For many years now, West Virginia’s public schools have served as much more than a place where students spend about six hours a day learning reading, writing and arithmetic. They have become a place where teachers and administrators are taking in loco parentis to new levels. They have become health clinics, resource centers, food pantries and clothes closets.

“Everyone in this room, you all have washed clothes at school, gotten a child out of class who doesn’t feel well,” said West Virginia First Lady Cathy Justice during a celebration of the Communities in Schools program Tuesday.

“You have collected food on Fridays to put in backpacks, for them to take home so they’ll have food to eat over the weekends. They know to come and talk to you, and you all find a solution to their problem,” she said. “You go out in the community and you all help them.”

According to a report by the Times West Virginian about the conference for CIS site coordinators and members of the West Virginia Department of Education being hosted in Morgantown, CIS is now in all 55 counties. Cynthia Sorsaia, coordinator in the Office of Student Supports at the West Virginia Department of Education, told the newspaper the program is about relationships, with CIS coordinators playing a vital role in children’s lives.

“They are in there, they see it every day, they know if kids get out of the car in a disheveled way or something’s going on and they’re able to meet the needs that day,” Sorsaia told the Times West Virginian. “It’s not that teachers and administrators haven’t been doing it but they have other things they’re doing as well. A site coordinator can solely focus on what kids need and connect them to those resources.”

With on-site coordinators plugged into a state- and nationwide network of CIS resources, the more than 100,000 West Virginia students who now fall under the program’s umbrella have an additional safety net.

It is no exaggeration that ensuring a student’s basic needs are met and making them feel SAFE can make all the difference — not just for their academic success, but for their very survival to become productive adults.

Those who have broadened the program’s reach to all 55 counties, and who continue to find new ways to strengthen CIS and help it grow are to be commended. Nevermind the photogenic school therapy dogs (though they are important, too), the human beings who make this program work so well for our kids are truly heroes.