Los Alamos schools honor staff, name top employee and teacher

Behind every smooth school day are the employees who unlock doors, answer phones, calm students and keep classrooms ready, and Los Alamos Public Schools put that work at center stage with its 2026 Employees of the Year honors. Claire Schappert was named Classified Employee of the Year, while Beth Combs was identified as Teacher of the Year. In a photo from the district celebration, Los Alamos Middle School staff were shown enjoying the recognition event, and Schappert was congratulated by Suzanne Lynne, a representative of the Los Alamos Public Schools Foundation.

The honors carried meaning well beyond a single applause line. In a small district like Los Alamos, the people who keep campuses functioning day to day include teachers, classroom aides, clerical staff, specialists and support employees, and their work often becomes most visible only when something goes wrong. By elevating Schappert and Combs, the district highlighted the adults families rely on for routine, stability and quick problem-solving long before a student ever reaches the classroom door.

Los Alamos Public Schools says its Human Resources department is focused on attracting, developing and retaining exceptional talent. The department also says educators and staff play a vital role in shaping students’ futures, a message that speaks directly to retention and morale heading into the next school year. In a district where staffing gaps can ripple through classrooms, offices and hallways, public recognition is more than a ceremony. It is part of how schools try to hold onto the people families count on every day.

The district has made that kind of recognition a repeated practice. In 2025, Los Alamos Public Schools named Charmine Travers, a first-grade teacher at Barranca Mesa Elementary School, and Bradley Harlow, the Los Alamos Middle School security guard, as Employees of the Year. In 2024, the district announced its Classified and Certified Employees of the Year during an Employee Appreciation celebration at Cottonwood on the Greens on April 19. By November 2025, it had recognized about 83 employees for years of service, showing that appreciation has become a regular part of district culture rather than an isolated gesture.

Schappert’s own history with the district adds another layer to the recognition. She was listed among Los Alamos Public Schools employees receiving 10-year service awards in 2023, underscoring a long-running commitment that the district chose to honor again in 2026. For Los Alamos families, that continuity matters because the quality of a school year depends not just on policy or test scores, but on whether the adults in the building are supported enough to stay.