W.V. teachers need our help
"This support could make a significant difference in our students' lives, and I am incredibly grateful for any help that is provided."
Morgantown native and prominent Space Gal Emily Calandrelli—soon to be the first woman from West Virginia to become an astronaut—recently compiled a spreadsheet containing wishlists submitted by WV teachers who need assistance acquiring various essential classroom items.
Included in the spreadsheet are dozens of Amazon wishlist links accompanied by comments from teachers explaining the necessity of the items on their lists and thanking Calandrelli for her assistance. Below are some excerpts from those comments.
Beth Roberts is an instructor for the Highlander Health Science Program at Webster County High School, where she teaches 11th and 12th grade students, and says that any support she receives will make a great impact on her students’ learning.
“Webster County has a population of approximately 8,362, with an estimated poverty rate of 24%,” Roberts writes. “Given the financial restraints in Webster County, I’ve put together an Amazon wishlist that includes essential items for my program and needed items for our classroom (…) This support could make a significant difference in our students' lives, and I am incredibly grateful for any help that is provided."
Many of the teachers sharing wishlists, such as Mickala Layman, work at Title I schools in the state. Title I serves public schools with especially high percentages of children from low-income families and aims “to provide additional support and learning opportunities to help children master challenging curricula and meet state standards in core academic subjects.”
“I am a military spouse and I am starting at a new school in a new county teaching 4th grade,” Layman writes. “I just had my third baby and we had to make the financial decision for me to go back to work to support our family. I would love to have the support of others to clear my list in order to provide a fun, engaging, and safe classroom for my students.”
In Preston County, Stacy Jennings teaches students in Gifted classes, a position which requires regular travel across the county.
“We are a very rural county and since COVID hit, our caseload size has decreased,” Jennings writes. “We used to have two teachers for the whole county, but the decline in caseload has led to one teacher being RIF’ed, and now I am the county’s only Gifted teacher. I have always had to travel with my job, but I need to travel even more this coming year, so my wishlist shows that with the storage totes. Anything will help and I appreciate all that is given to our students.”
Shawna Lomasney is an English Language Arts teacher in Morgantown and has been working to update her classroom with more flexible seating to enhance her students’ learning experiences.
“I also have been building my classroom library throughout the years to help encourage my students to read on their own and to grow to love reading with books that center around their interests,” Lomasney writes. “Thank you again for doing this for WV teachers. Anyone you choose to spotlight will be so deserving and grateful!”
The following is a link to the spreadsheet containing all the teachers’ wishlists and comments:
Help WV Teachers
WV Holler links: https://linktr.ee/hollerwestvirginia