[CALIBK12] Library Media Class - Please Advise

[Kelly Sunderman]

So, the District is basically cutting an FTE position at your school without having to use that language.  There may be a way around it, though, if the District is willing to let your principal have a little bit of leeway with class size so long as it doesn't require adding a teacher.

At our school, we have a Curriculum Coordinator who teaches 3 periods, has 1 prep period, and works on curriculum projects (SLIP paperwork, GATE coordination, academic competitions, School Site Council, etc.) the other 2.  Because we all agree that this position is something that makes all of our lives easier (in addition to the fact that this person provides classroom support during 2-3 week periods throughout the year by taking a small group of students for "Lit Lab" so that each LA/SS team has a 2-3 week student/teacher ratio of approx. 20:1), there is an understanding among staff that to keep this position, we all have 2-3 extra students (on average) in our class load throughout the day.  The District allows this because it doesn't cost them anything, the impact on class size is fairly negligible, AND it allows us to offer smaller class size to EVERY student at some point throughout the year.

If the rest of the staff is willing to absorb the students that are now supposed to be enrolled in your classes,  that might be one way to get your "class size" back to 5 students...it means slightly larger class sizes for everyone else (probably not the easiest sell if class sizes are already increasing), but if they value the library services they have and want them to continue, it's a small price to pay.  You may want to broach it with staff that when a teacher uses the library, the teacher-student ratio for that day is closer to 20:1 than 38:1.  The key with our staff is that it's NOT 2-3 extra kids a period, but throughout the day.  It's worth it to our staff to have 2-3 extra students in a day to have the Curriculum Coordinator position.

In your case, if it's 5 periods (your contract, if the LMTs are under the teachers' contract, should indicate that you receive a prep period--that's a whole other issue, but DEFINITELY fight for this if they end up giving you 36 kids a period and want to make you teach 6 periods a day), of Library Media, that's 150 kids.  I'm assuming that you currently "teach" Library Media for 6 periods because of the small number of kids.  I don't know EXACTLY how the math works, but I'm assuming it would work out to 150 students (180 being your proposed class load-your current 30 library media students) throughout the day that would need to be "absorbed" by other teachers.  We are a middle school of about 700, with a staff of about 30 teachers, and we absorb about 70 kids for our Curriculum Coordinator.  Depending on the size of your school/staff, the teachers probably won't even notice the "extra" kids they see in a day.  The only caveat is that since the Library Media course is an elective, it will probably impact elective teachers (art, music, other vocational classes, possibly world languages, etc.) more severely than core teachers, so they might be the ones you really have to get on board.

I don't know if your district will allow it, or if your principal/staff will go for it, but it's worth bringing to your principal/staff to see if it might be a viable option.

Good luck...let me know if you have questions.  

-----Original Message-----
From: calibk12-bounces at lists.sjsu.edu [mailto:calibk12-bounces at lists.sjsu.edu] On Behalf Of Cheryl Driggs
Sent: Tuesday, May 05, 2009 10:00 AM
To: Cindy Vernon; calibk12 at listproc.sjsu.edu
Subject: Re: [CALIBK12] Library Media Class - Please Advise

I would point out to your district that if you were to teach 36 students in your library media class, it would virtually negate any other classes using the library.  Teacher librarians in effect "teach" most classes coming into the library and, in addition,instruct their own library media class students who then assist with other teachers' classes.

>>> "Cindy Vernon" <Aliff_Cindy at alhambra.k12.ca.us> 5/5/2009 9:29 AM >>>
At this time, we have a library media class which consist of 5 students per period. It was written as a vocational class many years ago and we have kept it going. However, our district has just informed the librarians that every class needs to have 36 students including our library media class which will effectively turn us in to classroom teachers vs librarians. The librarian position was not eliminated at our school and we have a busy and functioning library. I would like any advice that you may have in dealing with this issue.
Thanks, Cindy


Cindy Vernon
MLS Librarian
Mark Keppel High School Library
501 E. Hellman
Alhambra, CA 91801
626-572-2240

"What a school thinks about its library is a measure of what it feels about education." - Harold Howe, former Secretary of Education.


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