News Photo by Julie Riddle Fifth-grade students in the classroom of teacher Brent Birmingham conduct a virtual scavenger hunt of Africa at Ella White Elementary School on Wednesday.

ALPENA — The revised Alpena Public Schools board to be seated in January will unite in the common goal of helping kids, those freshly elected to the board say.

Voters on Tuesday chose Sarah Fritz, Eric Hansen, A.J. MacArthur, and Anna Meinhardt from among eight contenders for four seats on the seven-member board, according to unofficial election results.

Meinhardt already serves on the board, which the other three will join in January.

MacArthur could not be reached for comment for this story.

The winners bested challengers Bruce Heath, Ned Heath, Thomas Hilberg, and George Pena in Tuesday’s midterm election.

Fritz, Hansen, and Meinhardt agreed on Wednesday that the new board should focus on upping students’ educational achievement while connecting positively with the community.

All three named greater board member involvement within schools themselves as key to successfully steering the district in a positive direction.

Though board members may come to the table with differing ideas, the board as a whole can work together to make the best decisions for Alpena schools, Fritz said, echoed by Meinhardt and Hansen.

“I’m positively optimistic,” Fritz said. “We’re all here for the good of the students.”

With the dust of campaigning settling, “Now the work starts,” Hansen said.

Learning the ropes of serving on the board will take time for the newcomers, but he will early on propose that the board intentionally mend relationships with the community, Hansen said.

During public comment times at some board meetings in recent years, residents have challenged board policies about mask requirements, curriculum decisions, gender issues, a proposed health care center at Alpena High School, and other topics.

Some feel those concerns go unheard, with the format of board meetings — at which board members listen to public comment but do not respond — lending to the impression that comments fall on deaf ears, Hansen said.

Meeting rules do allow board members to take steps to respond to those concerns, and Hansen will encourage his fellow board members to make that a priority, he said.

Establishing a protocol that ensures residents see action taken in response to their comments “would allow the board to say, ‘We hear you, community. We hear your concerns,'” Hansen said.

The makeup of the board, as elected, will foster good conversation addressing multiple sides of school-related issues, he said.

Meinhardt agreed. The new board will include retired school staff members, a stay-at-home mom, a farmer, a medical worker, a business owner — “a great representation of Alpena and Alpena County,” she said.

That diversity makes the board more likely to know and respond to the concerns of all parts of a community invested in its schools, Meinhardt said.

Like Hansen, she hopes to see board members increasingly invested in — and physically inside — schools, learning what happens there first-hand so they can make informed decisions in students’ best interest.

To be resilient in what can be a stressful position, board members and boards as a unit have to limit the energy they expend on battling rumors and keep a sharp focus on strengthening and educating students, Meinhardt said.

She hopes community members continue to come to board meetings, not only to share concerns but also to learn how they can invest themselves in the region’s children.

Alpena schools already work hard to give kids the best start possible, but they can always do more, especially as the world continues to throw new stressors at children and families, Fritz said.

The APS board, with its new members, will, she hopes, support programs already in place to take care of kids battling mental health issues and traumas at home, including on-campus counselors and social service workers.

After the division inherent in elections and some resident complaints recently aimed toward the APS board, Fritz envisions a cohesive board that works together “for the common good of the students. And the district. And the schools. And the teachers. And the parents.”

“We’re all here for the students,” she said. “We shouldn’t have private agendas. We should all work together and find some positive conclusions to help our students succeed.”

Julie Riddle can be reached at 989-358-5693, jriddle@thealpenanews.com or on Twitter @jriddleX.