News Photo by Crystal Nelson Alpena Public Schools Assistant Superintendent for Instruction Meaghan Gauthier on Monday addresses the board of education about a newly proposed project based learning course.

ALPENA — The Alpena Public Schools Board of Education will allow the development of a newly proposed history course to continue and will make a final determination at a future date about whether students will be able take the class next year.

The Perspectives of Democracy course was proposed to the board’s Curriculum and Finance Committee earlier this month, where two of the committee’s three members had concerns with the course.

Two board members voiced concern about the new course earlier this month. Vice President Stacey Parr was concerned about how the new course would impact the high school’s advanced placement program.

Board member Eric Lawson previously inquired why teachers changed the course title from Perspectives of Democracy or Constitutional Perspectives and what made that title so divisive.

Lawson said on Monday he has since seen the Michigan standards on American history and also received information from one of the teachers developing the course and is comfortable the information presented to students will be thorough and appropriate.

“I cannot apologize for being both hypervigilant and hypersensitive about course content and standards, given the extreme political bias that exists in many districts around the country,” he said.

Board member Tom Hilberg said he hopes concerns raised by the English and Social Studies departments will be taken into account when the course is developed.

The course is being designed by Alpena High School Teachers Bill Bright and Amy Brownridge, with the help of an instructional coach. It would focus on how democracy works, why it works, and what it means to be a citizen in today’s world.

The course would be a continuation of two other project-based learning classes offered to ninth- and 10th-graders and would integrate English and history standards required by the state.

Parr said she heard from numerous community members and wanted to emphasize teachers would not be teaching new content, but would be teaching content that is already in place.

“My concern during the committee meeting was to make certain that we were involving all members of the departments,” Parr said. “As Meaghan mentioned, there was some concern on their part, and so, as we move forward, this needs to be an open process that involves all of those individuals.”

Assistant Superintendent for Instruction Meaghan Gauthier said the teachers will now get started on course development with the instructional coach while administrators can work through some of the concerns that were raised.

Gauthier said teachers would present their course outline to the board in either March or April.

“This would not be a fully developed course that they’ll bring you — it takes a lot of time,” Gauthier said. “It would be a course outline with brainstorms for projects and brainstorms for community partners.”

Board President Gordon Snow said the course is meant to be another option for students.

The board on Monday also:

*Awarded a little over $1.3 million in contracts so bond-related renovations can begin at Besser, Lincoln & Wilson schools. The renovations are part of the district’s bond measure that was approved by voters last spring.

The contracts for all three schools were awarded to Meridian Contracting for general trades, Weinkauf Plumbing and Heating for plumbing and HVAC work, and John’s Electric Inc. for electrical work.

TRC Roofing will complete the roof work at Wilson Elementary School, MacArthur Construction for sitework at Lincoln and Wilson elementary schools, and the Bay City-based Pyramid Paving for asphalt paving at Lincoln and Wilson.

*Agreed to extend COVID-19 related sick leave to employees through the end of the school year. Previous legislation that allowed for COVID-19 related sick leave expired on Dec. 31. Superintendent David Rabbideau said district officials changed their recommendation to give employees 80 hours or 10 days of COVID-19 related sick leave after hearing from employees, and talking to other school administrators in Michigan.

The COVID-19 related sick leave is retroactive starting Jan. 1, according to Executive Director for Human Resources and Employee Relations Matt Poli.

*The board has scheduled a retreat for 5:30 p.m. Feb. 1 on the online video conferencing software Zoom. Visit Zoom.com to attend the meeting online, enter the meeting identification number 87334758233 and enter the password apsboe.

*The next regular meeting of the board is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Feb. 15 on Zoom.