STANWOOD — Teachers and parents lined up Tuesday amidst a standing-room-only crowd to tell the school board they don’t want middle school libraries staffed by anybody less than certified librarians.
Testimony regarding a planned change in library programs came after a somber review of the Stanwood-Camano School District’s budget.
Faced with a revenue shortfall of $2.5 million, the district is making difficult decisions regarding staff and program reductions, Superintendent Jean Shumate said.
“The economic forecast remains bleak,” Shumate said. “State funding is not ample, stable or dependable.”
As the plan for the coming school year stands now, students at Port Susan and Stanwood middle schools won’t have easy access to their libraries or have a librarian to guide them. The board took no action Tuesday night to change the plan.
Principals at the middle schools are set to send the school librarians to the classroom to teach.
Starting in September, the middle school libraries are to be staffed part-time by an aide. Students will have the opportunity to browse the stacks and check out books during 20-minute periods before and after school, or during 10- to 15-minute sessions during lunch. Teachers will have to reserve time in the library and computer lab.
This means that classroom teachers won’t have a resource in the library, no new books will be ordered and no one will direct kids to the books they need or might enjoy.
But the real story, said Olson last week, is that public education is suffering from the state Legislature’s “continuing decision not to fund basic education.”
“Until the state meets its constitutional mandate, districts like ours and those around us will have to change how they provide education services,” Olson said.
Several teachers told the board that the planned changes in library programs are short-sighted and will hurt students. As resources are reduced and test standards go up, the librarians become increasingly important and are more valuable in the libraries than they would be in the classroom, said one teacher. Port Susan librarian and media specialist Lori Woodward gave the board examples of research, based on test scores, on the benefits of a highly qualified librarian running a library program.
Stanwood High School librarian JoAnn Olsson and Stanwood Elementary School librarian Marianne McGarry-Bloom urged the administration and school board to take another look at the money.
“Libraries are the bulwarks against ignorance and illiteracy. Please reverse this decision and get us back on course,” McGarry-Bloom said. “Do your duty and return our librarians to the ship of knowledge.”
Port Susan PTA president Shona Martin asked the board to look at her organization’s $20,000 investment in a reading program that can’t be run without a librarian.
“The library is a vital resource. Money re-allocated to the middle school level to maintain libraries will be money well spent,” Martin said.
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