News Photo by Reagan Voetberg Alpena Public Schools Board of Education member AJ MacArthur is seen with the rain garden engineering plans rolled up beside him at the APS board meeting Monday night.

ALPENA — The Alpena Public Schools Board of Education voted against implementing the long-awaited rain garden at their regular meeting Monday night, to the dismay of many people in attendance.

Community members, educators, and students packed the Gerry Ludwig Boardroom to voice their opinions and participate in the school board meeting.

During the first public comment period, two letters from community members were read and 10 community members came forward to speak their minds about topics ranging from the importance of the involvement of educators in the curriculum process, the implementation of the rain garden, and the proposed creation of a student physical privacy policy.

During the second public comment period, six of the 10 people spoke a second time and five new people came to the podium.

Melissa Doubek, a former environmental science teacher, said, “I feel that this (the garden) would be a great source for student learning as well as helping them protect the environment, as well as us playing a role in protecting the environment.”

Community member Carol McKay reiterated that the rain garden fits the five pillars of the district’s strategic plan, which she had spoken to the board about during their meeting on March 10.

Before making their final vote on the rain garden, board member AJ MacArthur analyzed the engineering plans for the rain garden and pointed out where the plans were wrong in mapping out where run-off water drains out of the Alpena High School lot. MacArthur said that the water would drain into Mud Lake, and would not drain into Lake Huron. The intention of the rain garden was to keep Lake Huron clean, and he did not see how that would occur when run-off from the high school does not drain there.

Board member Sarah Fritz asked whether Mud Lake eventually drains into Lake Huron, receiving cheers from the crowd. MacArthur said he believes that Mud Lake is landlocked.

MacArthur was also concerned that soil borings had not been tested in the empty AHS dirt lot, so he was unsure whether the soil there would be ideal for planting the garden.

Board member Monica Dziesinski expressed concerns about what the cost of maintaining the rain garden in the long run would be. APS Associate Superintendent for Business and Operations Mary Lyon said she did not know what the cost would be at this time, but expressed that community members would be willing to donate to the effort and maintenance would not be overly expensive.

After discussion, board members MacArthur, Dziesinski, Sarah Costain, and Eric Lawson voted against implementing the rain garden.

Board members Fritz and Eric Hansen voted in favor.

Board President Anna Meinhardt was not present at the meeting.

Prompted by the comment of a community member, Costain explained why she chose to vote the way she did.

“Me, personally, I spent over 80 hours researching rain gardens,” she said. “I’ve looked at good, I’ve looked at bad, I’ve looked at studies that said the expectancy of rain gardens, how much the satisfaction has gone down.”

She said that she read the emails sent to her by community members and researched what they recommended.

Costain acknowledged the number of great groups that were willing to help maintain the rain garden. However, it wasn’t clear to her who would actually help at the end of May through August.

“But in the community, I asked over 100 people at least, and I only had two people that supported it,” Costain explained. “A lot of them were worried that it would end up like Ella White.”

She learned through the board’s workshop meetings that the rain garden would have the most effect on well water. She reached out to the well company and they told her that there is a well at the high school, but the location is unknown.

Costain was excited about students being involved in the project, but after learning that the initial planting would be done over the summer by Huron Pines, she was less enthusiastic about the idea.

“So I know that a lot of you might not agree with me, but I researched a lot about rain gardens, and I came to the conclusion that I just don’t — I am not against clean water — but in that area, I didn’t think that was the right fit for that part of the school,” Costain concluded.

IN OTHER BUSINESS

* Jen Myers of the Alpena Family Partnership presented what the partnership does. The program serves homeschool families in the area and offers hybrid homeschooling options.

* The board passed the motion to award Sehi for the procurement of JL676A switches, J9150D SFP modules, 100-foot fiber cable, and JL675A switches in the amount of $22,852.08 for technological upgrades.

* The board passed the motion to award Vector for the procurement of Ruckus R350 Wireless Access Points (WAPs) and Access Licenses in the amount of $39,000 for technological upgrades.

* APS announced the hire of IT Director Andrew Reinhardt.

* Donations for the AHS hockey team fan bus to the final four tournament totaled $3,542.21.

* There was also public comment about the policies that Board Member Eric Lawson brought forward at their workshop meeting on March 10.

* Reviewed student physical privacy policy from Fairview Area Schools.

* The board has a retreat scheduled for next Monday.

* The board will be visiting Hinks and Besser elementary schools on April 9.

Reagan Voetberg can be reached at 989-358-5683 or rvoetberg@TheAlpenaNews.com.