Keep West Best: Bring Valerie Townsend back to the Parkway West High classroom.

Mrs. Townsend is one of the most compassionate, willing teachers I have ever had. She is warm, witty, and loves what she does. It is hard to go through the day without her, and I would love to have her back

Mrs. Townsend is one of the best teachers at Parkway West! My daughter who is in English 1 needs her back! This is week 6 of losing valuable classroom instruction! Bring her back! Our students deserve a highly qualified and regarded teacher!

I went to Europe with Ms. Townsend and I couldn't have asked for a better teacher to bring us overseas. She is so caring and treated all of her students like her own children. I will always support her as she is an amazing teacher!

She was by far one of the best teachers I have ever had. I didn't go to her class to earn a good grade, although that is important she taught me about life and about how to be the best version of me.

bring her back

I never had the privilege of having Mrs. Townsend as a teacher but I was lucky enough to be able to travel with her and Mr. Townsend to Europe so I can only speak about her as a person and I have to say she is one of the nicest, most caring people I have ever met. You can tell she truly loves what she does and it shows everyday. You only ever hear positive things of Mrs. Townsend. I know she is an asset to this school and it would be their loss to not have her as a teacher. Bring back Mrs. T!!!!

Such a hardworking and willing teacher. Will remember her forever.

One of the best at west

Mrs. Townsend is a wonderful and amazing teacher who is passionate about what she does. Please do not keep her from what she loves.

Mrs. Townsend is so awesome! Her and her husband are both hands down the best instructors and people I was fortunate enough to work with during my years at West.

Bring her back the students need her!

Parkway West would be suffering a great loss if they did not bring back Mrs. Townsend. I strongly agree with a majority of what the other comments say, but the amazing part is the range in age of the students commenting. She has made an impact on students who graduated 8+ years ago. That alone should be recognized for what she brings to the West community.

This is the email message I sent to Dr. Mitchell on Oct. 1st; I stand by every word. Dr. Mitchell, I am writing in support of Val Townsend. I understand that she has been put on Administrative Leave and her position may be in serious jeopardy. I strongly believe that the removal of Val would be a terrible loss for the West High students. My son, Cole had Ms. Townsend for English I (Cole is now a Jr.) and I have an 8th grade son, Sam who will be a Freshman at West next year - I would go to the mat to make sure that Sam has English I with Val - she is that good. She is quite simply one of your best teachers. Cole has made great strides in English and I believe that Val's class was the foundation that has given him the success he has had since. I want to be one of the many voices that is in support of keeping Val Townsend on staff at West High. Please take this into consideration.

I am not sure what the circumstances are behind her leave but I can't imagine any mistake she may have made outweighing the postive and engaging environment she has provided countless students over the years. Mrs.Townsend was by far the most passionate, creative and personable teacher I ever had. To this day I talk about her, I miss her class, I miss the books we read because well she could actually get us to read them and I miss school. I actually just emailed her about 3 years ago just to thank her and let her know all of that. And I know I'm not the only student to do so. School is hard and the honest truth is most teachers don't make it better, don't make us WANT to be there. But she did. And you would be doing that school and all its students a disservice by letting go of the only one there who ever made any difference for a lot of us.

One of the best teachers and role models my kids have ever had!

Former student.

I never had Townsend, but I have only heard amazing things about her. Every one of my fellow classmates both learned a lot from her and connected with her. She was one of the few teachers at Parkway West who made us feel like she truly cared about the students and their day to day lives. I couldn't imagine Parkway West without her.

Bring her back. She's a swell teacher

A very kind and respectful woman. She was one of my favorite teachers at Parkway West.

We all love and miss Mrs. Townsend!!!