85 Los Angeles Teacher Librarians laid off! (1 of 3 posts)

1 of 3 posts on this issue...

Yesterday, Kathleen Sheppard, Teacher Librarian at Taft High School in a suburb of Los Angeles reported the following very sad news:

“Sadly given the [LA Unified] school district fiscal status, 85/130 [85 out of 130 total middle and high school] Teacher Librarians have been RIFed [Reduction in Force = layoff notices]. We have a meeting with a UTLA attorney tomorrow evening. It seems that for many we are educating our school sites, parents, students, school board and superintendent about libraries, Teacher Librarians and student achievement. I believe that the district intends to eliminate our teaching positions. School Site Council had to decide to fund with reduced categorical money either a diploma project counselor, two counselors, Teacher Librarian, computer support tech, library aide and/or .5 school nurse for Taft high school 2011-12 year. All are essential on a comprehensive high school campus.

The Model School Library Standards, Ed Code, WASC, CTC, union representation and stakeholder advocacy may hopefully cause the board to rescind the decision for personnel that impacts the classroom. It's disheartening to need to justify that the library is a classroom and that we are dually credentialed teachers of information literacy, digital literacy, ethical use of information and cyber safety as well as facilitating access to resources to differentiate instruction.”

Best,

Kathy

Kathleen Sheppard
Teacher Librarian
Taft High School
5461 Winnetka Avenue
Woodland Hills, CA 91364
krsheppard814@gmail.com