Thank you to Citizens for LPS / Yes on 4C campaign leaders
Leaders from the Citizens for LPS volunteer campaign were recognized at the regularly scheduled Board of Education meeting on December 10, 2020. It’s important to understand that campaigns for ballot initiatives cannot be run by public employees; they must be grassroots efforts directly from the community. Campaigns are run by volunteers, and they can make or break a successful election.

This group of dedicated people successfully guided the 4C debt-free schools mill levy override to a 57.63% approval, allowing the district to raise $12 million locally to fill the anticipated funding shortfall from the state. This will create and fund a new Operations Fund in the district’s budget that will support operations and maintenance, capital projects, and technology for LPS schools, including charter schools, freeing up general fund dollars that would have otherwise been directed towards these items to be available for attracting and retaining quality teachers, maintaining counselors and mental health support, and maintaining and expanding programming--the very things the LPS community values most in its schools.

All of this is made possible by the amazing campaign committee. Here is a snapshot of their work according to the numbers:

• Attended one teletown hall and 16 virtual roadshows
• Held 9 campaign meetings
• Presented to more than 20 community groups
• Created 50 car magnets, and
• Coordinated over 350 volunteers to
  • ​Distribute 1,500 yard signs and 10 banners
  • Write 5,000 senior note cards and 15,000 postcards
  • Walk neighborhoods to do 20,000 lit drops, and
  • Send 40,000 text messages

These community leaders made passage of 4C a reality, which in turn will allow LPS to continue providing the quality educational experience our community’s children need and deserve:

• Erin Weaver (co-chair)
• Angela Christensen (co-chair)
• Lucie Stanish (registered agent/treasurer)
• Jen Harrison (treasurer)
• Lisa Edwards (social media lead)
• Kayce O’Brien (website lead)
• Monica Fuglei (letters to the editor lead)
• Sonja Nix (text banking captain)
• Maria Fraietta (NextDoor captain)
• Mandy Coates (lit drop captain)
• Alissa Rausch (postcard co-captain)
• Amber Mogg, Heritage High School senior (postcard co-captain)
• Ashley Mowle (rhymes with “vowel”), Arapahoe High School senior (social media)

Thank You to Long-Range Planning Committee
Also recognized at the Board of Education meeting were members of the Long-Range Planning Committee, representing a cross-section of the LPS community with and without children in LPS schools. This committee has been meeting since January 2017, and their work has included proposing the start time changes to more closely align with research about sleep patterns in children, recommending the Board place a $298 million bond question on the ballot in 2018, and working through the monumental challenge of updating the district’s attendance boundaries. It is for this latest project, which took almost two years of studying many variables as well as seeking community feedback and guidance from the Board of Education, that the committee was recognized on December 10. As tribute to the amount of time these community members have dedicated to the betterment and legacy of the district, committee members will be receiving an hourglass memento as a thank you from Littleton Public Schools.

The Long-Range Planning Committee members are:

• Brian Bostwick
• Bill Canterbury
• Brett Collins
• Bob Colwell
• Crysti Copp
• Dave Culp
• Terry Davis
• Ralph Dergance
• Diane Doney
• Erick Hartzell
• Chris Jobanputra
• Karen Johnson
• Lucie Stanish
• Betty Timmer
• Dana Wedlick

Littleton Public Schools is truly fortunate to have such a caring and invested community.