TARGET: ELEM: scheduling

[Bettie Fisher <fisherb@DEXTER.K12.MI.US>]

I am facing a situation in which I must prepare to present convincingly my
beliefs as a professional school librarian/media specialist.  I have been
operating  with a flexible access schedule in a K-5 building for almost 3
years with what I believed to be an increasing amount of success.  However,
one of the hot topics in my district right now is elementary teacher
planning time.  A retired classroom teacher has devised a plan in which
each teacher would get 1 hour per day of planning time.  There are 2
versions of this plan, but the common characteristic is that each "special"
teacher (music, gym, art, library, and computer lab) would see each class
in the building (there are 17 classes) for 1 hour a week on a fixed
schedule.  In addition, we would have recess duty once or twice a day
depending on which plan you look at.  One of the plans even has us
travelling to another building to provide planning time for teachers there
for 1/2-1 hour per day, 3 days a week.

Needless to say, I am not in favor of these plans.  In the first place, I
don't see the library as a "special."  I see the library as the heart of
the school, which should be fully integrated into a school's curriculum,
not treated as a separate subject.  Also, plans such as these seem to me to
relegate non-classroom staff to babysitters, or servants, of the classroom
teachers and to treat disrespectfully the professionalism of these staff
members.  The principal, who has always been very supportive of the
library, assures me that there is much in this plan that is unworkable, and
that I shouldn't be overly worried about it.  However, many of the
classroom teachers seem to be quite taken with the plan and it will be a
topic of discussion at our staff meetings for the next month or so.  The
very fact that they are so enamoured with it suggests to me that I have
failed in my 6 years in this building to show them the significance of the
library and my role as librarian.

Have any of you faced a similar situation? I know many librarians do have
fixed schedules. In my district, libraries were not contractually part of
planning time for several years; it appears now, while we are operating
under our old contract while negotiating continues, that we may lose that.
It feels like a major step backwards.

I suppose I am writing about this to the list because I need to vent among
those I believe will understand. I appreciate your taking the time to read
all this.  Thank you.  Bettie

Bettie Fisher
fisherb@dexter.k12.mi.us
9628 Daisy Lane
Dexter, MI  48130