[CALIBK12] Support the SKILLs Act: Do it for kids!

Mon Jul 9 16:02:20 PDT 2007

Yea!!

Thanks Sandy and all the great School Library Lobbyists out there!

My emails are off to Schiff, Boxer, and Feinstein, and I urge everyone not only to contact their Senators and Representatives but to contact everyone they know around the country and ask them to contact their representatives in the House and Senate about the SKILLs Act, even and especially if they are not library media specialists. Supporting a nation of information literate learners benefits everyone! Also, contact, if not your district- mine categorically won't support anything, then, the teachers in your district and any students that you might see or reach this time of year. We have very able and outspoken Juniors and Seniors who are new (or soon to be new) voters.

Two Questions to more experienced and informed lobbyists:

Is it bad form to email, FAX, and snail mail? Should I only contact one way, one time or send in every format?

Tuesday June 26 was a great date. Did our fellow school library activists in Rhode Island, Mississippi, Arizona, and Michigan coordinate the introduction of the bill with their Senators and Representatives to coincide with Library Day on the Hill at ALA or did the bill come out of those visits?... although how it could have begun and materialized on the same day is beyond me. Does anyone know the story behind the introduction?

Thanks for the info,

Beth

Beth Olshewsky
bolshewsky at earthlink.net
District Librarian
San Marino Unified School District
"Love does not dominate; it cultivates."
- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

----- Original Message ----- 
From: Sandy Schuckett 
To: CALIBK12
Sent: 7/6/2007 1:18:37 PM 
Subject: [CALIBK12] Support the SKILLs Act: Do it for kids!

Hello Calibbers!  I was very pleased to see posts from JoEllen, Jackie, Tom, Connie and others regarding supporting the SKILLs Act.  I'm adding my voice to the mix. We need co-sponsors in the House and Senate for H.R. 2864 and S. 1699.

NCLB, no matter what you feel about it, WILL pass, and this is our opportunity to get a strong amendment for certificated librarians in every K-12 school into the language of the Act.  The more co-sponsors who sign on to the SKILLs Act, the more it has a good chance of passing.

Our goal should be to get EVERY California U.S. Rep., Democrats and Republicans alike, plus our two U.S. Senators, to sign on to these bipartisan-authored bills.  Now is the time for us to INUNDATE members of Congress with messages asking them to sign on. Now we can create the same reaction we got from our state legislators in 1998 when we mounted a huge campaign for school library funding, i.e.: "Tell the school librarians to stop writing -- we get it!" They 'got it' and we won. Now is the time to do it again.

Scroll down to the message forwarded below from the ALA Washington Office.....It contains all of the details and talking points you need. Please read them and then go to the bottom of the ALA message, and click on the link to the Legislative Action Center. This will provide you with a direct link to your Congress reps. and Senators, and you can compose your message right there and send it.  Please also ask them to notify you when they have signed on, and let me know when this happens. It will only take about 5 minutes of your time.

Political action works -- but only when you do it.  Do it now! Do it for kids!! Remember: YOU Have the Power!!  

(forwarded message follows)

ss
Sandy Schuckett
California School Library Assn.
Liaison to CTA
2312 Claremont Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90027
323-665-9811
aq061 at lafn.org 
----- Original Message ----- 
From: ALAWASH E-MAIL 
To: ala-wo at ala.org 
Sent: Thursday, June 28, 2007 9:15 AM
Subject: [ALAWON] Support the SKILLs Act: Co-sponsors needed for S. 1699 and H.R. 2864. 

American Library Association
Washington Office Newsline

ALAWON
Volume 16, Number 074
DATE : June 28, 2008

Support the SKILLs Act: Urge your Senators to co-sponsor S. 1699 and your Representative to co-sponsor H.R. 2864.  

On Tuesday June 26, Senators Jack Reed (D-RI) and Thad Cochran (R-MS) and Representatives Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) and Vernon Ehlers (R-MI) introduced the Strengthening Kids’ Interest in Learning and Libraries (SKILLs) Act that guarantees students across America will be served by highly qualified, state-certified school library media specialists and will have the library resources they need to succeed.

The SKILLs Act:

Requires school districts, to the extent feasible, to ensure that every school within the district employs at least one highly qualified school library media specialist in each school library; 
Defines highly qualified school library media specialists as those who have a bachelor’s degree and have obtained full state certification as a school library media specialist or passed the state teacher licensing examination, with state certification in library media in such state; 
Establishes as a state goal that there be at least one highly qualified school library media specialist in every public school no later than the beginning of the 2010-2011 school year;
Broadens the focus of training, professional development, and recruitment activities to include school library media specialists; 
Ensures that funds will serve elementary, middle, and high school students; and 
Requires books and materials to be appropriate for and engage the interest of students in all grade levels and students with special learning needs, including English language learners.

Urgent Action Needed: 

This legislation is critical to the future of school library media specialists. Contact your Senators and ask them to cosponsor S. 1699.  Contact your Representative to co-sponsor H.R. 2864.  

Talking Points:

Multiple studies have affirmed that there is a clear link between school library media programs that are staffed by a school library media specialist and student academic achievement.  Across the United States, research has shown that students in schools with good school libraries learn more, get better grades, and score higher on standardized test scores than their peers in schools without libraries. 
Long regarded as the cornerstone of the school community, school libraries are no longer just for books. Instead, they have become sophisticated 21st century learning environments offering a full range of print and electronic resources that provide equal learning opportunities to all students, regardless of the socio-economic or education levels of the community – but only when they are staffed by school library media specialists trained to collaborate with teachers and engage students meaningfully with information that matters to them both in the classroom and in the real world. 
Only about 60 percent of our school libraries have a full-time, state-certified school library media specialist on staff. 
With limited funding and an increased focus on school performance, administrators are trying to stretch dollars and cut funds across various programs to ensure that maximum resources are dedicated to improving student academic achievement. 
Because NCLB does not highlight the direct correlation between school library media specialists and increased student academic achievement, library resource budgets are increasingly being used to mitigate the effects of budgetary shortfalls.

Click here or the logo above to:

Jump to ALA's Legislative Action Center
See what library legislation is hot
Send a letter or fax to Congress
U.S. Capitol switchboard 202-225-3121
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