News photo by Crystal Nelson Assistant Superintendent for K-12 Curriculum Meaghan Gauthier addresses the Alpena Public Schools Board of Education on Monday.

ALPENA — Alpena Public Schools students in grades 6 to 12 at risk of failing a class will be required to attend school on Wednesdays when in-person learning resumes four days a week following spring break.

Assistant Superintendent for K-12 Curriculum Meaghan Gauthier told the district’s board of education on Monday Thunder Bay Junior High School and Alpena High School students earning a minimum of one F in a class would be required to attend school in-person on Wednesdays.

The board of education previously agreed to have its secondary education students return to the classroom on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays starting on April 5, with Wednesdays remaining remote learning days for students.

On Monday the board agreed it would also require students in grades 6 to 12, who are at risk of failing a class, to attend school in-person on Wednesdays.

Gauthier said those students would receive transportation to and from school and meals would be provided in school. She said instructional assistants would supervise students in classrooms and teachers, counselors, and deans will offer workshops to provide several breaks for students throughout the day.

“This is not an instructional day for students, it’s a time for them to catch up with adult support on work that they are needing to catch up on,” she said. “For our high school students, that’s semester two work and for our junior high students that’s work at any point throughout the school year.”

Gauthier said there are around 220 students at the junior high school and a similar number of students at the high school who would need to attend school on Wednesdays.

Junior and senior high school students currently attend school as part of a hybrid model, where they attend school in-person two days a week and spend the rest of the week learning from home.

Elementary school students are currently attending school five days a week.

Trustee Ned Health asked if district officials could have transportation and meals for these students, why couldn’t there be a fifth day of in-person learning for all students in grades 6 to 12.

Gauthier said this is not an instructional day, but a day for students to catch up on work and no new work would be introduced to students on Wednesdays.

Heath also voiced frustration that multiple teachers were informing students of this plan last week before the board had a chance to approve it. He was also told teachers were saying there would be truancy issues for students and their parents if they didn’t attend.

“I just don’t want to make this a punitive thing and a threat to these kids who may be struggling because we didn’t put them in school more than we probably should have, earlier.”

Newly appointed trustee Ken Gembel asked what happens if students don’t make the required progress at the end of the school year.

Gauthier said there is a large number of credits that were not earned by high school students during the first semester and if that were to happen in the second semester, the district will have a really hard time getting those students back on track.

“The goal is to reduce the number of (students) not earning their semester two credits and so in the summer we will then focus on semester one credit recovery,” she said.

Gauthier said junior high school students don’t earn credits, but they do earn a grade at the end of the school year. She said those students will be asked to demonstrate their knowledge in any way they can.

“We’re trying to look at multiple ways the kids can catch up,” she said.

APS parent Karen Nowicki-Compeau told the board during public comment she submitted a petition with 72 signatures on it to district officials on Monday. She said the intent of the petition was to gain support for all children in the district to have a choice to obtain five day a week face-to-face instruction by April of 2021.

“By signing the petition, those 72 people acknowledged they live in Alpena Public School communities and want to see the children obtain the very best education that they deserve in the way that they chose,” she said.