage assessment mode tonight,” said Chris Fultz, one of Consumers Energy’s officers in charge of storm response. “Our crews were standing ready for the weather to leave the state in order to help our customers and have now transitioned into restoration.”

Most estimated restoration times in West Michigan range between Monday and Tuesday. You can check the status of an outage on the Consumers Energy outage map.

Man says he saw tornado form in Newaygo County

FOX 17's Matt Witkos spoke with a man in the Grant area, who says he saw a tornado form, then went to loved ones homes to warn them about the severe weather.

Beach Elementary in Fruitport Township closed Monday

Fruitport Community Schools says Beach Elementary will be closed Monday due to storm damage. According to the district, the gymnasium roof was blown off, and there is significant flooding inside the building. The extent of the damage is still being assessed, but it's possible the closure may be extended.

Winds topple gas station canopy in Oshtemo Township

The canopy at the Marathon Gas Station on W. Main St. in Oshtemo Township was blown over by strong winds. The community's fire department says the business will remain closed until crews can safely stabilize the structure.

Storm damage in Portage

In one Portage neighborhood, strong winds uprooted trees, knocked down power lines, and blew around debris.

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Developers plan to dial back the scope of a mixed-use project proposed on an 8.6-acre site in East Grand Rapids based on “economic conditions” and public feedback, including opposition from one of the city’s former mayors.

Gaslight Investors LLC expects to bring revised plans to the East Grand Rapids City Commission on March 31 for a proposed mixed-use project at the former Jacobson’s department store site at 515 Lakeside Drive SE and 2255 Wealthy St. SE. Gaslight Investors is a venture of developers Scott Wierda and Brian DeVries.

A spokesperson for Wierda said he was unavailable for an interview but provided a statement that said the developers “have appreciated the tremendous community interest” in the proposal and the “thoughtful comments” from the planning commission, city commission and community during the past few months.

“We look forward to sharing a revised concept plan with the City Commission on March 31,” Wierda said in the statement.

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The developers will only take feedback during the meeting and are not requesting a decision on the scaled-back plans.

The East Grand Rapids Planning Commission last November approved an initial concept plan that calls for seven new buildings, including one mixed-use seven-story structure that would be 94 feet high. The project would add 180 units of housing, along with several commercial buildings totaling almost 57,000 square feet.

Wierda and DeVries have worked together as Jade Pig Ventures LLC since 1996. They acquired the property, which is adjacent to Jade Pig’s headquarters, from the bankrupt Jacobson’s in 2002 and twice floated mixed-use projects for the site that included housing. Their plans were derailed by the Great Recession and COVID-19 pandemic, and they constructed just two commercial buildings on the site.

City Manager Shea Charles said in a memo to the city commission Wednesday that the developers are considering the revisions now because of “current economic conditions” and community feedback. He added the changes are expected to include a “scope reduction.”

“We know that they are working on a revised scope,” Charles told Crain’s Grand Rapids Business on Wednesday. “What that’s going to mean, what that’s going to look like, we don’t know, but we do know that it’s going to be different.”

Charles said the city has received “a mix” of feedback on the development since Wierda and DeVries revived the plans last year. There have been a few community open houses and two formal public hearings on the project. The largest, a city commission hearing on Feb. 17, drew a couple hundred attendees, including more than 40 speakers who were almost evenly divided for and against the project.

“We’ve heard a myriad of concerns,” Charles said. “We’ve also had some really good, positive feedback on why people like it, so there’s a mix.”

One of the two letters of support included with the March 17 city commission agenda packet was from Diane Maher, a longtime East Grand Rapids resident and president and chief strategy officer of DeVos-owned DP Fox Ventures. Maher called the project “exciting” and said it will “enhance the community for the better.” She urged the city commission not to “fear” growth.

There were 14 letters of concern in Tuesday’s agenda packet, including one from an emerging opposition group led by Nyal Deems, former mayor of East Grand Rapids from 1985 to 1995. Deems is also a semi-retired real estate attorney for Varnum.

Deems has spoken against the project at previous public hearings. He signed his four-page letter on behalf of “Concerned Citizens of East Grand Rapids.”

Doug LaFave, assistant city manager, estimates that group numbers between five and 20 people.

In an interview, Deems said he doesn’t think Gaslight Investors’ proposal is appropriate for the site.

“It’s too big, and the supporting documents that would show whether it can be put in there without too much trouble and too much negative effect on the rest of the commercial area or residential areas just isn’t there,” he said. “It’s just some developers that want to make a lot of money.”

Deems said he would like to see the residential density scaled back to about 100 units, similar to what the developers’ 2004 proposal called for, with building heights of three or fewer stories.

He also would like to see more detailed parking and traffic studies, as well as a substrate study to prove that the soil on the development site can accommodate heavy buildings. Deems said when Blodgett Hospital was constructed in the 1960s a half-mile from this site, the soil was of poor enough quality that concrete pilings had to be installed down to the bedrock to support the weight, and the drilling caused damage to surrounding residences.

“I happened to move into that area … a decade after Blodgett was built, (and) they were still settling the lawsuits for all the damage that the construction had caused,” he said. “Perhaps there’s more updated ways to put in a foundation in loose soils than there were in the mid-’60s. … But the trouble is, they have no soil borings to show the damage they will or won’t cause.”

LaFave said he thinks much of the community feedback shared so far would be addressed in the more detailed final site plan review stage, which isn’t expected until next year. Generally speaking, if the developers want to intensify the density, the concept plan would need to go back before the planning commission, he said.

“If it’s less intense (than what) the planning commission approved, then our process would allow that (concept plan) to stay at the city commission level,” LaFave said, noting it’s important to avoid rushing through this “iterative” process.

“(We want) to make sure that everyone’s heard, and that there’s plenty of time to think things through, to engage the community, so there’s no rush,” he said. “We think that will help us, and the developer down the line with whatever happens or doesn’t happen.”

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