[CALIBK12] one of us is in the news again !!!

[Kathy Graves]

Here is a portion of an email I sent to Barbara Jeffus with an idea 
about putting some teeth into getting school libraries appropriately 
staffed and,hopefully, funded.

"we kicked around some ideas for putting some teeth into the whole 
thing and here's what I suggested:

When block grant money is available (e.g. AB 825), that can be used for 
more than one program - libraries, ed tech, deferred maint., etc. then 
my suggestion is:  in order for the district to receive those monies 
ALL of the possible recipients of those funds (library, ed. tech, etc.) 
MUST be in compliance with all Ed Code and Title 5 regulations, and 
that the COE's will certify them on a yearly basis.  If any one of the 
possible recipients of the monies is out of compliance, then the 
district does not get ANY OF THE MONEY until all of the programs are in 
compliance.

I don't know if this would need to be an additional piece of 
legislation, or if the CDE could make it a policy, or what.  Hopefully 
some suggestions will surface.

It is my opinion, also,  that school administrators are pretty much in 
the dark about state rules and regs for school libraries, or, if they 
do know and choose to ignore, then they are part of that group that 
knows nothing happens to them if they aren't in compliance.  It seems 
to me that part of a solution might be educating administrators at the 
highest level, so my suggestion is that, if at all possible, you or 
some of your staff, but preferably you, attend at least one meeting of 
each of the California Supts. regions in the state and talk about what 
the studies show about strong school libraries and increased test 
scores, and what the EC and T5 regs are concerning school libraries and 
their staffing.  Maybe if the county supts. hear the right thing, 
they'll pass it along to their individual counties.  AND, partner that 
with the suggestion above, and perhaps some things might get done the 
right way."

Kathy Graves
IMC Director/Librarian (ret.)
Siskiyou County Office of Education
609 South Gold St.
Yreka, CA 96097
530-842-8427
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