News Photo by Crystal Nelson Alpena resident Louis Sylvester spins his grandson, Ethan Sylvester, 4, on the merry-go-round on Monday at Bay View Park.

ALPENA — Local school superintendents are discussing health and safety measures to implement should classroom learning return this fall as a statewide survey shows educators are overwhelmingly concerned about whether schools are ready.

To prevent the spread of the coronavirus, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in March canceled in-person learning, forcing schools across Michigan to finish the school year through online and correspondence courses.

While infections appear to be waning across Michigan and most of the governor’s orders have been lifted, the state currently allows gatherings of only up to 100 people and some public health experts fear a second wave of the virus this fall. A vaccine isn’t expected to hit the market until late this year or early next year — if at all.

Alpena resident Louis Sylvester is skeptical schools will be ready to return to classroom education in the fall. Sylvester is a grandparent who spent Monday afternoon with his 4-year-old grandson, Ethan, at Bay View Park.

“If they do it the proper way, I think they should be in school,” he said.

Calley McDaniel, who moved to Alpena nearly a year ago from Oakland County, has a daughter who starts preschool in the fall. McDaniel said she is “a little nervous.”

“I want them to have some kind of action in place, like a cleaning program every day,” she said.

McDaniel noted she feels better living in Alpena than she did in Oakland County, because the Alpena area didn’t get hit nearly as hard by the virus as Oakland County did.

Alcona Community Schools Superintendent Dan O’Connor said the district is waiting for more specific guidance from the state.

In the meantime, O’Connor said, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has released guidelines for schools to consider. He said district officials have ongoing conversations about health, safety, and sanitization of facilities, as well as a focus on instruction.

“I think the biggest thing is going to be we are really going to have to follow our local health department guidelines and the CDC to make sure we have as many preventative measures in place as possible,” he said.

O’Connor said the work has been tough, because coronavirus-related shutdowns drained the state’s school coffers of billions of dollars in revenue.

He said officials are investigating instructional models to help students practice social distancing, which calls for people to stay six feet away from people who aren’t in their immediate family. Masks have already been purchased for district staff.

Meanwhile, a recent survey of more than 15,000 educators by the Michigan Education Association, a teachers union, found 91% think smaller class sizes will be necessary to enforce social distancing. And 62% think current staffing and resources are insufficient for cleaning, food service, busing, and other essential services.

The survey also found:

90% said standardized tests should be suspended until normal school operations resume. Requirements based on standardized tests, such as a new state law that requires third-graders to be held back if they don’t hit certain reading benchmarks, should also be suspended, respondents said.

89% believe standards need to be set and enforced regarding future outbreaks of illness and required closure of buildings.

75% expressed concerns that current practices can’t be fairly implemented to measure educator effectiveness when school resumes.

75% said taking temperatures of students and staff entering school buildings and careful tracking of illnesses will be essential.

74% believe schools should provide and require masks and other personal protective equipment for employees.

32% said COVID-19 has made them think about leaving public education or retiring earlier than planned.

Meaghan Gauthier, assistant superintendent for instruction at Alpena Public Schools, said in an email to The News that the MEA’s survey “does reflect well” educators’ concern about starting school in the fall. Gauthier said APS administrators this week will begin conversations about what is needed for a safe start to the 2020-21 school year.

District officials will seek input from staffers in transportation, food service, and maintenance, from the Board of Education, and from teachers.

“The idea is to begin looking at our big-picture needs while we await the governor’s guidelines,” she said in the email. “As a district, we, too, are concerned about the safety of our students and staff, and we have a few short months to make sure we are prepared.”

Rogers City Area Schools Superintendent Nick Hein said in an email to The News that, regardless of what hand schools are dealt, the district will adapt and do what is best for students.

Hein would not speculate “into things we do not know” as things continue to change.