The decision by the Bellevue School District to reassign all secondary librarians to classroom positions for the 09/10 school year has been criticized by some in the educational community.
Mike Eisenberg, dean emeritus and professor at the Information School of the University of Washington, said the move goes against the needs of the 21st century.
“This is the information age, and to compete in a tough, global economy, our children need to be experts in information seeking, use, evaluation, and synthesis,” Eisenberg wrote in a recent e-mail to the Bellevue School District. “Teacher-librarians and school library programs are dedicated to ensure that students gain these essential “information literacy” skills.”
With the announcement of a districtwide reduction of 60 FTE [full-time equivalent] positions, principals at each middle and high school were required to make cuts to certificated positions outside of the classroom.
This included counselors and librarians.
Counseling FTEs were reduced in three high schools and librarian FTE positions were eliminated at all middle and high schools. The librarians will be reassigned to classroom positions – primarily in English where they are certificated.
According to Eisenberg, school districts such as Lake Washington have found a balance in the midst of teacher and staff reductions.
“Teacher-librarians serve as a key teaching faculty and are chief information officers in each building where they serve,” Eisenberg said. “…It is inconceivable that Bellevue would eliminate libraries in its middle and high schools. However, this is exactly what will happen if the teacher-librarians are reassigned as recently proposed,” he stated.
The district explained that the reassignment of secondary librarians to classroom positions will help alleviate an increase in class size due to the 60 FTE reduction.
“It was not a district decision [to reassign secondary librarians] as principals have the final decision about use of the staffing allocated to their schools,” said Bellevue School District Interim Superintendent Karen Clark. “One middle school has not had a librarian for several years and two middle and two high schools have had only a part-time librarian,” she added.
Still, for Lake Hills Elementary School Librarian Kristine McLane, the reassignment of secondary librarians is a concern.
“I think the community needs to be made aware that while no RIFs (reduction in force of continuing contracted employees) were necessary, there are certainly devastating cuts to programs that are both shortsighted and damaging,” McLane said. “The collections in these libraries are worth well over a million dollars, and there simply aren’t classified staff available who have the sufficient training and knowledge necessary to manage these resources appropriately in a manner that best serves the students and teachers in the Bellevue School District,” McLane pointed out.
The reassigned librarian positions will be filled by aides to oversee the management of the middle and high school libraries.
“Does this mean that we do not value information literacy skills – absolutely not,” Clark said. “Instruction begins in elementary schools and is most certainly continued in classrooms in secondary disciplines such as English, social studies and science. This is not about who might be able to do it better, but a matter of difficult choices in times of budget reductions to keep class sizes manageable for all teachers,” Clark explained.
Lindsay Larin can be reached at 425.453.4602.
