News Photo by Crystal Nelson Meaghan Gauthier, Alpena Public Schools assistant superintendent for instruction, talks about the district’s back-to-school plan during a community forum on Monday at Alpena High School.

ALPENA — Alpena Public Schools administrators want parents to decide by mid-August how their kids will attend school in the fall, officials said during a community forum on Monday at Alpena High School.

In addition to face-to-face learning, students can be homeschooled by their parents or attend classes online, although online classes are not taught by APS teachers.

The new school year is scheduled to begin on Aug. 31.

District officials are working to wrap up the details of their plan, which is expected to be considered by the district’s Board of Education on Aug. 13, submitted to the Alpena-Montmorency-Alcona Educational School District on Aug. 15, and then to the Michigan Department of Education on Aug. 17. Knowing how many students will be in the school buildings will help them formalize those plans, officials said.

Meaghan Gauthier, the district’s assistant superintendent for instruction, said officials have yet to finalize the specifics of how the school day will look for parents who choose in-person education.

However, the district’s proposed plan includes elementary school students attending classes five days a week and students at the junior high and high schools split into two groups, with each group attending school two days a week.

Sanitizing will occur every night and a deep clean of the school buildings is expected to occur on Wednesdays, when students would learn online.

“A way to look at it is, we can never guarantee that we are going to mitigate 100% of risk … but what we can do is put in a strategy that is powerful, that will help us mitigate our risk,” Gauthier said.

Officials are still determining the start time for elementary school students and whether they will have a shorter day. They are also determining which days students at the junior high and high school will attend school.

Those students could attend school in two groups, with the first attending Mondays and Thursdays and the second attending Tuesdays and Fridays. Another option would be for one group to attend school on Mondays and Tuesdays and the other on Thursdays and Fridays.

Elementary students will be expected to “mask when they move,” with masks taken off only when they are seated at their desks. Junior high and high school students will be required to wear masks while they are in the building.

Masks will be provided to students, but they can bring and wear their own masks, as long as they’re laundered each day, as recommended by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

According to the proposed plan, visitors and parents will not be allowed into the schools, with the exception of parents of preschool, kindergarten, and first-grade students during the first week of school.

Whether students can attend school depends on how active coronavirus is in the region.

When in school, students will wash their hands and use sanitizer frequently. Matt Poli, the district’s interim executive director for human resources and labor relations, said handwashing will be more important than sanitizing, and suggested parents make handwashing part of their daily routine.

Masks will also be provided to children as they board the bus, when they will also sanitize their hands. Windows will be partially open as weather permits and students will dispose of their masks before exiting the bus in the afternoon.

The district is unable to space students six feet apart on buses, but will space them as far apart as possible. Students will be required to face forward in their seat as they’re being transported to school.

District officials are still working on protocols for if a student or staff member begins to exhibit symptoms while in school.

Crystal Nelson can be reached at 989-358-5687 or cnelson@thealpenanews.com.