By Stephen Smoot
“Public schools don’t have any representation. We decided that our voice needed to be heard,” stated Kristy Tritapoe.
Tritapoe, associate superintendent for Pendleton County Schools, laid out the primary reason for launching this year of the “I Love West Virginia Public Schools” campaign. She shared that alternative education advocates approach the West Virginia State Legislature’s sessions with organization and focus and felt that the school system itself should adopt a similar strategy to tell its stories in Charleston and also statewide.
This campaign was launched as a positive messaging effort by the West Virginia Association of School Administrators. It is separate from campaigns undertaken by teachers’ unions over the years.
During the 21st century West Virginia’s public school system in many ways has entered a period of transition. Those elements of transition have taken the traditional public school system into powerful headwinds.
First, the questionable shutdowns required by the government during the COVID pandemic created significant academic problems in several classes. Mismanagement of COVID related funds by a handful of systems brought some stigma to the entire system, including those who took a fiscally conservative approach.
Nationally and in West Virginia alike, headlines of teacher misbehavior continue to wound communities and undermine the public perception of dedicated professionals who do care about children and work hard to give the best education possible.
Along the way, the social impact of the opioid epidemic and the decline of the traditional family has shattered the bonds of resilience that formerly maintained households. School systems relied on families to serve as moral teachers and partners in education, but all too often children no longer have these home-based supports and school personnel have increasingly stepped in to help.
Finally, the HOPE Scholarship has made strides in supporting a number of alternative methods of education. While it has expanded opportunities for a diverse population of students, traditional public schools have seen a decline of student numbers as a result. Advocates for the HOPE Scholarship all along have stated that goals include pushing the public school system to better performance through competition.
Additionally, five years after the COVID lockdowns, Harvard and Stanford universities note that West Virginia’s public schools rank in the top 10 nationally in “bouncing back” from the problems caused by those policies, rating sixth in reading and eighth in mathematics.
With discussions about public schools centering on legislative moves, funding, and administrative miscues at the local level, the conversation often overlooks one critical factor: the classroom itself.
One critical component of the campaign lies in bringing the focus of the public back to the core of education, core of education — teachers and students —. As the WVASA states, the campaign “exists to celebrate, strengthen, and advocate for West Virginia’s public schools.”
Tritapoe explained that the campaign goes back to basics on messaging, sharing what public education is and why schools are important to the community. “It is really about the students,” she shared, “what is best for the students.”
The campaign does so by, as the WVASA states, “highlighting the incredible work happening in our classrooms every day,” promoting “the value of a public education that welcomes every child, serves every child, and remains accountable in each community.”
It also lays out “the goals we are focused on” as school administrators.
Focus on the classroom will come as the campaign seeks to “tell the stories of educators and staff who make a difference every day” while championing “the mission of public schools to educate every child, every day.”
Telling the stories also includes conversations about “educational opportunities and responsibilities” while remaining transparent and using tools to measure student success.
The campaign also urges families who support the public schools to share their experiences and student success stories. It also directs anyone towards online resources showing the progress of each school system in West Virginia.
Tritapoe explained that the effort does not only engage in simple cheerleading. She stated that education always remains “a learning process. You have to be willing to learn. You will sometimes make the wrong decision. We all make mistakes” and the job of the school system lies in learning from them and growing from those errors.
The campaign will focus on outreach to educate individuals and community organizations about the schools. PCS will organize legislative excursions for parents and others in the community to share the positive impact made by schools. These have been tentatively scheduled for Jan. 26, Feb. 9 and March 11, 2027, but those dates may change.
“More than just buildings,” the WVASA stated in a release, “public schools are centers of opportunity, connection, support, and community pride.”
