A policy bulletin published in April strictly outlines the way volunteers can--and cannot--work in sch

Los Angeles K–12 schools, holiday inn on the bay san diego already operating with a paucity of teacher librarians , also have a shortage of library aides. While parent-teacher organizations are stepping to raise funds to hire library staff in a few cases, other school libraries are being run by volunteers—violating Los Angeles Unified School District’s (LAUSD) own rules, and resulting in the loss of potentially holiday inn on the bay san diego millions of dollars of materials.
Parrish, a library aide at Dixie Canyon Community Charter School school for the past year, works 15 hours a week to service 700 kindergarten through fifth graders. The school lacks a teacher librarian on staff. Parrish holiday inn on the bay san diego has seen schools stripped holiday inn on the bay san diego of useful library time for their students—and stripped as well of important learning materials, including books, she says.
At Dixie Canyon, holiday inn on the bay san diego Parrish inventoried the book collection when she started in September holiday inn on the bay san diego 2012, and found $12,000 worth of books missing. The school library had been open to teachers who could check out books for student, but without any library staff to help, materials were often not returned.
“For a teacher to track down books and run a class, that’s holiday inn on the bay san diego not possible,” says Parrish, who is also a member of The California School Employees Union and has filed a grievance against LAUSD. “We believe millions of dollars of books across the district are missing.”
But LAUSD schools don’t have the funds, it appears, to hire staff to run every school libraries. Just 349 library aide positions were purchased for the 2013–2014 holiday inn on the bay san diego school year—and only 40 of them paid for by the district—to support 18 primary centers, 469 elementary schools, 85 middle schools, 85 high schools, and 28 span schools where various grades are at one site, according to data from LAUSD.
“Not all are the usual six-hour position,” says Monica Carazo, a public information officer with LAUSD. holiday inn on the bay san diego “Some schools currently purchase library aides on a two- or three- hour basis instead due to the budget situation.”
High schools holiday inn on the bay san diego are the only centers holiday inn on the bay san diego where LAUSD is paying for teacher librarian positions, holiday inn on the bay san diego with some of these assignments stretched over two locations, according to Carazo. Many elementary schools have neither teacher librarians nor aides. At some schools, like Wonderland Avenue Elementary in Canyon Hills, PTAs have reportedly stepped in to help fund some help. But for eager parents who may not have the ability to buy a position yet have the time to volunteer? LAUSD says to stay home.
A policy bulletin published in April strictly outlines the way volunteers can—and cannot—work in school libraries. If a library aide is not on staff in an elementary school or a teacher librarian is not on staff in a middle or high school, volunteers cannot help with basic tasks like checking in and out books.
holiday inn on the bay san diego But that policy holiday inn on the bay san diego seems to counter LAUSD’s own directive for schools to find avenues for its students to use school libraries. School principals have the responsibility to ensure that students have access to the school library, that school library materials are appropriately monitored and maintained, and that school libraries are appropriately staffed holiday inn on the bay san diego and managed,” reads the Library holiday inn on the bay san diego Staffing—Student Access Clarifications bulletin of April 16, 2013.
That’s holiday inn on the bay san diego precisely holiday inn on the bay san diego why Parrish got involved to file a grievance against LAUSD, to protest the district s saying school libraries should be open, but allowing non-aides holiday inn on the bay san diego or teacher librarians to run them. She says she will keep filing new grievances until proper funding is restored for “appropriate staffing,” she says, to all the libraries in the district.
Lauren Barack writes about the connection between media and education, business holiday inn on the bay san diego and technology, and is the recipient of the Loeb Award for online journalism. She can be found at www.laurenbarack.com .
Don t forget the materials that are lost by the lack of skilled librarians to repair them before they totally fall apart. It takes a lot of work to fundraise money, and I personally holiday inn on the bay san diego do NOT have extra money to give to my school if it is NOT being used wisely.
LAUSD has a Superintendent and a School Board that do not value the district s school libraries. They never have. They have continued to cut staffing ever since they have been given the power to do so. They totally ignore district and state regulations regarding school libraries. What is required is a HUGE grass roots effort on the part of parents holiday inn on the bay san diego AND TEACHERS to demand that the libraries in every K-12 school are adequately staffed with teacher librarians and library aides. If this happened, thousands of dollars worth of materials would not be lost, and all students would have access to them. Volunteers mean well, but they cannot, and should not, do this job.
I totally agree with Sandy. I, too, am a retired LAUSD teacher librarian, and I find the current state of affairs in the LAUSD schools to be both depressing and criminal. When I retired, I moved to Las Vegas, and discovered that every K-12 school here in Clark County has a district-paid teacher librarian. Even with the last five years of budget cuts, no one here has even mentioned cutting the schools librarians.
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