Dan O'Connor

LINCOLN — The Child Care Back Office (CCBO), Develop Iosco’s childcare initiative organization, announced on Friday that the Alcona Community Schools was recognized as a 2025 Childcare Champion.

The awards were organized by the Early Childhood Investment Corporation (ECIC), in partnership with Pulse at the W.E. Upjohn Institute, and the Michigan Department of Lifelong Education, Advancement, and Potential (MiLEAP).

The 2025 Childcare Champions of Michigan are a group of nine business leaders from across the state who are setting the standard for childcare support at a critical juncture for families, businesses, and state policy.

The school district and its superintendent, Dan O’Connor, was recognized at an event in East Lansing last month.

Alcona Community Schools provides its employees with free before- and after-school care for their children, allowing teachers and staff members to keep their work schedules and access quality free of tuition cost.

In addition, O’Connor continues to prioritize early childhood education within Alcona Community Schools by being an active member of both their local Alcona-Montmorency-Alpena Rural Child Care Coalition as well as the Region 3 Sunrise Side Child Care Coalition.

Alcona Community Schools recently started partnering with Child Care Back Office through CCBO’s pilot program in the Northeast region to explore licensure of their before and after school program; this will allow the program to be more sustainable and even better serve the children of Alcona Community Schools’ teachers and staff.

O’Connor thanked the Region 3 Coalition, led by NEMCOG and Develop Iosco, for the nomination and recognition of the district.

In his remarks, O’Connor mentioned that childcare is an essential service for the community, and that there are less than five providers in Alcona County, with four providers getting ready to retire.

He said that many school staff members live at least 30 miles away from school, and that those employees have reentered the workforce to have a second career in teaching.

O’Connor said it was an obvious need to provide childcare for employees so they can teach students across the district.

O’Connor has worked at Alcona Community Schools since 2006 and served as superintendent in March 2017.