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Letters to the Editor

Helping children or flipping burgers

At the August Alpena Public Schools board meeting, many instructional aides attended to voice their dissatisfaction of how they were treated during a staff meeting. As of Aug. 31, they had 107 instructional assistants, with 27 vacant positions. The instructional aides were asked to help recruit new employees. The aides expressed concern about low pay and unreasonable demands due to staff shortage. An instructional aide who had been with the school system 30 years loves her job, her students and the staff. She has accumulated 80 days of paid leave, but can't use her time off due to ...

Parent Groups Alive and Well

We are writing as President of the Parent Advisory Council (PAC) at Besser Elementary and President of the Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) at Ella White Elementary in response to the recent suggestion in a Letter to the Editor that Alpena schools should “bring back PTAs.” In fact, parent groups are alive and well across the Alpena district. Historically, all parent groups at all of the schools serve as a bridge between parents and the school. We organize fundraisers, coordinate volunteer efforts, and host a forum where parents’ voices can be heard. ALL schools have monthly ...

A Warm and Friendly Port

A few years into the new airport terminal now and the interior is still about as sterile and stark a public space as can be imagined. The contrast with Pellston is startling. Pellston says “Welcome to Northern Michigan and all we have to offer: and Alpena says “You have arrived in Anytown, USA. There is nothing special here.” This would seem to be a perfect blank canvas for our various civic organizations and businesses to display what Alpena is all about and educate visitors about the community and local region. Instead we have bare walls and open floor space. Decent ...

APS Board Critics Are Leaving Out The Facts

There’s been a lot of noise around the APS board lately, and I get it, change makes people uncomfortable. But what some folks aren’t saying is that this board has actually been asking the hard questions no one else wanted to ask. And honestly, it’s about time. For too long, things just got rubber-stamped with little thought. Test scores have been dropping, and no one seemed willing to admit the system wasn’t working. This board is finally pushing back and trying to do what’s best for district, students, and the community — not just what’s easy. Take the rain garden, for ...

What Workers Need!

Workers deserve fair pay, safe working conditions, affordable health care and the freedom to retire with dignity. We deserve the right to join unions that give workers a voice; an economy that works for all families, not only the wealthy; and a democracy where every voice is heard and every vote counts. Workers and families deserve fully funded public schools that are safe, welcoming, relevant and engaging, as well as higher education that is accessible, affordable and free from political intrusion. President Donald Trump campaigned on making life better and more affordable for ...

Test Scores Don’t Tell the Whole Story

I want to address recent school board conversations around test scores, specifically the M-STEP, and the concern that these results warrant greater micromanagement of our schools. I’d like to offer some context and perspective as a former Title I teacher. M-STEP is a once-a-year assessment. It provides a snapshot, not a full picture. Educators are doing the real, day-to-day work of identifying and supporting students who are struggling. There is regular collaboration using data from NWEA and DIBELS assessments, tests that give us more timely, actionable information, to make sure ...