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Saturday's Internet Edition, July 31, 2010.
Schools serving River Valley to lose librarians
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Photo by Barbara Edwards
Dany'l Van Someren oversees students at the Pleasant Grove High School and Katherine Albiani Middle School joint campus library before the school day even starts. An average of 134 students use the library in the morning.
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By Barbara Edwards
River Valley Times Reporter
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Some people believe that the library is the heart of a campus. Unfortunately, years of operating with a reduced budget and a projection of continued budget cuts have forced the Elk Grove Unified School District (EGUSD) to make a decision to eliminate all librarian positions across the board beginning in the 2010-11 school year.
Elizabeth Graswich, EGUSD director of Communications, affirms that the elimination of librarians is an unfortunate result of years of continued cuts. “The state has not adequately funded education for the last 20 years,” said Graswich. “We need parents to reach out to legislators and say enough is enough. That is the only way things are going to change.”
Currently, concerns regarding whether or not district libraries will be able to open in the fall are not without merit. According to Graswich, the district does not have a plan in place to keep the libraries open and working without librarian support. “We’re working on a backup plan,” said Graswich. “Students will have access to books. Of course, we can’t cover all the work a person (librarian) does. We’ll have to figure it out. Do we want to do it? No. We value our librarians.”
A popular misconception is that a librarian’s duties primarily consist of checking out books and hushing unruly students. According to Dany’l Van Someren, Pleasant Grove High School (PGHS) library media teacher, the responsibilities of a librarian are diverse and extensive. “Our district requires middle and high school library media teachers to hold two credentials - both a teaching credential and a library media teacher credential,” said Van Someren.
Examples of tasks that secondary school librarians perform daily include supervising students, managing staff, managing multiple budgets and library collections, checking materials in and out, processing new materials, handling student textbooks and student Ids and preparing for and teaching literacy lessons.
Approximately 1,920 students weekly utilize the joint campus library that services students of PGHS and Katherine Albiani Middle School. Between Sept. 2009 and Feb. 2010, approximately 1,885 students visited the library during class time for computer research or schoolwork. Over 11,000 students signed up during this time to utilize the library computers before and after school and during both lunches.
Graswich said that personnel cuts are often inevitable when working under a reduced budget. ”The district has worked under a reduced budget for years, and pink slips have been distributed to district employees including librarians during those years, only to be rescinded soon after. But the cumulative effect of years of consecutive cuts has produced unfortunate consequences," Graswich said.
She added, "Equally unfortunate, EGUSD will be required to make over $60.5 million in budget reductions for the 2010-11 school year. We’re at the point where we have to make cuts in personnel. We have no choice.”
Cosumnes River Elementary School (CRES) Principal Mike Gulden sees the library and librarian support as an invaluable asset to the school. “I believe that the library is the hub of the campus - before, during and after school,” he said. However, Gulden agrees that state legislators should be held accountable for the inadequate funding of education for California’s children. “The board is charged with keeping the district solvent,” said Gulden. “They have to keep it running. It’s the funding mechanism at the state level that is broken.”
CRES librarian Joan Stretars and C.W. Dillard Elementary School librarian Kathy Schmitt have been familiar fixtures amid the books and computers of their respective campuses. When Schmitt came on staff at Dillard Elementary 15 years ago, a total of 4,000 books were in the school library. “Since then we’ve automated and doubled the size of the library and increased our collection to over 13,000 books,” said Schmitt.
Throughout the academic year, Schmitt oversees multiple activities in the library, in addition to her customary duties that include preparing library lessons, teaching students the Dewey Decimal System and reading to all grades.
Stretars has been on staff at CRES for approximately 17 years and tweaks her daily duties to meet the needs of teachers and students. For example, Stretars supervises the Accelerated Reader (AR) program at CRES, testing students to determine their reading range, ordering quizzes, guiding students to appropriate level reading, instructing students on taking AR tests and reviewing AR points for each student monthly for reward recognitions. Twice a year, Stretars also runs the highly popular school book fair. CRES fifth grade teacher Jodi Boyle sees Stretars as an invaluable component of the school’s curriculum. “Losing our librarian will affect the children negatively,” said Boyle. “Many students don’t have access to books or computers. She provides a wealth of knowledge. If she doesn’t have the information, she knows where to find it.”
Van Someren believes that the many benefits of libraries and librarian support may not be obvious until it is no longer available. “School libraries are the great equalizer in public education,” said Van Someren. “Libraries provide equal access for all students to information, both print and digital."
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Online publication, Copyright 2005, The River Valley Times.
Web page design,
Copyright 2005, EZ Edit Web Publishing.
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