News Photo by Temi Fadayomi The Alpena Public School Board of Education listen to a presentation on their athletics program during their monthly workshop on Monday at Gerry Ludwig Board Room, 2373 Gordon Road.

ALPENA –The Alpena Public School Board of Education gained a glimpse of the past, present, and future of the APS athletics program as they received a presentation from their Athletic Coordinator Jon Studley during their workshop meeting on Monday.

One of the first things that Studley informed the board about, in his presentation, was the possible upcoming impacts of the names, image, and likeness bill which, if passed, would see student-athletes gain the ability to profit off their name, image, and likeness.

According to Studley, if the bill is passed, individual student-athletes would be able to participate in activities like appearing in commercials for products and services, providing product endorsements, making personal appearances to promote something, performing autograph sessions, being the subject of merchandise and apparel, or acting as a social media influencer.

Studley went over the various points of the bill, which is currently awaiting the Senate after passing in the House. While Studley believes the bill will pass, he thinks it will likely be different from how it is now, but likely won’t have much of an impact in Alpena.

Studley said he is not expecting a large number of kids in Alpena to be affected, but it might affect the bigger schools downstate. Either way, it is still possible Alpena student-athletes will be confronted with the effects of the bill passing.

Another topic discussed during the presentation was Alpena’s football program when Board Member Eric Hansen asked Studley what was in the works to raise football participation.

“What are we doing to promote a football culture in Alpena?” Hansen asked. “I do help out with the Jets (an Alpena youth Football program), I’ll preference that, but it’s a huge program, there’s a huge demand, the kids love it, but they don’t want to play at the high school.”

Studley responded by stating that the APS is close to finalizing a candidate for the football coach position and that said candidate has a lot of plans for the district, some of which do include coordinating with the Alpena Jets football program.

“We’re in the process of hiring a new football coach,” Studley said. “We are working on the final details, and then an announcement will be made … this is a conversation I had with the candidate that we’re looking at right now. He’s got a lot of good things he wants to bring in. He wants to work with the youth program, he’s about development, and I think in time you’re going to see that we’re going to work together.”

The APS Board of Education also discussed several possible revisions that could be made to certain school policies. One of the revisions that board members looked at was in the policy about reproductive health and family planning, where a section stating that parents may sit in and observe instructions was stricken out to be consistent with Michigan Case Law.

Board members, such as Board Secretary Eric Lawson, inquired about ways that said section could still be included.

“Maybe the state doesn’t mandate that we offer that anymore,” Lawson said. “But I think that it’s something we can choose to offer as a district. We should be running, not walking, but running in the direction of parents.”

While the board and APS Superintendant David Rabbidau discussed different possible angles and remedies to the revision, no definitive answer was chosen.