News file photo The Alpena Public Schools Central Office is pictured in June 2021.

ALPENA — Alpena Public Schools students will not be required to wear masks in school or while on school buses, Superintendent Dave Rabbideau said in a letter to parents on Wednesday.

APS officials are preparing for an in-person school year, which begins on Aug. 30, for students in kindergarten through 12th grade.

School will be held from 8:33 a.m. to 3:42 p.m. for Besser, Lincoln and Ella White elementary schools and from 8:54 a.m. to 4:03 p.m. at Hinks, Sanborn, and Wilson elementary schools.

Thunder Bay Junior High School students will attend school from 7:25 a.m. to 2:20 p.m. and Alpena High School and Alternative Choices for Educational Success students will attend school from 7:35 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

“Face masks will be a parent/guardian choice for the 2021-22 school year and provided by parent/guardians,” Rabbideau said in the letter.

Rabbideau also stated the COVID-19 vaccine is not listed on the school required vaccine list and that students are not required to get the vaccine to attend school. The district will not separate students who are vaccinated from students who are unvaccinated, the letter said.

Additionally, he said the district will not quarantine students and all quarantines will be issued by the health department. However, schools are required to report any communicable diseases to their local health department within 24 hours. Rabbideau said they would continue reporting positive and probable COVID-19 cases to District Health Department No. 4.

The district will not cohort students in the classroom or on the playground as the state health department discontinued gathering limits for residential and non-residential settings. Students will not need to be tested for COVID-19 to attend school and student athletes will not have to be tested to participate in sports.

Rabbideau said the district will continue to offer a virtual learning model for students in its APS Online option, where students take virtual classes through third-party vendors and would have an APS teacher as a mentor.

APS online students can also return to in-person learning this year, along with those planning to re-enroll with the district, and can call Jeana Bellanger in the enrollment office at 989-358-5015.