West Aurora School District 129 has plans to cut some elementary school librarian director positions as part of an effort to add more science and math education to the curriculum.
The School Board has authorized the elimination of 10 library media center directors.
“School librarians can’t take the job until they have a master’s degree. We are basically throwing that knowledge out the window and hoping maybe a teacher can guide them to a book,” School Board member Valerie Brown Dykstra said.
Administrators Monday night outlined a plan to have three district-wide learning media center librarians rotate to the district’s elementary buildings with staff filling in during other times. Instead of having a dedicated time for students to go to the library each week, they intend to add 50 minutes of STEM – which stands for science, technology, engineering and math – lessons and allow flexible time during the week to visit the library when it fits in with what is being taught.
Library-related activities are not being eliminated, school district officials said. Letters explaining the changes were sent to parents.
Kindergarten students will continue to have a set time for library visits each week.
Nick Baughman, director of elementary education, said the changes followed an analysis of the elementary program that led them to “rethink” what they are doing.
Some challenges identified are limited access to STEM concepts and inconsistent expectations for elementary library media center directors, he said.
Currently first- through fifth-graders have 50 minutes of art, music and physical education per week. They have also had 50 minutes each week for going to the library media center.
Next year’s STEM model would add 50 minutes of science, technology, engineering and mathematics activities, and library time would be on a flexible schedule.
“Students will have access to technology that will enhance their ability to apply science findings and mathematical applications to solve problems,” Baughman said.
The goal is to have students be able to apply STEM skills across a variety of subjects.
Baughman said they have redesigned the English/Language Arts and science curriculum to include STEM into the lessons.
“We need to be able to place our students in a position to be successful. The STEM models will give us the structure that allows us to meet these challenges and develop a system that is more efficient in teaching,” he said.
School Board member Allyson Herget said an emphasis on STEM makes sense, but she has concerns for students who aren’t scientifically or mathematically minded.
“I was one of those kids,” she said. “I was a reader and language arts person. What I see happening on a national scale is that we are doing so much to address the STEM rigor and competition that we are taking away time for kids to be kids: to be imaginative and get comfortable in a corner reading a book.”
She said the district needs to remain flexible.
“If we see in the course of this next year that things may need to be tweaked or brought back, I hope that we do remain open so we can address the learning styles and modes of all students,” she said. “Unfortunately our teachers are so inundated now with national standards…it’s hard for them to take on the role to (identify a student’s) interest and see what it will to get that student to learn. A lot of times learning media center directors can do that.”
Baughman said the change was “not taken lightly.”
“This is about providing more opportunity, not taking away.”
Dykstra said she thought the change should have been debated in public before it was adopted.
“I think something of this magnitude should have been discussed openly before the public before we made a decision to eliminate the (library director) positions and transfer to the STEM model,” she said. “This is supposed to be an open and transparent administration. Some of the problems with the last administration were that things were done and the board was notified afterward. While you talked to us, you certainly did not have board approval to go forward with this.”
She also said she worries the district is basically “eliminating the majority of opportunities for children to go to a library.”
“We have a population of students well below the poverty line, and this is the only opportunity for a number of these children to ever have to visit a library. And we are taking that from them,” she said.
“We have dedicated science time, use the STEM in there or hire a STEM teacher. … But to abandon your librarians and reading programs for a STEM program in my opinion is wrong and I will not support it.”
Superintendent Jeff Craig said the decision involved the matter of personnel that subsequently required the administration to present the proposal to the board in closed sessions. He said it was shared in three executive sessions, which are not open to the public.
“The board basically said ‘we are OK with you moving forward with the process.’ We would not have done that without that approval,” he said.
Esther Bevin, a North Aurora resident with a child in the West Aurora school system, is the library media center director at Gordon Gregory Middle School in Indian Prairie School District 204. She has expressed her concerns over the librarian staffing reduction plan at the last two school board meetings.
Bevin said it is “critical” to have a librarian in each elementary building for students and teachers.
Bevin said school librarians are trained as “reading advisers” to know “when to place the right book in the hands of a child at the right time.”
She said curating a library collection is essential as each building has a different demographic of students.
“Part of the role of the school librarian is to know the population,” she said. “Curating the collection involves having a collection that is both a window and a mirror allowing for growth.”
She said the role of librarians also involves “coaching and collaborating with teachers.”
“Students going to the library for research or practice inquiry-based learning will have to wait for a certified librarian to be available to assist them. A para-professional is not skilled in this area,” Bevin said.
Linda Girardi is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News
