ELKVIEW, W.Va. — The West Virginia Association of School Administrators will meet Tuesday to discuss its new “I Love WV Public Schools” campaign, which aims to celebrate the students, staff, families and communities that make public education a cornerstone of the Mountain State.
The WVASA executive committee will meet at Herbert Hoover High School at 10 a.m. Tuesday to provide details about the campaign.
Kanawha County Schools Superintendent Paula Potter briefly discussed the campaign during Monday’s Kanawha County Board of Education meeting.
She told board members the campaign highlights the positive aspects of public education.
“We’re doing a straight effort to make a unified approach to why we love public school, we aren’t going to focus on anything negative, we believe in what we do and we believe in our school system as a state,” Potter said.
According to a WVASA release, the campaign will highlight the countless stories that define public education, including those from teachers, staff, student successes, community partnerships and lifelong connections.
Potter said the campaign is exciting and hopes it will reach other counties in the future.
“We’re really excited about allowing people to support public ed, instead of feeling like they can’t and we’re also organizing to have every county represented each day at the legislative session this year with their ‘I Love Public Education’ shirts on,” she said.
County school systems have lost thousands of students in recent years. Experts believe it’s due to a number of factors, including population and school choice options. There have been calls for a reworking of the state school aid funding formula.
State School Board President Paul Hardesty told reporters two weeks ago there could be as many as 20 additional schools close next year because of the loss of student population. House Democrats have called for Gov. Patrick Morrisey to bring lawmakers into special session to deal with the issue. Morrisey said last week he was willing to talk with state school board members.