Bill Saunders, superintendent, Marquette Area Public Schools

MARQUETTE — Amid the distance learning issues that come with the COVID-19 pandemic, Marquette Area Public Schools Superintendent Bill Saunders said the district is busier than ever.

Saunders gave an update on how MAPS is handling the alternative learning plan at a virtual Monday MAPS Board of Education meeting broadcast via YouTube.

“When this first started, there were districts that jumped on educating students right away,” Saunders said. “We were planning for this well in advance, but there’s a lot of wrinkles that come into providing online learning, trying to level that playing field as much as we can across the board.”

The district, he said, also had to address student connectivity and device issues as well as serve students who don’t have internet access, or have parents who work from home, resulting in not enough bandwidth.

Saunders called it a work in progress.

“I think as a district we’ve come together,” he said.

Saunders noted the plan was submitted to the Marquette-Alger Regional Educational Service Agency, which accepted it. The plan includes the use of tools such as Google Classroom, Google Meet, Zoom and email.

Saunders said that about 360 Chromebooks were passed out last week, with over 200 Chromebooks going out this week to students who need these devices.

The district is working to help a “short list of students” get internet access at their homes, plus it’s passing out a lot of paper packets, either for those students who prefer paper packets or those students who live in an area where internet access doesn’t reach their homes.

“Working through all those things, we’re up and running,” Saunders said. “We started last Wednesday with our alternative learning plan. That will take us through the end of what was scheduled to be our school year, which was June 10. Certainly, we’ve canceled all in-person meetings now through the end of the year.”

Saunders noted the district is working on contingency plans for July or possibly the end of June regarding whether some in-person or traditional events will be allowed.

If traditional events aren’t possible through the summer, the district will still work on holding student recognition and graduation.

“All our students currently on pace to graduate will graduate,” Saunders said.

MAPS Board President Rich Rossway questioned whether MAPS would be able to have a graduation ceremony.

“If the restrictions, as far as grouping, are lifted, not just ‘Stay Home, Stay Safe,’ but (if) we can congregate in a group of more than 10 or 50 or 100, then we would look to move forward with our traditional ceremony,” Saunders said. “If not, we’re still looking at some other plans where we could still conduct some type of ceremony, abide by whatever the social distancing guidelines are at the time.

“And again, if we’re not able to do any of those, then we’ll have to use a form of technology to make some of those things happen as well.”

Security upgrades

The board unanimously accepted a bid from A&F Construction LLC, based in Marquette, for $790,863 for this year’s exterior door and security upgrade project.

Saunders said layers of security were added last summer, including an entrance at the Marquette Alternative High School, to provide a more secure environment. Interior door security for the main offices also was added for all district buildings, with people without swipe cards being unable to gain entrance past those offices.

The first step from a security standpoint, he said, involves the district being able to monitor all exterior doors.

“We know if a door’s propped open, an alarm goes off,” Saunders said. “All the doors would be key card now instead of actual hard key.”

Also, doors are able to be programmed as to when they are opened and closed, said Saunders, who added the project is being completed in phases.

The replacement of all exterior doors is included in the 10-year sinking fund.

“Most of that was looking at just doors that are old, worn out,” Saunders said. “Some of them rusted out. A lot of them that for environmental reasons — heating, cooling, those types of things — needed to be replaced.”

Other business

The board unanimously passed a resolution granting Saunders emergency powers during the current COVID-19 situation.

The status gives him the ability to move forward sooner than normal in certain actions while updating the board on those actions.

The board also approved the ratification of a tentative agreement with the district’s teachers’ bargaining unit, the Marquette Area Education Association. The district had eliminated department heads under a budget reduction several years ago, which resulted in an unfair labor practice allegation and arbitration.

Saunders said the situation was resolved with the Monday adoption of the tentative agreement, which involves curricular chairs, not department heads.

“We outlined the curricular functions,” Saunders said regarding the previous discussion between administration and the MAEA. “We outlined the pay. We outlined the work and what the duties were going to be, something that we hadn’t clearly articulated in the agreement last summer.”

Christie Mastric can be reached at cbleck@miningjournal.net.