Please give me a reality check!

[Beverlee Day <bevday@METRO2.K12.MN.US>]

Dear readers:

You have provided tremendous support in the past, and I am now hoping to
receive that as well as a reality check. I'll try to be brief...
I have not been offered a contract for next year. Instead, the principal
told me that he needs to write a new job description for a technology
coordinator who will oversee our network (which the LIBRARY WAS NOT put
on!) and troubleshoot hardware problems. He is going to try to make a
part-time job description for me for next year, but nothing has been
offered yet. In the meantime, I am seeking employment elsewhere.

This came as a shock to me since it was 3 years ago when I first arrived
here that I was being told that money was going to be put into a new
library media center with a lot of technology. At that time, the library
was, literally, in boxes. I took it, from the ground up, to what it is
today. As you can imagine, this involved a lot of hard work. In addition,
I have just completed (as of 2 weeks ago) automating the library. This was
such a struggle for me because I did not receive one penny from the
school-only through grants. So, after leading me on for 3 years, not giving
me the money I was told would be set aside for the library (and a whole
slew of other politics), they cut my position.

The teachers were upset when I told them I was not being offered a
contract. Yet, the principal turned around the following week, assuring
them a librarian would be here the following year. Since then, no one has
really inquired into the progress of this situation. I figure, if they
figure someone will be there for a prep time for next year, why worry. And
that, exactly, is the problem: I am more than a prep time and am severly
underestimated here! Moreso, I sent a memo to all faculty and staff to let
them know about the completion of automation. I invited them to come to the
library to see the new "transformation." I also put a message in our parent
newsletter stating the same.  NOT ONE PERSON HAS COME TO THE LIBRARY to see
what I have been up to for the past 3 years.

Please give me a reality check! My questions for you: Am I being overly
sensitive here? Am I taking this too personally?  Put otherwise, do
faculty, parents and the principal just NOT CARE ABOUT THE LIBRARY? I mean,
I should have gotten the hint by now, right? Would the teachers be
up-in-arms if they didn't offer you a contract? Do they care about what you
do in the library? Do parents care about your school library?  Does it
matter to you that you are treated as a professional and valued for all of
your hard work? Do I need to get out of school libraries and go back into
public libraries?

I am really trying to be positive, but on the other hand, enough is enough...

Thanks for hearing me out!

Beverlee Day, Librarian
St. Paul, MN
bevday@metro2.k12.mn.us

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