It’s up to our entire community to work together and support our children’s education, regardless of the choice families have made regarding the 2020-21 school year. Whichever option families have selected, we must all work together once classes begin on Sept. 8.

Alpena Public Schools is offering three different options: 1.) learning at school, with live teachers in a familiar setting; 2.) learning online, in an independent online learning environment, or 3.) learning at home, with support from the Alpena Family Partnership.

There is no doubt about it, education is going to be different this fall. Daily and weekly schedules; transportation; teaching and learning activities; personal responsibilities; accountability; mealtimes, extracurriculars and more will be different.

Everyone in the community can work together to help keep our students safe, while at the same time providing quality and meaningful experiences in a variety of settings.

Each member of our community, regardless of age, can support our students and staff by following guidelines: maintaining appropriate social distances and wearing a mask when out in public, washing hands frequently, avoiding touching your face, staying home and avoiding others if any symptoms appear. Working together we can keep our children safe, and set positive examples for the young people who are watching.

As classes begin on Sept. 8, everyone at Alpena Public Schools is working to protect our young people, but everyone must be mindful that students are in the district’s care for only a few hours a day, for a maximum of five days a week. Others in the community can contribute to keeping students healthy when they are at home, shopping, attending family gatherings, visiting neighbors, enjoying sport and recreational events, eating out, visiting neighbors, and more.

Working together, we can all contribute to a healthy and successful school year.

GORDON SNOW,

Alpena