This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Schools

A Library Without a Librarian

When Charter Oak High School's librarian retired last year, budget cuts prevented the school from finding a replacement.

It’s no secret that budget cuts have hit local school districts hard, and as current California fiscal negotiations have come to an end, some of the repercussions of limited finances are beginning to become too much to ignore.

Since June 2010, Charter Oak High School has been without a certified librarian, leaving the sole library staffer and teachers and students throughout the school to pick up the slack. When veteran Librarian Paula Dacker decided to retire at the end of the 2009-2010 school year, the school and Charter Oak Unified School district made a now common decision when a staffer retires.

“Basically, any teacher the school doesn’t have to replace, they didn’t replace them,” explained Vice President of the Governing Board at COSD Joseph Probst. “We’ve tried to keep (budget cuts) away from the students, but it’s getting really noticeable.”

While a librarian would seem an essential element at any quality campus, Charter Oak seems to be dealing with the situation as well as could be expected. The current Library Technician, Linda Hauser, has been at the high school 13 years, and worked for the district for 20. While her role at the school has been expanded to include book buying and running the freshman orientation, there is one duty she is not certified to fulfill.

“The library technician doesn’t provide assistance to students with research papers,” explained District Superintendent Mike Hendricks. “That’s a role the English teachers are taking a bigger part in.”

Hauser has seen first hand the effects that an ever-tightening budget has had on the school. When she first started at the high school, the library staff not only featured two full-timers, but also a four-hour-a-day instructional aid. Nowadays, beyond increased support from teachers in specialized research, student aids and the student body in general have pitched, too. Hauser recalls one story from the beginning of this school year with obvious pride.

“The freshman football team helped put books away for hours a day,” recalled Hauser. “They finished with practice at 8 a.m. and came in to help out. We started a new tradition.”

But despite the great help the school community has been, it can’t fully replace the ability to hire individuals with specialized talents. In this regard, the district clearly has an eye towards the state government level, as Governor Jerry Brown's talks with with legislature comes to a halt.

“They aren’t getting huge amounts of new books, they don’t have the professional librarian there,” explained Probst, citing rumors of $800 in annual spending cuts per student. “We’re just hoping for the best with the budget.”

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?