Information and help

[Cheryl Bybee <cbybee@TENET.EDU>]

About a week ago, I posted a plea to LM_NET for help in approaching our
school board about their plan to eliminate the position of Director of
Library Services.  I received MANY wonderful responses from
LM_NETters....Thank you all so much!  Here is where we stand now:  we feel
we had at least a minor victory in that the board voted to postpone their
decision until they could read through the information we presented.  Four
librarians spoke to the board--two from elementary, one from middle school
and one from high school.  We were careful to plan our speeches so that
each of us addressed a different concern.  We each made sure that we
stayed well under the five minute limit AND before the meeting we had
placed in front of each board members chair a packet of material.  We
wanted to keep that short and to the point as well.  In the packet we had
a copy of the SLJ, May '93 article by David Loertscher that documented
research findings that the quality of the School Library Media Center
program is second only to the absence of at-risk conditions in predicting
student success on standardized tests.  We also had three sections from
INFORMATION POWER about the district leader and the school library media
specialist as well as excerpts from a wonderful Texas Education Agency
document, THE LIBRARY MEDIA CENTER:  A FORCE FOR STUDENT EXCELLENCE.
Knowing that the board had planned to vote on the reorganization that
evening and may not take the time to read those three sets of information,
I typed a one-page synopsis stating the main idea of each of the three.
The outcome on Monday evening was that the board did delay voting on the
proposal!  We feel very good about that but are aware that they still may
vote with the new superintendent.  We are also somewhat worried about the
effect our activism will have on our relationship WITH the new
superintendent, but we felt we had to voice our concerns. So...wish us
luck and I will keep you posted as more decisions are made.  My special
thanks to the following "netters" who sent words of advice and wisdom:
Shelley Lochhead (the very first to respond...within a few minutes of the
posting, I believe :-) ), Diane Durbin, Julie Walker, Elizabeth Haynes,
Dianne Graham, Kathleen Lyssy, Johanna Halbeisen, Beth Eades, Donna Pool
Miller, Charles White, Kari Inglis, Madeline Buchanan, Catherine Cheely,
Barb Baker, Megan McGuire and Karen Whetzel. I hope I did not leave anyone
out....thank you SO MUCH for the messages and ideas...many (most) of which
were included in our 4 speeches.  THANK YOU ALL!!!!

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Cheryl Bybee, Librarian/Learning Resources Specialist
Katherine Stinson Middle School
13200 Skyhawk Drive
San Antonio, TX 78249
(210)561-3615      cbybee@tenet.edu
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Northside ISD