CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The West Virginia Department of Education named its 2020-2021 Teacher of the Year and School Service Personnel of the Year during a virtual ceremony on Tuesday.
Erin Anderson, a fifth-grade teacher at Tennerton Elementary School, and Susan Kirkpatrick, a bus operator with Gilmer County Schools, received the awards.
The state Department of Education held this year’s event online because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Anderson has spent two decades in education. Her focus on building relationships with her students includes starting a running club that holds events after school.
“Apparently, my kids love me, and I sure do love them, even the tough classes,” Anderson said through tears. “Especially the tough classes.”
Kirkpatrick has spent 36 years as a bus operator, but uses her EMT experience to teach first aid to school system employees. She also serves as the athletic trainer for the county’s sports teams; she was at a football practice during Tuesday’s ceremony.
“They’re all excited,” she said over the supportive youth standing nearby.
State Schools Superintendent Clayton Burch noted Kirkpatrick’s work during the coronavirus pandemic, in which she made home visits and contacted students if they did not pick up their meals.
“For some of these kids, coming to school is a blessing for them because that is when they get to see people,” she said. “If I don’t see them out, I sometimes go up to the door and knock on the door whenever they are missing for a couple of days to make sure, you know, everything is all right, if they need anything.”
Anderson will receive a Toyota car to use for Teacher of the Year engagements as well as $5,000 from both Highmark West Virginia and the Horace Mann Insurance Company. Each Teacher of the Year finalist will receive a $300 grant for their classrooms and a Blenko Glass piece.
As for Kirkpatrick, she will receive $500 from the West Virginia School Service Personnel Association, $2,000 from the Horace Mann Insurance Company, a weekend trip to a state park, a Blenko Glass suncatcher, a desk plaque made by Wheeling Park High School students and an iPad.
Burch will meet with Anderson and Kirkpatrick on Wednesday in their respective counties.