Over the next several weeks, Lapeer Community Schools will pay tribute to many of the Unsung Heroes of the Pandemic. These are the employees who have been singled out by their colleagues for going above and beyond the call of duty to ensure we could keep our schools open for face-to-face instruction. Each Unsung Hero will receive a gift certificate courtesy of our friends at Meijer in Lapeer.

Not everybody is working for the weekend. Many of our administrators, unfortunately, have been working on it for the past several months.

At Lapeer High School, Megan Parks and Kevin Wenzel have spent many nights and weekends contacting parents to ensure everyone who is required to quarantine is notified in a timely fashion. You may have noticed that, often, our public notices are not published until early evening (sometimes later). This is due to the fact that our contact tracing typically does not conclude until hours after the school day ends.

Contact tracing is vital in the fight against COVID-19 transmission. People who have been exposed need to be alerted to ensure they are monitoring their health for signs of infection. Some of these calls have led to positive test results from close contacts — and, of course, further contact tracing.

Have a great evening, they say; Enjoy the weekend, they say.

“Megan and Kevin are a great team,” said one colleague. “They have gone above and beyond over the course of the pandemic, balancing their new responsibilities with the day-to-day job of being assistant principals.”

No school in the District has been hit harder by COVID-19 cases and quarantines than Lapeer High School. As pointed out in other recent posts, every positive case and close contact requires forms and phone calls. Over the course of the pandemic, the District has had nearly 2,000 quarantines from a total of 120 positive cases.

“It’s a staggering amount of work,” one colleague said. “Phone call after phone call, form after form, day after day. We could not have kept our schools open as long as we have without them.”

On behalf of Lapeer High School and the entire district, we express our appreciation for Megan Parks and Kevin Wenzel for being Unsung Heroes of the Pandemic.

Thank you!