CHARLESTON – As the new school year starts, WVEA is asking the public to thank West Virginia educators for all they did to reimagine public schools during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Let’s face it, 2020 was a challenging year,” said WVEA President Dale Lee.  “West Virginia public school educators came together to do amazing things. We want to make sure their selfless and tireless support for our students, families and communities during this COVID-19 pandemic is noticed, honored and appreciated.”

“Public school educators taught parents how to teach their students, drove thousands of miles to deliver food, resources and to simply make sure families were ok. West Virginia educators belong to their communities and they went above and beyond to reimagine public schools for our students,” he said, adding “through it all, they also paid tribute to those we lost: educators, students, parents, families and friends.”

WVEA is asking everyone to thank public school educators in person for their caring support and expertise in a campaign called “We Did All This, Together.”  WVEA is asking students, parents and community members to thank public educators online using the hashtags #ThankYouEducators, #WeDidThisTogether and #IamWVEA.  There will be a series of videos and social media posts shared over the next several weeks.  See the first video here and posts on WVEA’s Facebook, Instagram and Twitter accounts.

“We did all this, together. And we’ll face this year’s challenges together, too,” Lee said. “We have great hope for what we can accomplish together this school year and beyond. Let’s be safe out there and have a fantastic year!”