Los Alamos Reporter

Call For Action To Support Teachers And Parents For Los Alamos And Surrounding Communities

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BY KURT STEINHAUS
Superintendent
Los Alamos Public Schools

Greetings from the Los Alamos Public Schools!

For those who were around during the Cerro Grande and Las Conchas fires, you will remember a huge community effort to support first responders and assist local residents in getting through the crisis.  We helped prepare meals, share resources, care for children and even opened our homes for those who needed a place to stay.  Nonprofits and foundations helped, LANL provided funding for local restaurants, surrounding communities assisted in multiple ways, and regional fire departments sent professionals to work on the front lines.

As we get ready to start school in this new COVID-19 world, Los Alamos Public Schools and its staff are now on the front lines.  Parents are also on the front lines. They will be wrangling kids, helping to facilitate remote learning, and may be asked to work at home or the office at the same time.

These challenging times will once again require that we support each other even more than usual. LAPS has been very busy planning educational programming for the fall of 2020 but we are asking for help from the community to ensure that it is a success. Therefore, this letter is a call to action and request for volunteers to assist with: 1) tutoring, 2) providing emotional support for students and parents, and 3) delivering meals to teachers and instructional assistants (IA’s) through JJAB.  We also need people willing to help with student projects or just studying at the kitchen table.

  • If you are a teacher or parent in need of assistance, please send a specific request to JJAB at 505-709-8125 and press 0 or send an email to: info@losalamosjjab.com

  • If you are a community member willing to help with meals for teachers and IA’s or child care for other parents, please call JJAB at 505-709-8125 and press 0 or send an email to: info@losalamosjjab.com

    • If you are willing to work with children on tutoring or child care, your first stop is the LAPS Human Resources Department at 505-301-0621 to get a background check.  You will be asked to pay a one-time fee of $44.

  • If you want to donate resources for teacher professional development, classroom materials, or supplies for projects, please go to the LAPS Foundation website: https://lapsfoundation.com/

This is all about leveraging community resources to support students during these challenging times. It builds upon many of the efforts that the community already has in operation. These efforts include, for example, All Together Los Alamos and the STEAM Lab. We are very grateful for the support we have already received from the community. We have a group of people sewing 300 child-sized masks for LAPS and the Los Alamos Schools Credit Union is working to purchase tubs of disinfecting wipes for our schools.

I’m truly proud to be part of the Los Alamos Public Schools and the Los Alamos community. I hope we can all work together to help our children succeed in school during these especially difficult times.