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ALPENA — Rumors about students dressed and treated as animals at Alpena schools are not true, district leaders said.

“Is there a child wearing a headband with ears? Possibly,” said David Rabbideau, Alpena Public Schools superintendent.

But, he said, teachers and staff have not seen the barking, meowing, costume-clad students some say have disrupted local classrooms.

At a recent APS board meeting, residents upbraided school officials for not taking action against what they called the disruptive actions of students wearing ears and tails to school. Those students make animal sounds and keep other students from focusing on their classwork, the speakers said.

Such stories are wrong but also hard to counteract, because few of those making the accusations try to learn the truth, Rabbideau said.

“It’s really frustrating,” he said. “People are lobbing these missiles at us and saying, ‘I know better what’s going on.'”

Teachers and school administrators don’t understand how the rumor about what some call “furries” started, he said.

Animal-like ears or tails may violate the dress code, with the possible exception of simple headbands young children might wear as a hair accessory, Rabbideau said.

“It’s crazy that we’re talking about this,” Principal Katie Lee said at Thunder Bay Junior High School on Wednesday.

During a recent visit by a reporter to the junior high, no animal costumes or accessories were seen.

Rumors about students behaving like animals and litter boxes in school bathrooms have circulated the country widely in recent months, many of them furthered by politicians using them as talking points, NBC News reported last month.

Similar stories have circulated about Alpena schools, with adults and some students reporting that teachers will not intervene when alleged costumed students bark or otherwise disrupt classrooms.

“I shake my head and think, ‘Is this real life, that people believe this?'” said Jaime Kurowski, seventh-grade English teacher at the school.

She has not seen students wear animal costumes or act like animals in her classroom, Kurowski said.

School staff members have heard students barking, but, Rabbideau said, those barks were aimed at children accused of participating in the alleged “furry” behavior.

“They’re barking at those students and almost bullying those students,” Lee said. “Other kids hear that and say, ‘Oh, the furries are barking.'”

A health department worker had to inspect Alpena High School after someone reported alleged litter boxes in the school, Rabbideau said.

“For the record, they didn’t find any,” the superintendent said. “Because there’s never been any. And there never will be.”