cnelson@thealpenanews.com
News Photo by Crystal Nelson
Ella White Elementary School crossing guard Jennifer Huotari helps a family cross the intersection near 3rd Avenue and Ripley Boulevard on Thursday.
ALPENA Alpena Public Schools administrators recommend the district’s Board of Education stop emergency COVID-19-related sick leave to the district’s employees.
Federal coronavirus relief measures initially mandated employers to provide paid sick leave for absences related to the virus. When that mandate expired at the end of the year, Congress allowed employers to continue the sick leave through March 31, but employers would have to pay for the leave themselves.
cnelson@thealpenanews.com
News Photo by Crystal Nelson
Alpena High School Principal Tom Berriman on Wednesday holds up a bag of vaping liquid, among other vaping products, that school employees have confiscated from students at the high school. He said “it’s just a fraction” of the vaping products the school has confiscated from students since he became principal.
ALPENA Alpena High School Principal Tom Berriman reached into a repurposed business envelope box on Wednesday and pulled out a plastic bag filled with vaping pens, liquids, and chargers his staff have confiscated from students in the past couple of years.
cnelson@thealpenanews.com
ALPENA Students will continue to receive free school meals through the end of the school year.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture recently extended waivers that allow schools to continue to provide meals at no cost to all children through June 30. The waivers also allow parents or guardians to pick-up meals for their children.
The USDA had previously extended free meals through December 31, based on funding available at that time.
Alpena Public Schools Superintendent David Rabbideau said the decision is good news for the district’s students and families.
“We know that students learn better when they are fed, and it is wonderful that the USDA has committed to doing what it can to make sure all students are fed on a regular basis,” Rabbideau said. “Parents should not have to worry about having access to or being able to afford healthy meals for their children. This decision takes that worry off of parents and students and that is a tremendous
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Photo Illustration by Justin A. Hinkley
This collage of News archive photos shows, in the background, firefighters battling the John A. Lau blaze in July, and, foreground, from left to right, Style Wherehouse owner Jessica Krueger in June after J.C. Penney announced its closure, Alpena nurse Katherine Watts in May while helping the coronavirus fight in Detroit, and Lucas Moquin, then artistic director of Thunder Bay Theatre, after examining damage to the theater from the adjacent fire at John A. Lau.
ALPENA When this year’s New Year’s revelers belt out “Auld Lang Syne,” they’ll gladly call 2020 an old acquaintance best never brought to mind.
ALPENA, Mich. The Alpena Public Schools Board of Education completed their annual evaluation process for Superintendent David Rabbideau.
The evaluation assessed Rabbideau’s performance across five main categories of professional practice including community and staff relations. Superintendents are rated at different levels ranging from ineffective to highly effective. Because Rabbideau started at APS in september, the board was only able to address limited aspects of his performance.
The board rated Rabbideau’s overall performance as effective which means he is doing the job well.
The next evaluation will be in December of 2021.
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