Alpena Public Schools leaders aren’t happy with being average.

A consultant this week told the APS Board of Education that a survey found a third of the school district’s staff are considered engaged with their employer. That’s about typical across industries in the U.S. and Canada, the consultant said.

But APS Superintendent Dave Rabbideau told his board that that level of engagement is “not anywhere that we want to be,” and the district plans to increase engagement in part through further investments in training and the development of leadership roles, News staff writer Temi Fadayomi reported recently.

We earlier complimented APS for bringing staffers, parents, students, and residents into its strategic planning process.

We compliment them now for desiring a more engaged workforce.

Engaged staff — staff who care about their jobs, their employer, and their employer’s mission — tend to be more productive, call in less often, and perform more quality work. That’s good for the employer.

Engaged staff also tend to be happier in their work and get more fulfillment out of it. That’s good for the employee.

So APS’s mission to better engage its staff is a good one. If district leaders are successful in that mission, they’ll have a happier staff doing better work for them.

We wish APS well in its efforts.