[LM_NET] GEN: American Libraries Online picks up "65 percent solution" story

[Alice Yucht <ayucht@GMAIL.COM>]

Posted for Ann Dutton Ewbank, and as originally posted on AASLForum:
----------------------------------
Colleagues,

See the link below to read the story about Peggy Rudd and Gene Hainer's
meeting with the US Department of Education regarding the
classification of school librarians.

http://www.ala.org/Template.cfm?Section=News&template=/
ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=111470


Now for my commentary:

There is quite a backstory about how this meeting came to be, and it
involves the concerted efforts of many people from the grass roots on
up to the tall trees.

For several years, concerned AASL members in Arizona have been trying
to make sense of the fact that librarians are lumped into a fiscal
classification called "non-instructional," even though the primary job
duty of a school librarian is indeed instructional. We spoke with our
state auditor general, our state legislators, our state congressional
delegation, and our state superintendent about the issue to no avail.

Only when we brought the issue to our state librarian, GladysAnn Wells,
who was then president of COSLA (Chief Officers of State Library
Agencies), did the dominoes begin to fall. GladysAnn queried the other
49 members of COSLA about the issue and then wrote a letter to
Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings in favor of moving school
librarians into the "instructional" classification as well as for
inclusion in NCLB as required to be highly qualified. GladysAnn was
originally slated to be at the meeting but had last minute business in
Arizona, so Gene and Peggy stepped up and did a marvelous job of
advocating our position. This meeting was months in the making and
required a lot of hard work to get it to happen. Congratulations to all
of the people who got the ball rolling.


My concern (which I have expressed on the Forum before) is that there
are groups that are advocating this position to Secretary Spellings
independently of each other. Wouldn't it make more sense to have a
unified front to bring to the Secretary? It would certainly be a
powerful statement if all of the groups working on this issue would
communicate. These are the groups that are working or should be working
on the issue:

1. AASL- Staff met with ALA Research and ALA Media Relations office to
discuss strategy in November 2005 as a response to Affiliate Concern.
2. AASL Affiliate Assembly- approved a concern regarding school
librarian classification in June 2005.
3. NCLIS (National Commission on Libraries and Information Science)-
sent letter to Sec. Spellings advocating inclusion in NCLB in June
2005.
4. ALA Washington Office: Prepared a position statement on inclusion in
NCLB in 2004.
5. ALA Task Force on School Libraries- Actions unknown
6. COSLA- sent letter to Sec. Spellings in September 2005 and met with
Carolyn Snowbarger (DOE) in November 2005.
7. IMLS (Institute of Museum and Library Services)- Actions unknown
8. AASL Legislation Committee- Actions unknown

Changing the classification of school librarians in the NCES definition
should be AASL's number one priority right now, because all funding
issues relate back to it and it is also related to the
inclusion/exclusion of librarians in NCLB.

What can AASL do to facilitate communication among the above named
groups in order to provide a unified front when asking for these
changes? Create a special committee?


  If there are others interested in calling for a special committee,
please contact me. According to the AASL Bylaws, "Special committees,
with specific charges to be completed by designated times, may be
established at any time by the AASL president with the approval of the
AASL Board of Directors or by request of the AASL membership."

Thanks,

Ann

(The opinions expressed in this email are my own and do not represent
the Arizona Library Association).

Ann Dutton Ewbank, Ph.D.  adutton1 AT cox.net
8th Grade Reading Teacher
Cholla Middle School
President-elect- Arizona Library Association
http://www.phxlibris.com
-----------------------------------------------------------
Note from Alice:

Based on informal research I did 2 years ago, at least 20 states
classify school llibrarians as non-instructional, and/or 'educational
services."
Do YOU know how your state classifies your job?

Alice Yucht, aka Alice in InfoLand
writer, speaker, mentor, curmudgeon, and
Library Management / Information Skills consultant
Highland Park, New Jersey
ayucht at gmail dot com
http:www.aliceinfo.org

"We may be service-oriented, but we don't have to be servants."

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