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WHRO tells Poquoson board its educational services deliver high return on investment
Summary
The president and CEO of WHRO Public Media presented the station’s services and said Poquoson’s $7,000 investment in 2024–25 returned $681,000 in direct and indirect benefits, and described eMedia VA and other instructional resources available to divisions and families.
Bert Schmidt, president and CEO of WHRO Public Media, presented an annual impact statement to the Poquoson City School Board on Oct. 21, outlining services the public media organization provides to K–12 educators across the region.
Schmidt said WHRO is the nation’s only public media station owned by a collaboration of K–12 school divisions and that Poquoson is one of 21 divisions that hold the license. He highlighted eMediaVA, a digital repository of nearly 100,000 instructional resources aligned to Virginia Standards of Learning, and described WHRO’s online courses, student advisory board, literacy and STEM outreach (including in‑school education bands), and a PBS Kids writers contest.
In an executive‑summary figure Schmidt quoted from the impact statement, he said Poquoson City Public Schools invested $7,000 in WHRO services during the 2024–25 school year and received direct and indirect benefits valued at $681,000 — a return of $96 for every dollar invested.
Board members asked whether parents and homeschoolers can access WHRO resources from home. Schmidt said much of eMediaVA is available at emediava.org and that access requires a Virginia account for some materials because WHRO secured rights for Virginia. He said online courses are provided to the division and used at the division’s discretion.
"A Poquoson City Public Schools invested $7,000 in WHRO services during the 24–25 school year and received direct and indirect benefits valued at $681,000, a return of $96 for every dollar invested," Schmidt said.
Schmidt offered to answer further questions and pointed board members to the printed impact statement provided at the dais.
