LETTER: Watertown School Committee Thanks Teachers During Educator Appreciation Week

From The Watertown School Committee:

Teachers do a job that many do not fully understand, yet everyone knows and hopefully has loved a teacher or two throughout their lifetime.

This year we asked our educators to do the unthinkable — to become experts on remote education seemingly overnight, to pivot between plans, learning styles, modalities and pedagogy without everything that usually goes into making those types of switches.

And our educators of WPS did not miss a beat.

From the first day of the shutdown last spring, until the moment this is being read, WPS educators have put students first, have reached into their hearts, their minds, and their depth of knowledge to provide the very best educational experience for all WPS students. While they faced uncertainty and anxiety that we all faced with this pandemic — they stepped up, and they calmed their students, reassured parents, and found ways to both build relationships with students virtually, and provide a rigorous and joyful learning experience as best they could.

The debt of gratitude we owe our educators, our custodial staff, our food service workers, our clerks, and every single member of the Watertown Public Schools cannot be overstated. The amazing human beings who make up the staff of schools have gone so far above and beyond this year, that saying “thank you” feels like far too little … but it is a start.

So to every educator, every member of WPS who has shown up, leaned in, and found the ways to make the impossible, possible — thank you. Thank you from each and every one of us, to each and every one of you.

WPS simply would not be, without you.