[CALIBK12] A timid commentary

[Stephen Krashen]

This certainly is a timid commentary, considering that it might be the death of CAlifornia's library system, already poorly supported, especially in light of the growing and now overwhelming evidence supporting libraries. 


--- On Thu, 3/12/09, Sandy Schuckett <aq061 at lafn.org> wrote:

> From: Sandy Schuckett <aq061 at lafn.org>
> Subject: [CALIBK12] AL Online article -- complete text
> To: "CALIBK12" <calibk12 at lists.sjsu.edu>
> Date: Thursday, March 12, 2009, 11:47 AM
> Here's the complete article:
> It's Pink-Slip Season for California's School
> Librarians
> In what seems to have become an annual spring rite in the
> Golden State, school boards throughout California have been
> issuing layoff notices to school library media specialists,
> as well as other educators and support staff, to ensure that
> the districts meet the March 15 notification deadline
> mandated by the state education code. With an $8.4-billion
> drop in state support to K-12 schools and higher education
> through June 30, 2010, the California Teachers Association
> estimated in early March that some 17,800 preliminary layoff
> notices would be issued to its members; 10,000 were sent in
> 2008.
> 
> "Please, please reconsider some other options that are
> open to you," Modesto Teachers Association President
> Charlie Young urged school board members March 2 before the
> board voted 5-1 to cut 8.5 library media teachers and eight
> library assistants. Also scheduled for reduction in force to
> narrow an estimated deficit of $11.3 million through July
> 2010 are college counselors and K-6 music teachers. "It
> has been no easy task," Superintendent Arturo Flores
> told attendees, according to the March 3 Modesto Bee.
> 
> The library cuts to the Modesto City Schools are
> particularly ironic in light of the $506,048 Improving
> Literacy through School Libraries grant MCS recently
> received for staff development and materials purchases. The
> district website explains that the funds enabled K-6 library
> media teachers and library assistants-many of whom are now
> on the chopping block-to develop standards-based lessons
> intended to help MCS close the achievement gap of its
> English-language learners, a districtwide strategic goal.
> 
> "The effect of these drastic cuts in personnel will be
> the undoing of one of the state's premier library
> programs," MCS Library Media Teacher Cindy Bender wrote
> in a letter published in the March 10 Bee. Serving two
> elementary schools prior to the cuts, Bender noted that the
> FY2010 reductions would result in the remaining MCS school
> library staff being "expected to serve five or more
> schools weekly" and eliminate media-center visits for
> "our youngest students, those whose literature
> development is most important."
> 
> Among the other school districts where library media staff
> have been notified that they are on the layoff list are:
> 
>   a.. Corona-Norco Unified School District, whose board
> approved March 3 the issuing of pink slips to its five
> high-school teacher-librarians; 
>   b.. Las Virgenes Unified School District, which okayed
> layoff notices March 3 to all six school librarians and
> announced plans to merge media-center duties with technology
> support for classroom teachers; 
>   c.. Lompoc Unified School District, whose board voted
> February 19 to cut its two remaining school library media
> specialists and halve the hours of its library assistants. 
> 
> The big picture
> Although a few school boards have reversed course on
> layoffs-including Madera Unified School District, where
> library advocates have successfully fought off cuts for
> three years in a row-the state's dire fiscal crisis does
> not foreshadow happy endings all around. 
> 
> "There has been more discussion this year about
> actually closing school libraries," Barbara Jeffus,
> school library consultant for the California Department of
> Education, told American Libraries, noting that while the
> state education code requires districts to provide library
> services, "There isn't any teeth in [the
> code]."
> 
> "When school libraries are left unattended, the
> collections disappear and are not replaced," Blanche
> Woolls of San Jose State University library school told AL.
> Determined media specialists were readying talking points
> and protest signs to sway decision makers. "Libraries
> should be an easy sell," school-library advocate
> Stephen Krashen mused to AL, lamenting that too few connect
> the dots between school-library quality and student success.
> 
> "It is important that library advocates and supporters
> make sure that school superintendents, school board members,
> and their governor understand the importance of using
> [American Recovery and Reinvestment Act] funds to invest in
> our children by investing in school libraries and
> librarians," American Library Association President Jim
> Rettig agreed March 11.
> 
> Posted on March 11, 2009. Discuss.
> 
> ss
> Sandy Schuckett
> California School Library Assn.
> Liaison to CTA
> 2312 Claremont Avenue
> Los Angeles, CA 90027
> 323-665-9811
> aq061 at lafn.org
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