HIT: SEC Class scheduling policies/problems, part 1

["Pantginis, Tina" <Pantginis@MAMKSCHOOLS.ORG>]

>Dear lm_netters,
>               This is a second posting with some additions
>       Thank you so much for your responses.  You have all given me a great
>deal to think about.  As expected, the responses were varied, but I
>value all the input you've given me.  With all this material I know that
>a compromise can be worked out between me and the social studies
>department.
>        Several of you asked about my staff, population and available space.
>My assistant and clerks are over 60 years old; they're knowledgable, but go
>at their own pace.  I have a student population of 1,100 students, and my
>space is relatively large with seating for 80, yet difficult to supervise.
>At a good angle I can see 50% of the facility (the stacks are in the middle
>of the room - go
>figure!), so I do a lot of laps.  I do have a classroom, but it's up a flight
>of stairs and offers me no visibility (as a result, I rarely allow students
>up there without a teacher).  During class periods I can expect an average of
>40 walk-ins with frees, and during the universal lunch period I can get up to
>125 walk-ins.
>       This is also an open campus. Students do not need passes to get into the
>library and they can come and go between period breaks.  So essentially my
>library is active before classes visit for research.  In terms of hardware, I
>have 4 386's running my catalog and 5 pentiums connected to a CD-ROM tower.
>These are always in high demand.
>        If this info prompts more responses I'll post another hit.
>        Thanks again, you've been very helpful.  Hope your vacation was
>restful
>Tina Pantginis, LMS
>Mamaroneck High School
>Mamaroneck, NY
>
>Tina
>I inherited the same type of situation as you did.  What I did was that I
>just let them go ahead and come in and when they see what I can do for
>them when they plan ahead - the situation turned itself around.  I know
>that it was not as full serviced as you would like to be, but it was a
>start and I didn't make any enemies.  Now that I have been here for 6
>years, my class numbers have gone from serving 6,000 students in a year
>to serving 12,000 in 1 nine week period.
>Mary K. Knox
>Media Specialist
>Ankeny High School
>(515)965-9630
>(515)965-9639 fax
>mknox@hs.ankeny.k12.ia.us
>
>I guess it depends on your facility, how large?
>It also depends on how willing your teachers are to share.
>I have a fairly large library for  a small school (350 in the high
>school).  I have more than one class in my library at a time.
>Sometimes I have one class in the lab, one/two classes in the library
>area and one class in the viewing area.
>I tell my teachers that if they want my help they need to sign up and
>give me advance notice on what the students are working on.  If they
>sign up they can have "protected time" in the library.  This means
>others can come in with their permission.  This is also true of the
>lab.  My duties mostly include help with computer problems, printing
>ect.  Most of our students know how to research and would rather do
>this on their own.  Some need help with internet.  I willingly help
>any who need help unless they are just being lazy.
>
>
>I think that you have stated all of the arguements against double
>classes. I don't know your situation, but would they try to teach 60 students
>at
>a time?  Luckily, I don't have the space or seating situations to handle
>more than one class at a time.   And since I teach middle schoolers, I know
>that the socialization would be an important aspect to the kids, and it would
>be hard, if not impossible, to keep the two groups separated and on task,
>especially if the materials needed were to overlap.  How many computers
>and search stations do you have?  How will 60+ users at a time affect their
>use and availability?  Getting cooperation is a tough and tricky task, but
>keep plugging at it.  I think sometimes teachers equate librarian with
>unlimited service to make their lives easier (translation: patsy), and it
>takes a
>little while to educate them to include us, cooperate with us, and
>consult with us rather than just saying Okay, I'm coming on Tuesday.  I've
>been here 19 years and only one dyed-in-the-wool old style teacher bucks at
>times, but he's coming around and is a lot better.   Keep assertively asking
>for
>their cooperation and don't give in!
>Happy Holidays.
>Debbie Thompson                    Secretary
>Middle School Librarian            Missouri Association of School
>Librarians
>Camdenton R-III                    P. O. Box 2417
>P. O. Box 1409                     Lake Ozark, MO  65049-2417
>Camdenton, MO  65020-1409          573-964-6543 (also fax)
>573-346-5651 x173
>nzx012@mail.connect.more.net
>
>We are a high school of 1900 students in grades 10,11, and 12.  Our Media
>Center seats about 85 students.  We often have two classes booked in at once
>and individuals or groups using the center too.  Here is how we handle
>the conflicts.  The first class to sign up for a period has the say as to
>whether they share.  If another teacher also wants to bring their class at
>the same time, they must first get permission from the original teacher.
>This keeps me from being put in the middle.  You didn't say how large your
>school was or how much seating you had, but I would make every effort to
>accomodate teachers who want to get in.  If two classes at once all need the
>same few computers, then this is a consideration in scheduling also.I
>sometimes offer to pull books and send them on a cart to the classroom if
>there is no seating left in the MC.  Good luck.
>Linda Brake
>Evergreen High School
>Vancouver, Washington
>
>Dear Tina,
>
>I'm a middle school librarian so the situation is not quite the same but I,
>too, allow only one class at a time in the library for research.  We also
>have drop ins that need assistance.  Being a middle school our students
>probably need more individual help than yours but then again, who knows.  My
>teachers agree with this because they have tried to schedule two classes
>together and they have felt the frustrations of the students when I couldn't
>do everything for everybody.
>I can't offer any solutions, though.  If the classes aren't working on the
>same topics, I do fill carts for teachers to take to rooms when they both
>want to do research on the same days.  This has worked although I don't
>consider it the ideal situation.
>Deborah Bailey                  dbailey@sinnfree.sinnfree.org
>West Middle School
>Rockford, IL 61103
>
>Tina,
>     My library seats only about 50 students, so that is a deterrent
>to two classes in the library. I have a calendar on the wall on which
>teachers sign up for specific days, so I can always say that another
>class is signed up. However, a few times it hasn't mattered , and I
>made do the best I could. We have only two computersfor research in
>the library, and we can't handle too many. (We have 500 students
>grades 9-12). I have no aides or clerks, just a couple of student
>helpers (?).  Good luck ...JudyJudy Stewman,Librarian
>De Queen High School
>De Queen, Arkansas 71832
>stewmanj@dqhs.dmsc.k12.ar.us
>
>Tina
>You are absolutely correct in your thinking and if in your position, I
>wouldn't budge too much from your stance.  It takes planning on your
>part as well as that of teachers and they have to understand that.
>It's difficult if they've had the same person for 20 + years and that
>person wasn't as forward in their thinking as you.  After all, things
>have changed and your time isn't taken up with stamping books and
>typing cards anymore so you can help the students! you've earned your
>degree as they have and you deserve and they should demand, that you
>use it for the betterment of everyone.  You go girl!
>Shirley LeClerc
>North Penn IMC
>Lansdale, PA
>
>Tina, I sympathize and I think this is one of the hardest things about
>our job.  Teachers tend to discount the role we play in introducing
>search strategies to the students.  They minimize the difficulty that
>students have using resources when they have not been sufficiently taught
>about those resources.  And it sounds as if your predecessor played a
>minimal role in the teaching aspect of the job.
>One thing that was once suggested to me, and that I tried with mixed
>success, was setting aside one lunch time a month (or a semester, or
>whatever) to eat lunch with that team of teachers in the library and
>discuss their library needs for the upcoming period.  They bring their
>lunches and you provide dessert.  Then maybe when they get there you can
>show them some lesson plan you have used successfully, or one that you
>heard about at a conference or in a professional journal.  Maybe they'll
>get it!  Good luck!
>
>Carol Lisker Kennedy, Blue Bell Elementary School
>801 Symphony Lane      voice 215-628-1903
>Blue Bell, PA 19422    e-mail ckennedy@mciunix.mciu.k12.pa.us
>"Listen to music, read novels, smell the flowers, and the rest
>will take care of itself."
>
>Dear Tina,
>
>I am in my 5th year in a high school of about 700 students.  I have a plan
>book that I place on the circulation desk and have teachers sign up for
>bringing their classes.  I really try to have only one class per period.
>I ask the teacher what is the assignment and how many students are coming.
>I will accomodate another class if the first class has been in the media
>center for more than 1 day on the assignment.  The first day is always
>busy.  Now my media center has a computer lab of 10 IBM ( networked to the
>CD Tower) and 5 Macs, also I have seating for 40.
>
>What has helped me is the CD Tower and network.  The social studies dept.
>has a computer lab of 27 stations that can access the electronic
>information.  Hence they can get info even when the library is booked.
>
>The teachers are really good about adjusting their schedules to match with
>open times. Since the plan book is always available they can plan ahead.
>
>Good luck.  Stand your ground.  It is tough to replace someone who has
>been there forever.
>
>Kathy Keck  kkeck@ideanet.doe.state.in.us
>Crawfordsville High School
>Crawfordsville, IN  47933
>
>All of your reasons are valid and they should accept you as another
>professional with many other responsibilities as well.
>I keep a 3-ring binder that opens to a week at a time.  Days and
>periods are blocked off and as teachers request library time, the
>blocks are filled in with their names and a brief notation of what is
>happening.  Once a block is filled in, I try very hard not to sign in
>another teacher for that block of time.  Teachers know where the
>binder is and frequently sign themselves in or ask what the
>possibilities are.  At that time we discuss the assignment and
>possible resources they might not have considered.  They also give me
>a copy of the assignment and any other info they may have on hand.
>Since they are required to turn in lesson plans a week ahead, they
>have to plan their time and can work out their time in the library
>ahead.  We've done this for so long now that as soon as they know they
>are doing something in the library, they bring me their schedules and
>we work out the times together.  I am usually booked a month ahead and
>new teachers scramble to get their requests in.  We have 1200 students
>in the top 2 grades; the library can seat 150 students, but NOBODY
>would think of just walking in.  Teachers may send up to 6 students
>down at a time unchaperoned.  Subs may not send any down unless the
>teacher has made an assignment and checked with me first.
>Good luck and kronya pola!
>Cathy Parthenakis
>
>
>