We are starting a program of recognizing people who have had a significant positive impact on Littleton Public Schools through above-and-beyond performance in their job or volunteer capacity. There are so many dedicated people in LPS who have shown how to literally “get things done” during this pandemic. The list of LPS Heroes continues to grow.

The first LPS Heroes to be recognized as part of this program are Melissa Cooper and Mike Porter, recognized at the October 22 Board of Education meeting; and Chardonnay Adams, Becky Hummel, Jared Jones, and Rob Draper, recognized at the November 12 Board of Education meeting.

Melissa Cooper, director of student support services, along with all of her other many important duties, leads the district process of COVID contact tracing for staff and students across the district. Contact tracing is detailed, time-consuming work, and often occurs at night and on the weekends. Her partnerships with local health agencies help LPS keep students and staff safe. Her attention to detail, toggling between her current duties and providing guidance to a system of thousands has been incredible.

Mike Porter, executive director of innovative technology, helped oversee the technology pivot to remote learning last March. He and his team provided support to about 2,000 staff members as well as 15,000 students and their families. Mike was also part of the team that launched the TOPS program, which was a very heavy lift. He and his team integrated new data into Infinite Campus related to boundary changes, attendance during a pandemic, and open enrollment. Mike also updates the LPS COVID Tracker every day, seven days a week, which is an important data set the district pays attention to when assessing student and staff safety. 

Chardonnay Adams, transportation route manager, has worked long hours since July to ensure the best possible start to the school year. Because of the unique circumstances of 2020, she had to accomplish in three weeks what she would normally do in two months. She has also been doing tremendous work with the boundary changes in addition to her normal daily tasks.

Becky Hummel, dispatcher and field trip coordinator, did a tremendous job to get LPS Transportation ready for the school year. Also, over the summer she worked with the LPS Nutrition Services team to help deliver food for families. She coordinated all the drivers for the summer and came in to work to make sure they had all they needed to safely transport meals. She coordinated an excellent check-in system that ensured the proper physical distancing and a smooth, easy flow for employees.

Jared Jones, terminal operations supervisor, has done an outstanding job working with the Transportation training team. They’ve put in so much work on safe hiring and training protocols to use around all the current health and safety restrictions and guidelines. Due to Jared’s leadership and oversight, Transportation was able to hire enough employees in July and August to be fully staffed for the start of the school year. 

Rob Draper, fleet manager, has been working on many projects that don’t necessarily fall under his normal duties. A prime time for servicing school buses is during the summer when they are not being used nearly as much as during a school year. Rob created a safe and workable schedule for mechanics during the quarantine to ensure school buses would be ready for the start of school. In addition to this, he has helped with researching and creating a plan for better accountability as students load and exit school buses. He worked so hard to make sure every aspect of the Transportation department, as well as Operations and Maintenance, was ready to go for the start of school.

We look forward to sharing more of these incredible stories of LPS heroes with all of you in future Board meetings and Newsroom stories.