CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Presidents of West Virginia’s two largest teachers unions say there will be excitement and challenges with the new school year.
Dale Lee, president of the West Virginia Education Association, said there’s nothing quite like starting a new school year.
“What I see is the excitement of our educators, our teachers, our cooks, our bus drivers, our custodians, our aids, and the excitement of students coming in,” Lee told the state Board of Education last week.
Fred Albert, president of AFT West Virginia, said he has traveled the state ahead of the school year and met with teachers getting ready to begin their careers in West Virginia. Albert said he loves their enthusiasm.
“It’s so exciting,” Albert told the state BOE. “I love seeing their enthusiasm, their young faces, and I hope 20 years from now, they will be just as excited as they are right now.”
Lee, while excited about parts of the beginning of the school year, showed his concern on a major issue within West Virginia, saying there continues to be an alarming lack of certified teachers in the state.
“Last year we had 1,705 positions that didn’t have a certified teacher in it, and that could increase this year,” Lee said. “That’s a concern. That’s a fear.”
Lee also talked about another fear, that coming in the form of rising numbers in student suspensions across the state. In 2022, there were nearly 67,000 suspensions, a lot of them being repeat offenders, as the total number of students suspended was around 28,000.
Lee said this this is a problem that needs to be addressed at an early age.
“We need to stop and figure this out at the elementary level because if you wait until they’re in high school or middle school, you’ve lost them,” Lee said.
Lee said it’s up to those in charge to reach students at that young age
“We have to do a better job at figuring out how to reach these kids with their emotional, mental, and disciplined behaviors at the elementary level,” Lee said.
Lee said the challenges the state’s youth is currently facing is much more advanced than previous decades.
“We have to make sure that we reach students where they are,” Lee said. “Our students face challenges that we never thought about 17 years ago when I left the classroom.”
Several school districts began their 180 instructional days last week and more will start this week.