A Feb. 24 letter penned to the Sweetwater Union High School District and collectively signed by eight Grossmont Union High School District teacher librarians asks the neighboring district to reconsider possible plans to eliminate credentialed teacher librarians.
Upon learning that schools at the southern end of San Diego county are at risk of losing their teacher librarians, El Cajon Valley teacher librarian Anthony Devine says he reached out to fellow GUHSD librarian, West Hills High School’s Suzanne Sannwald, and began crafting a letter they hope will resonate with SUHSD.
According to Devine, the letter was primarily written to show support but also to raise parent awareness of how their children’s school might be affected by those potential budget cuts.
“Parents aren’t necessarily aware of staffing outside their children’s classroom teachers. Until I became a librarian, I didn’t think about it. We are some of the only certificated teachers on campus who touch every student,” Devine said.
Devine, who started his career as an English teacher, says the trend toward defunding school libraries and eliminating credentialed school librarians in favor of part-time library technician employees is not unheard of in districts across the United States.
Devine said that GUHSD is lucky to have district leaders who recognize the benefits of teacher librarians as partners and advocates for literacy, not a burden to bear.
However, he and other East County GUHSD librarians wanted to caution neighboring Sweetwater Union that cutting funding for their fellow teacher librarians would be the wrong decision for students in this region.
Sweetwater High School librarian Barbara Chappell-Brown agreed and said all students, including those in the SUHSD, deserve to have an advocate and librarians fit that niche.
“Sweetwater is a wonderful district but I am concerned about possible budget cuts that might eliminate librarians or some of what we offer to our students. We just had Read Across America and these kids were in the library reading in Spanish and English, writing poetry, learning how to stand up and speak in public. People don’t realize that the library is more than just checking in or checking out a book. It is a hub of literacy,” Chappell-Brown said.
Chula Vista High School teacher librarians Janice Gilmore-See said librarians in the district do more than check in and out textbooks and laptops.
“We are part of the teaching community at our schools. We teach Digital Citizenship, Information Literacy skills, research skills, we bring diversity into the schools with multicultural literature,” Gilmore-See said.
In an email, the CHVS librarian wrote:
“The current proposal to eliminate librarians is based on the misconception that school libraries are silent, sterile book storage. Nothing could be farther from the truth. The library is a busy, humming hub of activity, often with full capacity before school and at lunch. Students choose to visit all day long, and teachers send their students with library passes knowing that a teacher librarians Librarian is there to assist and supervise students.
Gilmore-See pointed out the district has an office of equity but would not have what she believes is a hub of equity at every school without a library staffed by teacher librarians.
The letter from GUHSD lists unseen benefits of teacher librarians such as the importance of developing curriculum resources and teaching students how to evaluate online information, how teacher librarians provide cost sharing for an entire district by housing a robust school library in place of individual classroom collections, and the practice of creating a Social-Emotional learning space for all students.
However, Devine said it is hard to enumerate the positive effects of student access to a school library as signing students in and out of the library tracks presence but does not account for targeted instruction related to literacy.
“A school library is incredibly valuable, not just in our district but in every district. I thought we should give support to our neighbors and Suzanne brilliantly put together talking points,” Devine said.
Gilmore-See said that in addition to the letter sent by GUHSD librarians, the American Library Association, the American Association of School Libraries, and the California School Library Association all wrote letters to Sweetwater standing in solidarity with the teacher librarians.
