APS staff, the board of education, community members, and parents all came together to discuss the design and delivery phases of the strategic plan, which was adopted on Aug. 26.

The plan includes five pillars: academics and programs, whole child development, personnel, family and community partnership, and stewardship.

APS Superintendent Dave Rabbideau introduced an overview of the strategic plan to the audience. He targeted the purpose of the design phase.

“The design phase is, we are looking at everything we do,” Rabbideau said. “A big part of that is assessing what we have, doing a readiness audit, making sure we’re all speaking the same language. When we talk about standard assessments, does everyone have the same interpretations of standard assessments?”

News Photo by Reagan Voetberg Members of the School Board at the strategic planning summit Monday night in the Wildcat Den at the high school.

Rabbideau provided statistics to help frame the main issues that should be addressed in the design phase of the strategic plan.

At the last strategic planning summit a year ago, attendees thought that solving staffing issues was the highest priority, followed by behavior, academics, mental health, and transportation.

APS students in third through eighth grade are below the national norm for math on the NorthWest Evaluation Association assessments, Rabbideau said, while displaying the data in a graphic. However, that gap has been reduced since the 2023-2024 school year.

APS students in third through eighth grade are also below the national norm on reading, a gap that has also narrowed since the 2023-2024 school year.

“The overall trend is, we’re moving in the right direction,” Rabbideau said.

The number of economically disadvantaged students has gone up in the past five school years, as has the percentage of Special Education students since 2020, Rabbideau said.

Additionally, the number of English Language Learners has stayed fairly consistent at below one percent.

ACADEMICS AND PROGRAMS

Assistant Superintendent Stacy Moors, K-5 Director of Curriculum Stephanie Piper, and Director of Curriculum Matt Poli talked to the participants about the first two pillars of the strategic plan: academics and programs and whole child development.

They discussed plans to train teachers in teacher clarity and the training that is already occurring.

They also discussed the Great Start Readiness Program license at Besser Elementary, which is a preschool program. There is one preschool classroom licensed and they are planning to license another.

WHILE CHILD DEVELOPMENT

When talking about whole child development, they discussed the different programs that are making a difference such as the ACES academy, restorative centers, and individualized behavior plans.

PERSONNEL

Human Resources Director Michele Vilas presented on the personnel pillar. The goal of that pillar is to attract, recruit, retain, and develop highly qualified staff through delivering systems of mentoring and wellness support.

“We’re talking about the whole person,” she said. “We’re talking about your life at home and your life here on the job.”

Vilas talked about issues with retaining staff and how the schools need to create a family environment. She proposed starting a district-wide monthly staff newsletter to connect staff at all the APS schools.

She called on current staff to let new staff know what’s going on around town, especially those who are new to Alpena.

FAMILY AND COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS

Communications Director Lee Fitzgerald and Alpena High School Principal Romeo Bourdage discussed family and community partnerships.

Fitzgerald discussed building and strengthening trusting relationships with families and partners. APS has strong partnerships with many community organizations such as NOAA, Art in the Loft, and Alpena Community College.

Bourdage talked about the partnership with the Alpena Police Department, stating the APD has assigned a School Resource Officer to the high school who has done a lot of good. He has helped remove stigma with students.

The officer has an open-door policy with kids coming to his office. His number one goal is to be a counselor and a mentor to create relationships with students.

STEWARDSHIP

Mary Lyon, associate superintendent for business and operations, and AHS Assistant Principal Mike Buchinger discussed the stewardship pillar, which includes areas like enrollment, staffing, geography, wants, needs, and sustainability.

They talked about allocating funds and making a plan for things like purchasing new furniture regularly and repairing necessary infrastructure.

Enrollment is a big factor in how much the district will be able to accomplish. Funds dwindle as enrollment continues to decline.

Rabbideau commented that in 1972, APS had its highest enrollment at around 9,280 students. This year, they had 3,606 students, and enrollment numbers are still on the decline.

“We are pretty confident that we will have to restructure the district in some way, shape, or form,” he said.

IN OTHER BUSINESS

The following is all that occurred in the regular board meeting, which took place before the start of the strategic planning summit.

* Ron Worth, Career and Technical Education Interim Director of Operations, updated the board on the CTE program. He talked about activities that have been going on for CTE month this February. Eighteen community leaders and elected officials will be visiting the CTE program classrooms this Friday.

* The board appointed Clergy Bryan Salminen, Health Care Provider Leah Conboy, teacher staff Alicia LaCross, student Colin Hainstock, and parents Erin Andrews, Bradley Matuzak, Bandy Brancheau, Elizabeth Kowalski, and Dan Franzoni to the Sex Education Advisory Board.

* HR director Michele Vilas named all the new hires in the district.

* The James A. and Nancy M. Apsey Trust donated $95,989.55 towards the purchase of furniture for the APS district.

* The AHS Robotics team was gifted a total of $6,900 by local companies. Alpena Buick GMC donated a truck to transport students to attend two robotics competitions.

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