News Photo by Reagan Voetberg Ashlie O’Connor, instructional technology and data specialist from the Alpena-Montmorency-Alcona Educational Service District, is seen speaking to the Alpena Public Schools board of education about the work that the district’s AI team is doing.

ALPENA — The Alpena Public Schools team working on implementing Artificial Intelligence (AI) into the learning environment updated the board of education on their progress Monday night.

The APS board of education held their monthly workshop meeting Monday night. Board members AJ MacArthur and Sarah Costain were not present at the meeting.

Ashlie O’Connor, instructional technology and data specialist from the Alpena-Montmorency-Alcona Educational Service District, and APS 6-12 Curriculum Director Matt Poli presented the updates from the district AI team.

AI will prepare students for the workforce by enhancing critical skills needed in a technology driven job market, O’Connor said.

“We need students to understand AI because AI is never going away in the workforce ever again,” she said.

O’Connor said she believes that AI will bridge educational gaps for students.

“I believe that AI is going to increase equity of all kids and increase opportunities for kids,” O’Connor said. “I believe it’s going to level that playing field for them and give them tools they never have had before.”

Poli said that the AI team is currently drafting comprehensive guidelines for teachers to effectively integrate AI tools into their classrooms and drafting guidelines for students to promote responsible AI usage. Additionally, the team is addressing plagiarism and misuse of AI tools among students and issuing guidelines on that.

Teachers and administrators have been testing out two AI tools, Magic School and Gemini, Poli said.

“We’re looking at some other ones, also,” he said.

O’Connor presented some of the findings of a recent staff AI survey.

Staff have varying comfort levels when it comes to using AI, she said. Many have requested targeted professional development sessions on AI. Educators have shown concern about plagiarism, as well.

Next up for the AI team is administering student and parent surveys.

Parent surveys will be rolling out soon, and student surveys will follow in early spring, Poli said. The purpose of the surveys is to clarify expectations of AI usage and ensure student safety using the collected data.

O’Connor highlighted the importance of protecting students’ personal identifiable information in the process of AI implementation. O’Connor also said there are multiple professional development and learning opportunities for staff coming up in December and after Christmas break.

The AI team plans to finalize policies and guidelines for AI implementation by March 1 and present that to the board, Poli said

“For me, my passion with AI is what can we do when we type into it to produce something better to make better connections with our students?” O’Connor said. “Teachers have so much to do and so much cognitive load, how can we reduce our cognitive load to create relationships with students, because in the end, that’s what’s turning out higher learning, and higher engagement.”

“I don’t ever want it to replace the human brain, because the human brain is beautiful,” O’Connor said. “But what can we do with it to help the human brain feel a little bit more at ease.”

The district’s AI team plans to launch an AI resource hub in the summer.

IN OTHER BUSINESS

— Associate Superintendent for Business and Operations Mary Lyon reported that there were no findings in the district’s 2025 financial audit.

— The board discussed using funding from the Granum Family Alpena Board of Education Fund through the Community Foundation for Northeast Michigan to replace turf on the sports fields. The use of that fund will be voted on at the regular meeting on Monday.

— Poli presented several new high school and junior high courses including Literature Lab, which is a class aimed at building reading skills for ninth and 10th graders with below grade-level reading comprehension.

— Superintendent Dave Rabbideau discussed using Abre to monitor board goals in alignment with the strategic plan. Abre is a system that would allow the board to easily compile and access student testing data all in one view.

— The board discussed board strategic plan goals based on the strategic plan pillars of personnel, family and community partnership, and stewardship.

— Scott Henwood, Lincoln Elementary principal, and Romeo Bourdage, AHS principal, reported on their parent perception data. Henwood said that students feel safe at school, but parents are concerned about the safety of transporting their children to school with the traffic. Bourdage also said that students feel safe at school, and they appreciate the teachers and staff.

— Sarah Costain cannot legally participate in the Superintendent Evaluation at the regular board meeting next Monday due to not completing the required training.

— Rabbideau said that the mice issue at Ella White is being addressed.

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