Cuts to school libraries and staffs a sad chapter in education
Here is a second essay from the Teaching Georgia Writing Collective, a group of educators, parents, and concerned citizens who engage in public writing and teaching about education in Georgia.
The collective defines its goals as: 1) empowering educators to reclaim their workplace and professionalism, 2) empowering families to stand up for their children and shape the institutions their children attend each day, 3) empowering children and youth to have control over their education, and 4) enhancing the education of all Georgians. The number of participates is growing, representing at least six counties.
Here is the essay:
“If America can increase funding for libraries and librarians, I can only think that America has found one important way to rebuild itself.”
-Stephen Krashen
Stephen Krashen, along with many educational scholars, insists that investing in our libraries and librarians is crucial to building a strong and just America. Research points to high quality school libraries and librarians as key to high achievement for students, especially those from families struggling economically. But when budgets are tight, libraries (or “media centers”), librarians, and Media Center paraprofessionals can too frequently be perceived as unnecessary costs in schools.
The Clarke County school district joins others across Georgia cutting funding for Media Center paraprofessionals. But most people may not even know what a high-quality media center and media center specialist does for student achievement, much less what the job of a paraprofessional is in the media center.
So what does a Media Center paraprofessional do?
A Media Center paraprofessional does research-related activities. She assists students, teachers and parents in finding books, resources, and materials. She also pulls books supporting standards-based lessons for teachers, leads instructional centers during lessons, and assists in creating resource lists and developing the media center collection to meet the needs of students and teachers.
A Media Center paraprofessional carries the heavy burden of maintaining the media center collection. He shelves hundreds of books each week; processes, labels, and shelves new materials; repairs damaged books and materials to keep them in use; inventories all books and materials; creates inviting displays of new materials; and discards unsalvageable materials, runs a variety of reports important to the maintenance of the media center, and tracks overdue notices.
A Media Center paraprofessional is a supervisor. She supervises the library while the school library media specialist teaches, participates in mandatory meetings or repairs technology. And while the librarian/media specialist coaches students for exciting events such as the Battle of the Books or the Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl, the paraprofessional takes the lead to make sure the media center is open and available to students and teachers. She works one on one with students, assists with small group instruction when classrooms have lessons in the library (some librarians see 30 or more classes each week), and she supports students while the media specialist focuses on collection development, writes grants for more materials and plans in-service training for teachers.
As if the Media Center paraprofessional has any spare time given her or his extensive responsibilities with students, teachers, and materials, she or he also provides critical technical support for teachers. And outside the Media Center, they help to supervise and support students all day during breakfast, lunch, car, bus, or hall duty and in computer labs.
Cutting Media Center paraprofessionals is risky business. Beyond losing the most basic hands-on contact and support of children, youth, and teachers, this loss could result in limited implementation of initiatives for 21st Century Schools. These educators are central to a school’s ability to provide technical support and professional development for teachers.
Maybe folks don’t care about that fancy-sounding initiative, but they might recall that special feeling you get when you find those just-right books and wait patiently in line to check them out for the week, or that just-right software program or website for your project. The daily work of the Media Center paraprofessional makes sure that the school library is still that extraordinary place where books, materials, technologies, and all kinds of fascinating resources are displayed to pique students’ interests and support teachers’ learning and teaching. And importantly, they provide encouragement, smiles, and comments on your latest great finds.
Public library usage is up across Georgia, something our state can be proud of. Economic times are difficult and having access to information and resources is an important goal for any democratic society. Cutting funding for school libraries in this critical time of making sure all students have access to the materials, resources, and technological innovation they need to be the best they can be just doesn’t make sense. Surely there are places to cut the budget that wouldn’t impact so directly on the daily lives of children and teachers.
Let’s make sure children have access to the best public school libraries now and help them build library habits that will positively affect their achievements in school and their experiences in life. And as young children and our youth are building strong habits, we adults can invest in our libraries inside and outside schools – one important way to re-build our communities and invest in a better society.
–From Maureen Downey, for the AJC Get Schooled blog
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98 comments Add your comment
UWG Library Media Specialist
May 13th, 2012
11:41 am
Interesting article with one thing I would like to correct…I am not aware of any school in my area that is currently ran by a paraprofessional. All of us have had training at the collegiate level in our field of expertise. I have an undergrad in Early Childhood Education and my Masters and Specialists degrees in Library Media Services. I received training in a variety of classes to make me a library media specialist including cataloging, processing, reference, research, curriculum classes, technology, library administration, and much more. To have an effective program you do not just pull someone off the street and place them in the library if you want to provide effective services. On another note, to assume that technology is at such a state it provides all the services someone needs via the Internet only shows how ignorant some people are. For one, not everyone has access to the Internet…yes, even in 2012 that is true. Secondly, so much on the Internet is just plain crap…and a lot of it is stuff accepted as fact and continuously copied/pasted by our technologically advanced world as truth. Very few care to check facts and verify. I see this daily on-line in e-mails and FB posts from family and friends. I constantly try to educate students AND adults not to just accept what they see on-line as fact. Thirdly, just because something can be done does not be it should be done… By this I mean just because it is available in tek doesn’t mean it is the best way to do something.
I would also like to add that I feel fortunate after reading some of these posts that I work in a system who apparently values its school librarians.
Two Cents
May 13th, 2012
12:12 pm
@FCS teacher I did NOT say you could get a private school education for $7,000 – I said give us parents the $7,000 to educate our children. Private schools cost as much as college. It isn’t the DeKalb Teachers that are the problem – it is the bloat at the Palace; the School Board and County officials. I plan to move. My mental and physical health suffers from the incompetency and ignorance.
Media Girl
May 13th, 2012
12:42 pm
Media Specialists across the country have been in this debate for many years now. I simply say, “Look at your child’s school.” Look at what goes on in his/her library media center. In my elementary media center, students are participating in lessons, checking out 28,000 plus books per year, completing research and being taught how to evaluate on-line resources, and participating in selecting books to read. LIbraries are essential to democracy. Access to information is important in a democracy. Next year, I will rely on volunteer parents and students to shelve books and check students out so that I can continue to teach and serve children. We will no longer have paraprofessionals, and mine was top notch! We have a responsibility to all the children in our schools. Who will stand up for school libraries?
@ GM
May 13th, 2012
12:53 pm
No, I think that the forum posters were trying to not feed and encourage the trolls so the conversation could, for once, stay on topic. Of course, what would one of these blog post’s comments sections be without your sanctimonious holier than thou comments?
That out of the way, the cutting of libraries sickens me. Kids rarely read anyway unless it’s something assigned to them, and in that case testing and grades take all of the fun out of the book. A love of reading is necessary for learning, and since parents don’t seem to want to read to their children from a very early age, if at all, the school libraries are about the last bastion of hope.
But no, let’s all ensure that our children stay illiterate. Less chance of free thought that way, and easier for politicians to get these uninformed individuals to vote for them in time.
@ GM
May 13th, 2012
12:54 pm
Sorry, that apostrophe should have gone after the “s” in “blog posts’.” Typing too fast as usual.
northatlantateacher
May 13th, 2012
1:21 pm
At my school, we have a full time media specialist who has a parapro, numerous parent volunteers and 40+ student aides throughout the day. She has a lot of responsibility, but she also has a lot of support. I’m not sure if all that support is necessary or not. My guess is not.
teacher&mom
May 13th, 2012
1:40 pm
@A Conservative Voice: While you did not directly support closing public school libraries, your suggestion to visit the public county libraries is in and of itself, a position that does not support public school libraries. It implies that closing public school libraries is inevitable and perhaps necessary given the hard economic times.
Too many feel the same way and that is why libraries can be closed without so much as a whimper from the public.
The death by a thousand cuts continues and won’t stop until the public decides enough is enough. I realize we are in a recession, but our state began the cutting BEFORE this recession hit and no one in the public sector offered a whimper of protest.
I won’t “lighten” up. We have elected leaders who are bound and determined to throw it all away while they finagle our children’s future away…all while building fishing ponds and making sure they have enough money to send their own children to private schools.
For goodness sakes…we are at a point where the D.C. Chancellor is CLOSING school libraries because the “DATA” (code word: standardized test scores) doesn’t show a quick return on investment. Doesn’t that make you want to scream!
You can bet I will be voting in November.
Dekalbite
May 13th, 2012
3:02 pm
I have worked with excellent media specialists, and I have worked with not so excellent media specialists. It seems to be the “luck of the draw”, and once you get an inept or unmotivated media specialist, little effort is made to remove that employee. There is much more pressure on administrators to remove ineffective teachers – push from parents, and of course teachers are seen through the lens of test scores. There seems to be little incentive or interest in removing a media specialist who is inept or unmotivated. Surprising, there are a number of media specialists that are not tech savvy. This is a huge drawback in a media world where Internet research far surpasses print research in terms of access and timeliness. There was such pushback in DeKalb that the past Director of Instructional Media changed their title from Media Specialist back to Librarian. She said they were first and foremost librarians and not in charge of media.
IMO – students still need to love books, and books mean holding them in your hand and reading them. Libraries in our schools are the place that promotes this since so many parents do not. Reading aloud to children may be a distraction to some media specialists/librarians, but there is nothing more motivational to children you want to envourage to read independently than being read to aloud. Some media specialists understand that and see that as part of their job, and some do not. Like teachers or any other school employee who works with kids, some do a better job than others.
A really great media specialist can be a tremendous asset to the entire school and an important and vital part of the educational process. A poor media specialist will merely keep the books shelved and the library doors open.
Ron F.
May 13th, 2012
3:43 pm
Here’s an interesting question in this debate: As schools and systems are cutting everything they can to make budgets work, are any seriously even talking about the money spent on athletics? Seems to me if the high school athetics program would agree, statewide, to a shortened football schedule, say 8 games instead of 10, a lot of money could be saved. But sadly, in a die-hard football state like our own, we’ll cut teachers, media centers, and school days entirely before we’ll take an axe to athletics. Not to diminish their importance, but academics is clearly not the priority that football is in this state.
@ DeKalbite
May 13th, 2012
4:05 pm
“once you get an inept or unmotivated media specialist, little effort is made to remove that employee. There is much more pressure on administrators to remove ineffective teachers – push from parents, and of course teachers are seen through the lens of test scores. There seems to be little incentive or interest in removing a media specialist who is inept or unmotivated.”
I am a media specialist and agree with your statement. Unfortunately sometimes the media specialist is IN the media center BECAUSE he/she was an inept teacher and the way administration dealt with the problem was to move him/her to the media center. My question to you is why do teachers and parents NOT complain about media specialists who don’t do their job? I spent several years with just such an incompetent person relocated from the classroom doing double-duty. Teachers and parents would comment and complain to me and to the parapro, but when asked why they didn’t refer their concerns to administration, they would often say they knew it wouldn’t matter, or that they knew administration didn’t want to hear it.
Believe me, the rest of us media specialists want the slackers out of the profession, just as classroom teachers want the people who give them a bad name out of the picture. Parents, if your children are getting what they need, whether in the classroom, media center, guidance office, etc. let your school administrators know about it. Their response (in action as well as words) may let you know how they truly value their students’ education.
@ DCSD Teacher
May 13th, 2012
4:28 pm
If you have a media specialist who can’t help students with MS Office products, you NEED to complain to your principal who needs to inform your media services director. Even if someone got a degree many years ago, they were required to complete courses in technology (specifically MS Office products such as Word, Excel, Publisher, and PowerPoint) several years ago. If someone bluffed their way through that, it needs to come to the attention of those who can address it.
Most of us are technology savvy, but knowing all the phone apps (Apple, Droid, whatever) is of course impossible, and since schools have mostly moved from Apple, we only know those if we have Apple products personally. We should be expected to have experience with the system-owned technology in the building, though.
As far as chatting in the office, most media centers are open 8 – 8.5 hours per day. If you catch the time the media center doesn’t have students in it (rare in my school), you may find the staff in the office catching up on ordering and processing books, lesson planning, reports, financial work, etc. Do you have a planning period? Consider that may be the equivalent of your media specialist’s planning period. Do you chat in other teacher’s classrooms, the mail room, or the copy room sometimes?
If the excuse is the network is down, you likely know it because you can’t access it either. (And believe me, we DON’T want the network down. Many of our lessons are planned counting on network access as well!) Are your media specialists responsible for hardware as well? If not, help them (and your classes) by letting your administrators know that it impacts your students’ ability to complete their work when there aren’t enough functional computers. Most of us work long hours (home and school) with the same goals as you – educating our students to be successful, productive citizens!
@ Ron F
May 13th, 2012
4:37 pm
My guess is that you’ll hear that sports programs are self-supporting. While gate receipts and player fees may cover uniforms, bus rental, lights and staff at games, I’d like to see the numbers showing they pay to build the stadium, install the artificial turf, maintain the facilities, etc. Also, while supplements for coaches may sometimes be reasonable for the time required, how many coaches also teach less than a full schedule, have less rigorous classes (i.e., spend less time on grading and lesson planning outside the school day), etc. If you’ve worked in middle or high schools, you know there are people marking time in a classroom because they have to have that job to be able to coach. THAT is where the real expense lies in school-based sports, IMHO: coaches who have no real interest in teaching in classrooms where students should have teachers passionate about teaching.
Just a supportive teacher
May 13th, 2012
5:32 pm
@Ron F. Oh please, you know they won’t touch the sports programs…it’s so much easier to cut teachers, Media Specialists and custodians. They cut the Model Teacher leaders in Atlanta Public Schools and now they’re competing with the closed schools teachers for jobs. Not much fat was really cut from the top. On the southside, we went almost a whole year without a Media Specialist. They finally hired one within the past 5 weeks. Then they closed the placed for three weeks while they were testing. It had been a zoo most of the time prior to that with substitutes and a paraprofessional.
@APS Mess – Good Lord! Are they getting away with that? Sounds horrible.
teacher&mom
May 13th, 2012
6:25 pm
@Ron F: That would be an interesting question….given that the GHSA re-drew the region lines and many rural schools will now be driving over 100 miles one way! Talk about crazy…
catlady
May 13th, 2012
6:36 pm
Ole Guy, the problem is that the county libraries have also undergone the same type of cuts, as well as cuts to hours. Going to the county library, in a rural area, may not be a viable “solution” for many students, as the library might not be open in the hours that their parents can take them, IF the parents can afford, gas- and time-wise, to drive a 30 mile or more round trip. And, believe it or not, many kids don’t have home computers and/or internet service. Where I live there is one provider–$60 per month for poor folks is quite a burden. I estimate 20-25% of our students have both a computer and internet access.
It is a scandal what the Georgia government has done to schools, while simultaneously handing out tax breaks like candy to companies and individuals.
Elizabeth
May 13th, 2012
6:49 pm
I have waited an entire day to see how many comments this article would acquire. Only 59. HOW RIDICULOUS AND UNBELIEVABLE. For those who think media speciialist don’t teach and that media center computers are only used for games: What school planet are you people living on? I was a media specialist for 12 years and would be again if they were not cutting media right and left. In my first media center, I established a school-wide research unit taught through the Language Arts teachers and BY ME. Every student in the school did a week-long research unit introduction with me and finished with 2 or 3 more weeks in the classroom. Games? The only ones allowed were prescribed math and ESOL games designed to improve skills. Seventy -five per cent of my time was spent teaching research skills to students, not only through Language Arts research papers but Science and Social Science fair students.
Most elementary school media specialists today violate media standards daily. These standards say that media schedules must be flexible. But today’s media specialists in elementary schools are “part of the rotation” as mandated by the school principal so that classroom teachers get time off. That means that they teach a fixed schedule of kids EVERY DAY so that teachers have planning time.
With parapros in my county cut for elementary and middle school libraries, that means kids can only come to check out books or use the computers when there is no teaching going on because there is no one to service them. Technology Specialists have been cut so all media specialists are also responsible for ALL computers and technology training in my county.
Teachers get a duty free lunch in elementary school and can eat during planning in middle school. Media specialists, according to Human resources in my county, are “not considered teachers”, so they have no scheduled or mandated lunch and planning time. THAT MEANS MOST CAN’T EAT LUNCH BECAUSE STANDARDS MANDATE AN ACCESSIBLE MEDIA CENTER.Just another standard that is being violated every day in most schools. Not to mention state labor laws that require a lunch period for all personnel.With no one to cover the media center, even bathroom breaks are difficult, especailly if there is not a restroom in the media center.
Now let’s talk about the research out there that has determined that When media centers are fully invloved in the life of the school, as mine was, TEST SCORES RISE. Check it out.
As for “only” checking out books, one of the standards is the challenge to for students to read 25 books each year. Where do most of them get these books? The Media Center. Who checks them out if there is no parapro? Who shelves and proceesess the books? How can new ones be bought if there are no funds? Kids stop reading if they can’t find new books to read. Most do not want to re-read. Who promotes the love of reading that inspires kids to read? Classroom teachers? Not a chance– they are too busy teaching for the test. Who promotes Dr. Seuss, library week, etc.? THE MEDIA SPECIALIST. If she has time. Who selects books appropriate for the special school population? THE MEDIA SPECIALIST WHO IS TRAINED TO DO SO.
With all of these extra responsibilities, we should be receiving a salary supplement, right? Not a chance. I am paid the same as a classroom teacher with my degrees and years of experience. NOT ONE PENNY MORE.
Cut library funds and personnel? Go ahead. Kill the school library. Just don’t complain down the road when literacy and learning disappear. Because they will.
This is one subject I would love to write an article on. If kids can’t read, they can’t do anything well. And with all the information out there, how can they learn to sort it out without help from a trained research ( i.e., media) specialist? Too bad my artlcle would never be published. No one wants to listen to the professionals– or the truth.
Media Girl
May 13th, 2012
7:46 pm
Amen, Elizabeth! There is a book we should all read…The Last Book in the Universe…written for middle school age children…but WOW…never thought I’d see this actually happen.
Tony
May 13th, 2012
7:51 pm
Our school system also cut paraprofessionals in our libraries. Sad.
Ron F.
May 13th, 2012
8:12 pm
teacher&mom: my system can’t afford the new buses they need each year (we get one or two now and keep patching up the rest), we have to endure the temperature in class with thermostats set and locked, and we’ve removed every electrical device not directly related to building function. BUT, have we cut the football budget? NOPE. No field trips, bus routes cut down and combined, but by golly there are a fleet of them ready on game night. Our community is very involved in local athletics, and I get the value of it. I’m just waiting for the day they have to cut coaching staff and/or football schedules- then you’ll hear the wailing all across the state.
Nancy
May 13th, 2012
8:42 pm
I cannot believe that the comments from A Teacher were really written by a teacher. Die in the gutter? I don’t know any teachers who feel that way. The problem with comments like these is that anyone can say anything and claim to be anyone or anything. I put little credence in any of the hateful things people say in comments on newspaper articles. If I did, I would completely give up on mankind. If a teacher really did say those things, then, please, get out of my profession and go find something else to do..
Media Girl
May 13th, 2012
8:56 pm
“Libraries allow children to ask questions about the world and find the answers. And the wonderful thing is that once a child learns to use a library, the doors to learning are always open.”
–Laura Bush
Teafortwo
May 13th, 2012
9:31 pm
My godmother was a Media Specialist in the Clarke County schools for years (Timothy Road Elementary). Right before she died, she mailed a book to me that she thought my son might like in the future. Librarians (especially those who are godmothers) are very special people. Whether they’re in the public library that serves the community or the library that serves the school, they are advocates for every single child they meet. They’re the ones suggesting titles a child might like; they’re the ones helping conduct research for school projects. They are part of the underpinning of our children’s education. Some may not realize it for either lack of interest or out and out ignorance, but librarians play a key role in children’s education and should keep their positions. My librarians at school and at the Ida Williams branch of the Atlanta Public Library? I can tell you their names 40 years later: Mrs. Seely and Mrs. Johnston. They’re that important.
Once Again
May 13th, 2012
9:58 pm
Another item to add to the “why government run education is a failure” column.
Homeschool, private school, work for the end to the government monopoly of your tax dollars and resources that could be better utilized paying private business owners to properly educate your children. Come on…they are your kids after all.
a teacher
May 13th, 2012
10:50 pm
It is disheartening that many kids think of school as of a waste of time. Those who do not care I feel have very little or no hope for a demanding future and will end up dead in the gutter. I do not wish for anyone to die in a gutter. I know my earlier response was inappropriate and I apologize to anyone that I have offended. I was emotional when writing it and was not my intention to be taken literally. Believe it or not but I am very passionate about my job but maybe you are right and it is time for a career change. and some more self reflection.
Phil
May 14th, 2012
3:25 am
School should be paid for by the parents in the form of tuition for each kid in the system and not from money stolen from childless people as part of another socialism scheme.
sneak peek into education
May 14th, 2012
5:38 am
I think that the comments from “A Teacher” are a plant and were written by one of the more negative bloggers as a way to incite and to take the focus off the real topic of the blog. I have NEVER known a teacher talk in this manner. I suppose the only way to control this type of thing is for the AJC to regulate the blog and have people post under their real names.
Lexi
May 14th, 2012
9:46 am
On balance, the public school system is an unaccountable failure. That’s the destiny of monopolies, especially government run monopolies that do not need to compete with innovative schools to attract students, make a profit or account to anyone besides the democrat politicians whose backs they scratch, and who scratch in return. Many public schools are nothing more than captive propaganda mills for the progressive establishment.
Throwing more money at public education won’t help us solve the problem. We have no effective discipline in many schools, layers of due process for miscreants, parents who have ceded all responsibility to the school for “educating” their children and parents who battle the same school teachers when the “students” are disciplined or receive the just grades they’ve “earned.” There is no good reason in the world for not adopting a voucher system so that parents have real choices among accountable schools.
New Media Specialist
May 14th, 2012
11:05 am
I understand that leaders and teachers don’t know what media specialist do. Most teachers will tell you that media specialist sit at their desk all day doing nothing and that’s sad. I was told a long time ago not to judge others but it still goes on. Media Specialist do more than you think. Many take on jobs assigned to the Principal and the AP. In many schools they handle all the technology related jobs as well as teaching skills.
Media Specialist curriculum includes teaching students to be 21st Students; Research; Technology; etc and all within the 7.5 hours of the day. Many of us have no parapro to assist so we have to be inventive with our time and scheduling.
I have to say that media specialist in my county work together and support each other. We have a need for that support because most people don’t understand our job.
Elaine
May 14th, 2012
2:36 pm
I am definitely not questioning the importance of the work that the paraprofessionals perform. I have been fortunate to have wonderful assistance in our library.
I don’t think the financial decision makers have considered that they now have to pay a certified salaried employee for work that was previously done by someone with a lower pay grade.
The work that a paraprofessional does is critical to the running of a library. It cannot be just ignored because the position is eliminated.
That work must now be completed by the librarian which will interfere with the more student achievement oriented activities that are currently the first priority.
Save our Media Centers
May 14th, 2012
3:15 pm
The average person has no idea what a media specialist does all day. As stated earlier, it is more than checking books in and out. All media specialists are teachers of Information Literacy and have at least a Master’s degree in Information Technology with School Library Certification and almost all have taught in a classroom. They teach students and staff how to find, evaluate, and interpret the resources they need…how to sort through the junk on the Internet and find the reliable sources, how to use Databases, how to find the information needed in books/ebooks, how to use technology and software efficiently, they educate everyone on copyright, teach basic library skills, all along with teaching a love of reading to students and encouraging them to become life long learners…plus, they evaluate every resource (technology, books, databases, visual media, etc…) they order for the media center by atleast reading professional reviews, process the resources, catalog, plan a budget (if they are lucky enough to have funding), shelve books, plan activities, lessons, library promotions, displays, develop the media program and goals, and much more…there is a reason there was a media specialist and a media clerk in the media center. My Media Center is open an hour before and after school (no extra pay for those extra hours) and no I don’t get a lunch period or planning period…I eat while doing a hundred other things and I am lucky to sit down all day. My day is nonstop busy. It is a big job and believe it or not it effects every staff member and student in the school. PLEASE visit your local media centers and see what goes on all day. It is not the quiet place of books you may remember from childhood. It is a busy active classroom full of staff and students learning. Parents, students, teachers, administrators, and yes you need to fight to keep School Libraries open and staffed by a certified Media Specialist. We really need our Media Clerks back too:)
Lexi
May 14th, 2012
3:24 pm
Ms. Save our Media Centers: “It is a big job and believe it or not it effects every staff member” the verb is “affects”, as in “it affects every staff member….”
@ Lexi
May 14th, 2012
5:29 pm
You are correct about affect (verb) vs. effect (noun); it is a very common mistake. You, however, are incorrect in placing your comma outside the quotation mark and you left out needed punctuation between “…staff member” AND “the verb.” People in glass houses….
(And I am not “Ms. Save Our Media Centers,” just thinking that maybe you missed the message in the details….)
I love teaching. I hate what it is becoming...
May 14th, 2012
6:57 pm
@New media Specialist “Most teachers will tell you that media specialist sit at their desk all day doing nothing and that’s sad. ”
I would never say that! We have a WONDERFUL media specialist who has done a great job of working with classroom teachers to support our curriculum. She is a treasure, and adds a great deal to our school community. She no longer has a para-pro to help her, and depends upon student helpers, volunteers and the occasional teacher to help her check in, check out, and shelve books. I know she must be overwhelmed sometimes, yet she always has a smile on her face and is always willing to pitch in.
I find it terribly ironic to keep reading comments on this blog (and not just in this thread) about how badly public schools are doing their job. “Can’t discipline. No media specialists. Overcrowded classrooms. No field trips. Cut backs in bussing. etc. etc. etc…. Stop throwing money down the drain! Vouchers and charter schools will save us all!”
So, pray tell, how did public schools end up in this predicament? Could it be the continual cuts to funding? More and more, I believe it is deliberate… starve the schools till they can no longer fully support student learning, then start screaming about how they are “failing” our children and how it is time to shift to a corporate profit driven educational system.
And too many folks buy right in….
Mary Elizabeth
May 14th, 2012
8:00 pm
@ I love teaching, 6:57 pm
“So, pray tell, how did public schools end up in this predicament? Could it be the continual cuts to funding? More and more, I believe it is deliberate… starve the schools till they can no longer fully support student learning, then start screaming about how they are ‘failing’ our children and how it is time to shift to a corporate profit driven educational system.”
—————————————————————————-
It is my opinion that you see the truth of what is happening in Georgia, regarding education. Thank you for stating your perceptions so concisely, for all to read.
Ron F.
May 14th, 2012
8:12 pm
@ I love teaching 6:57- Amen!
National Board Certified LMS
May 14th, 2012
9:21 pm
I am an elementary media specialist who is fortunate to still have a full-time media parapro. (This will change FY2013 when she goes to half-time.) Together we serve 1150 students and 100+ faculty members. I am the point of contact for 400+ computers, printers, Smartboards, iPads and other technology gizmos on campus. I manage a collection of 20,000 items valued in excess of $500,000. I am also the audiovisual guru, copy queen and general Miss Fix-It. We operate on a flexible schedule, but still manage to see 30+ classes a week for lessons and check-out. I also handle a myriad of “other duties as assigned” that often pull me out of the media center on a moment’s notice. Like many others, I also eat while I work at my desk. A lot of what I do goes on behind the scenes to make sure the school functions smoothly. You might not know exactly what I do, but you sure know when it’s not getting done. As much as I would like to maintain the current high levels of service, it will be physically impossible to teach, handle technology and cover the circulation function next year by myself. [I'm at a Title I school with few parent volunteers.] Something has to give and unfortunately, it’s likely to be the teaching part (which happens to be my favorite). I refuse to work overtime to absorb another 1/2 time position into my job when there are six area assistant superintendents in the county office.
Lexi
May 15th, 2012
4:09 am
@Lexi: Thank you for your editing. I wasn’t aware that “effect” was always a noun.
DLB
May 15th, 2012
9:11 am
Reduced days, now reduced resources, the children are being cheated because of goverment waste, buying millions of dollars of technology but cutting teacher salaries. How many school board members are taking cuts in salaries? Some have actually gotten raises when their teachers are being treated like second-rate citizens. Teachers do the work- while the board sits on their tails and spend, spend, spend! I say next election get rid of them and find someone who cares -if we can! The children are the ones who will suffer!
DLB
May 15th, 2012
9:30 am
By the way for you who really want to know what a media specialist does- go to your child’s school and see for yourself – give them a hand – if you really want to know the truth. All teachers work about 9-10 hours a day(some days more) and get no overtime pay- just their salary. Just like firemen and police they are under paid and unlike others, they don’t have a real advocate- they have to take it or quit. Are our children worth it or not?
Christy
May 15th, 2012
9:49 am
The school Media Specialist and Media Parapro effect everyone in the school. They effect the students, teachers, principals, and parents. The environment and experience that the student has in the Media Center will ultimately effect their love of reading, either for the better or for the worse. We are heading in the wrong direction and our children are the ones that will suffer!
JA
May 15th, 2012
10:43 am
A group of concerned folks has put together the following website in support of fully-funded media centers. It specifically concerns the budget in Clarke County, but obviously applies to many scenarios right now.
http://loveyourschoollibrary.wordpress.com/
Ole Guy
May 15th, 2012
3:47 pm
I’m seeing so much hand-wringing, continuing complaints, and very very little in the way of any hint toward viable solutions. Sure, education is in the pits; the crapper…all is lost…the skys falling! SO FREQUIN WHAT?! These kids have an enormous edge in the readily available technology sources, primarily the internet.
Inasmuch as I have always denounced the introduction of technology prior to the mastery of the basics, the damn contraption, nonetheless, is going to remain within the hallowed halls of public education. So then…set me straight. From day 1…probably the 1st/2nd grades….kids are introduced to the marvels of Google, Ask, and the multitude of search engines; certainly far far more research availability than I ever had in the days of the Dewey Deci System, etc. So answer me this one overwhelming answer: With all this advanced research capability a mere key stroke away, WHY’NHELL ARE WE SO GD CONCERNED OVER SUCH RELATIVELY SIMPLISTIC SHORTCOMINGS? We’ve led the (generational) horses to the water trough of technology, but we surshell can’t make em’ drink, can we? All we can do is complain over the very same issues I have expounded upon…the ole fashioned ways of teacher/librarian/whatever dispenser of educational wisdom we care to hold responsible this week…actually being there to, well, teach.
SO THERE IT IS AT THE TOUCH OF A FINGER STROKE; ALL THE ANSWERS TO ALL THE QUESTIONS THESE KIDS HAVE. ALL THEY GOTTA DO IS…DRINK THE GD WATER…GO AFTER THE ANSWERS.
If this is asking too much…too much to expect kids to self-direct their destinys…then we got/they got a whole bunch of problems far far greater than the stuff we’ve been harping over
Perspective and expectations, people. These kids are capable of a helluva lot more than we give em’ credit for. Howbout we stop complaining over issues which are, unfortunately, not going to change. Howbout we start adapting to the realities within 21st education.
National Board Certified LMS
May 15th, 2012
6:25 pm
@ Ole Guy Yes, the kids are capable of doing more than we give them credit for. However, they must first be taught how to search properly and then how to evaluate the hits received in response to their query, By fifth grade they start to have a clue about online searching. With grades K-3, these little ones are still learning how to read. I direct my students to paid databases that are more appropriate for their skill and reading levels than I do advocating a generic Google search. I also think elementary students do better seeing the materials in print before we look at the online resource. Many of them like the online encyclopedia, but prefer a print dictionary, atlas and almanac.
MB
May 15th, 2012
7:33 pm
@ Ole Guy – Believe me, some kids do think they can “self-direct their destinys (sic).” They want to google or ask Jeeves and be done with an assignment so they can play Minecraft or learn what Justin Beiber is doing. Our job is to make them 21st century learners by requiring higher order thinking in their learning; how many will do more if it’s not expected?
GIve your hypothetical 3rd grader free rein in Google; let’s say he’s researching cougars. Wow, won’t he learn a lot – much of which his parents probably would prefer that he NOT learn at 8. “Meet Hot Single Cougars,” etc. Even if he finds the cat version, the first site will be WIkipedia; Our state pays for Encyclopedia Britannica and SIRS DIscoverer through GALILEO. Students who learn to search accurately at an early age don’t have to break bad search habits later.
MB
May 15th, 2012
7:47 pm
If you think students don’t need direction, consider the website http://www.martinlutherking.org. In a hurry, a student might type in this URL; dot org sites are for non-profits so they MUST be legit, right? S/he quickly clicks through some of the links, including a chronology of King’s plagiarized works, The Beast as Saint (”The Truth about MLK, Jr.”), recommended books by noted historians such as David Duke, etc. Copy and paste a bit and the student could have a “research project,” with the “research” based on information posted by Stormfront.
Do you see why kids could be drowning in that water? (Oh, see http://www.dhmo.org, by the way.) It IS easier for students to locate information – our challenge as educators is to teach them to analyze and critically consider WHAT they find and to synthesize what they learn into something new. THAT is how America has been successful, and the emphasis on multiple-choice testing, requiring teachers to teach to the test and forgo the activities and expectations that lead to real learning, is threatening the continuation of that success.
MB
May 15th, 2012
7:56 pm
(Credit for the cougar example goes to a friend who was selected TEACHER of the year this year at her elementary school of over 1100 students; she is their library media specialist!)
Media Specialist
May 16th, 2012
12:14 pm
Sade:
It’s a shame you believe the media center is a place where students play games or shop. This statement could not be further from the truth. As a media specialist of 850 students and a 40,000 plus collection our students are working on projects and assignments. My students are allowed to participate in research and school related activities at all time. My students have competed and won at local, county, regional, state, and national Science, Social Studies, Science Olympiad, and yes even Robotics competitons. It would behoove you not to make generalizations about media centers and what is going on at them. This thought process is what allows people to believe media centers and libraries are not important.
Cuts to school libraries and staffs a sad chapter in education | Get Schooled | Lambertn's Library Lowdown | Scoop.it
May 18th, 2012
12:41 pm
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