Why is Alpena Public Schools not protecting our public school employees?

The teachers and staff of APS are one of the most important assets we have in Alpena County and northern Michigan. When APS spent over $12,000 on the Rehmann Employee Engagement Survey, I thought to myself, that is a lot of money. I reasoned that this is important to learn, since we truly want to help recruit and retain our strong APS educators by helping them thrive and grow.

So, when the school announced it was bringing Scott Ritsema, an outsider from Belt of Truth Ministries, to the school on May 7 to speak in a program titled “The Media Mind: Reclaiming the Human Soul from the Dark Age” for Mental Health Awareness month, I was shocked and stunned. He is a strong and vocal anti-public-school advocate. He also believes teachers are training our children to be automatons (see his YouTube video titled “SCHOOLED Part 1;” there is also a series of podcasts available on the subject).

While the speaker does have a message for parents that may be helpful, his same message and the level of evidence he purports to use could be delivered by a plethora of others who live in our community. We have great resources right here in northern Michigan. Can’t we find a mental health professional or well-versed religious leader here who can speak and help us learn how to improve the mental well-being of our children?

Can anyone help me understand why APS is bringing in a speaker who bashes public schools and disrespects teachers when they said they were trying to improve engagement?

Should they not be protecting their employees from this kind of ideology in our public schools?

DIANE BAUER,

Alpena