STANWOOD — Parents, teachers and students plan to attend the school board meeting Tuesday in hopes of persuading school officials to maintain school library programs at their current level.
As it stands now, students at Port Susan and Stanwood middle schools next year won’t have easy access to their libraries or a librarian to guide them.
Faced with state funding cuts, Stanwood-Camano School District is set to return its middle school librarians to the classroom to teach.
In school districts such as Mukilteo, Everett and Edmonds, middle school libraries will retain full-time, certificated library- media specialists. In Lake Stevens, middle school libraries have half-time certified librarians. And in other districts such as Arlington and Granite Falls, the middle school library is staffed by a classified library assistant.
Starting in September, the Stanwood and Port Susan 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.
“We’ll have nobody to be a resource for classroom teachers. No one will review current literature because we’ll have no new books. And nobody will be there to direct kids to the books they need or might enjoy,” said Port Susan Middle School Principal Michael Olson. “And that’s a lot.”
Janene Whitney, a private educational tutor and aunt of a Port Susan student, said the planned library changes are sad. However, it shouldn’t be a surprise when basic education isn’t being fully funded in the state, she said.
“If taxpayers and state legislators don’t want to spend money for schools, kids don’t get all these programs,” Whitney said. “It’s increasingly this way across the country.”
Port Susan librarian and media specialist Lori Woodward is heartbroken about the decision to eliminate the program she has directed for eight years.
“There is overwhelming research on the benefits of a highly qualified librarian running a rich library program,” said Woodward, a longtime district employee.
“Students in schools with good library programs learn more, get better grades and score higher on standardized tests.”
Along with a collection of 8,000 books, Port Susan Middle School’s library houses an accelerated reading program funded by the PTA. About 85 percent of students participate in this program, which boosts competency, provides for accountability and offers rewards. Without a librarian, the reading program will stop, Woodward said.
The aide assigned to the library next year will work hard, but the library won’t be maintained at its current level: Fewer books will be borrowed and read by kids, Woodward said.
The school district is faced with making difficult decisions regarding staff and program reductions, Superintendent Jean Shumate said. “These are very challenging times for all of us.”
Mayrene Allison, parent of a Port Susan eighth-grader, said she sympathizes with school budget dilemmas.
“However, it’s very frustrating because kids are the recipients of all the decisions made,” Allison said. “Perhaps there are other areas to look at for cuts.”
Olson said his alternatives to reducing the library program were to lay off the school counselor, who is not a teacher, or increase the number of students in classrooms, but that would violate the district’s contract with teachers.
Other teachers and librarians interviewed asked not to be quoted because they feared retaliation from the district administration. School officials denied pressuring faculty members against speaking out against the library cuts.
Elli Martin, another Port Susan Middle School parent, expressed concern about reading improvement among students whose parents can’t allow for library time before or after school.
“Mrs. Woodward is the reason my daughter likes to read. She fosters growth and development in many areas,” Martin said. “As the librarian, she is loved and needed.”
Woodward insists the issue isn’t about her, and that she plans to enjoy teaching language arts next year.
“But I don’t believe the school board or the superintendent are aware of the impact of this decision on student achievement,” Woodward said. “Our entire staff told our principal that making cuts in the library program was not good. Parents have a right to know the impact this will have.”
Olson said he plans to address upcoming changes in the school library program in his end-of-the-year newsletter to parents.
The Stanwood-Camano Education Association asked Shumate to move Tuesday’s school board meeting from its regular noon start time to 7 p.m. The evening meeting time should give the public the opportunity to talk about planned cuts to school libraries, including those in some elementary schools, Woodward said.
School board member Julie Dean said she believes school administrators are doing the best they can, but she urged people to attend the meeting.
“We value what people have to say and they need to put forth their concerns,” Dean said.
Gale Fiege: 425-339-3427, gfiege@heraldnet.com.
Board meeting
Stanwood-Camano School Board meeting, 7 p.m. Tuesday, district board room, 26920 Pioneer Highway, Stanwood. The board is set to listen to students, parents and teachers talk about the plan to limit services in the district’s middle school libraries.
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