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WHRO Public Media
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Virginia Public Media Stations Announce Expansion of
“VA TV CLASSROOM”

Following the successful launch of the “VA TV Classroom” initiative, the program offering is expanding an additional hour to include grades 4-7 in partnership with the Virginia Department of Education. Beginning the week of May 4, Continue to Know with WHRO will air SOL-aligned lessons led by teachers for grades 4-7 across the state.

WHRO Public Media along with its sister public media partners worked closely with the Virginia Department of Education to create “VA TV Classroom” to provide instruction to students in grades K-10 who are unable to access other distance learning options due to a lack of high-speed internet. “VA TV Classroom” launched April 13.

The expanded “VA TV Classroom” will air instructional content from 1-4 p.m., Monday through Friday.

“I would like to thank WHRO Public Media for stepping up and creating this new teacher-led content and to thank Blue Ridge PBS, VPM, and WETA for providing this resource for students while schools are closed as part of the commonwealth’s strategy to slow the spread of the coronavirus,” Lane said. “It is nothing short of amazing that these public media stations were able to create ‘VA TV Classroom’ a few weeks ago, and in another few weeks add an additional hour of daily instruction for students in grades 4-7."  

The “VA TV Classroom” on-air schedule is as follows:
• K-3 instruction airs from 1-2 p.m. with Standards of Learning-aligned content provided by WHRO Public Media. “Learn to Grow with WHRO” segments will be 15 minutes in length and led by teachers.
• Grades 7-10 instruction airs from 2-3 p.m. with SOL-aligned content provided by WHRO Public Media focusing on Earth Science and Algebra 1.
• Grades 4-7 instruction airs from 3-4 p.m. with SOL-aligned content provided by WHRO Public Media. “Continue to Know with WHRO” segments will be 15 minutes in length and led by teachers.

“We are thrilled to expand VA TV Classroom to bring the classroom into homes with teachers teaching on TV,” WHRO Public Media President and CEO Bert Schmidt said. “Much our instruction is now created digitally, but knowing so many students don’t have access to our online resources, we were thrilled to bring this important instruction back to our air.”

“VA TV Classroom” can be seen throughout the commonwealth on the following channels:
• WHRO – WHRO TV 15 and WHRO World: via antenna 15.2, Cox 107 & Verizon FiOS 460
• VPM – VPM Plus
♣ Richmond area: via antenna 57.1, Verizon FiOS 24 & 524 (HD), Comcast 24 & 797 (HD), DIRECTV 57, DISH 57 & 9392 (HD)
♣ Charlottesville area: via antenna 41.2, Comcast 265 (HD) & 1146 (HD)
♣ Shenandoah Valley: via antenna 51.2, Comcast 9, 798 (HD) & 1042 (HD)
• WETA – WETA PBS Kids: via antenna 26.3, Comcast 266, Cox 801, Verizon FiOS 472, RCN 38
• Blue Ridge PBS – SWVAPTV: via antenna 15.2, Dish Network 16, streaming services Blue Ridge Streaming and Project Southwest on YouTube, Citizens Cable 82, Cox 107, Comcast/Xfinity 264, Lumos 17 (Shentel, Bedford, Covington, Glade Hill, Radford, Rocky Mount, Rustburg, Wytheville: 157)

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About WHRO Public Media
Owned by 21 Eastern Virginia school divisions, WHRO Public Media also delivers online educational and new media services to 286,000 students and 25,000 educators per month. WHRO’s digital course offerings and resources including eMediaVA are available free to all: https://digitallearning.whro.org/. Since its founding in 1961 to support education, WHRO Public Media has employed creativity and technology to serve the residents of Eastern Virginia in its mission to educate, inform and entertain viewers and listeners of WHRO’s four public television and six public radio stations. “VA TV Classroom” is available over the air on WHRO TV 15 at Channel 15 and WHRO World at Channel 15.2. View the “VA TV Classroom” schedules at www.whro.org/classroom.

About VPM
VPM provides the best of public media to Central Virginia and the Shenandoah Valley. Through national PBS and NPR programs, local productions and community engagement initiatives and events, VPM uses the power of media to educate, entertain and inspire. Each week, VPM is accessible to nearly 2 million people across the region. VPM broadcasts on television channels VPM PBS, VPM Plus, VPM PBS KIDS, VPM Create and VPM WORLD. VPM also includes VPM News (88.9 FM) and VPM Music (107.3 FM, 93.1 FM and 88.9-HD2) in Richmond, and VPM News & Music in the Northern Neck (89.1 FM) and Southside Virginia (90.1 FM). “VA TV Classroom” can be found on VPM Plus. More information can be found at VPM.org.

About WETA
WETA is the leading public broadcasting company in the nation’s capital, serving Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia with educational initiatives and with high-quality programming on public television stations nationwide, WETA Television and Classical WETA 90.9 FM. Classical WETA 90.9 FM brings classical music, concerts and specials to Greater Washington. As the largest PBS station serving Greater Washington, WETA Television broadcasts on WETA PBS, WETA UK and WETA PBS Kids. Local programming created by WETA Television includes WETA Arts, WETA Around Town, and documentaries such as Washington in the 2000s, Bygone DC, and Neighborhood Eats. National programs include PBS NewsHour and Washington Week, documentary films by Ken Burns and Henry Louis Gates, Jr., and performance specials from renowned venues. WETA also serves the community with digital content that highlights WETA programming and the rich history of our region; creates leading public service websites such as www.ReadingRockets.org, www.LDOnline.org, www.ColorinColorado.org, www.AdLit.org, and www.Brainline.org; and develops community outreach programs to engage people of all ages in the joy of lifelong learning. More information at weta.org.

About Blue Ridge PBS
Founded in 1967, Blue Ridge PBS is the sole public multimedia enterprise serving 4 million individuals in portions of four states. The station's coverage area includes southwestern Virginia and bordering counties in Tennessee, West Virginia and North Carolina. Based in Roanoke, Va., Blue Ridge PBS is comprised of four channels: WBRA-TV 15.1, Southwest Virginia PTV 15.2, BRPBS Kids 15.3, Create 15.4, and Blue Ridge Streaming.

 COVID-19 related services made possible with funding from member owned school divisions,  WHRO members, and the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act).