[aisle] Are there still middle school libraries?

[Huitron, Sofia]

Hi Stephanie,
I'm very sad to read this and disappointed you have an administrator that
does not support school libraries. Is this decision something the school
board is supporting?

I'm at D59 (Elk Grove) and we have 3 middle schools. This summer all 3
middle schools were renovated and we have new floors, lightning and all new
furniture, including movable shelving. Each library has a certified teacher
and assistants. We have a flexible schedule and classes come in to check
out books, and I go into classrooms too for lessons, book talks, etc. I
don't think our school libraries will be eliminated any time soon.

That being said, I should clarify the renovations were driven by a need to
use the libraries as a cafeteria. We have a new block schedule and an
entire grade level does not fit in the cafeteria, so the plan was to use
the library for overflow. I was not thrilled about that, but not much I
could do.
In addition, all 3 of us middle school librarians have been pulled to cover
classes the past few years, even before COVID. I've had to teach 6th and
7th language arts, World Spanish, and Spanish Heritage. This year I'll be
teaching a Tier 2 intervention class. So all this to say, although we have
school libraries, in our case, the role of the school librarian is not
highly valued, but that's not something new either, right?

*Sofía Huitrón*
LRC Teacher-Librarian
Grove Junior High School
847-472-3022
*"We cannot always build the future for our youth, but we can build our
youth for the future." - Franklin D. Roosevelt*


On Tue, Aug 23, 2022 at 3:46 PM Kleckner, Stephanie via AISLE <
aisle at list.railslibraries.info> wrote:

> Hi friends!
> I was told that this is highly likely the last year for our middle school
> library. My principal said that she needs the space and wants to turn it
> into 2 classrooms. She said she asked around our area and a lot of middle
> schools don't have "library time" anymore. She also stated that they would
> divide all the library books between the classrooms and encourage students
> to go to the public library. So, are middle school libraries still a thing?
> How many of you have thriving middle school libraries?
> Thanks!
> Stephanie Kleckner
> Library Media Teacher
> Mendota Dist. #289
>
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