Dear Lindy and LM_Net,
Your superintendent and assistant are being feed a lot of bull. Several
years ago a school district near us built a small high school library
because they were told students would be doing everything from the classroom
on the Internet. Two years later, the district had to remodel the high
school and turn its small library into a full size high school library that
could accommodate two classes plus walk-ins. It seemed the students and
teachers needed a library and library professionals in order to be "the
school of the future." Many of these students are children of Microsoft
employees, so I guess "the school of the future" for Microsoft includes
libraries.
Our District is in the process of building a second high school and
re-modeling our current high school. Both buildings will have large
libraries that can accommodate 120 students in the main area of the library
with 42 computers, and an attached full size library computer lab for the
librarians to teach information literacy skills to students. While we were
in the planning stages our staff visited over 20 new and remodeled high
schools in our state and every one had a library. Some smaller and some
larger than the school libraries we will build. I don't know of a single
District in our state that has eliminated libraries from new or re-modeled
schools.
So, if your superintendent and assistant superintendent want to lose their
jobs because they cost your District extra taxes to add on a library after
the fact, then it's their funeral. Unfortunately, the children and parents
of your District will have to deal with the fallout while the architects
walk away with their fees.
--
Peter G. Mohn, LMS
Snohomish Freshman Campus
Snohomish, WA
pmohn2001@earthlink.net
"You live and learn. Or you don't live long." -- Heinlein
On 3/29/06 9:40 AM, "Lindy Hutchison" <lhutchison@MAIL.SWEENY.ISD.ESC4.NET>
wrote:
> Dear LM_NET,
>
> Our district is in the process of planning a new high school. The architects
> are here and are saying that "many new schools are being built without
> libraries," and that "students will each have their own individual gizmo and
> be able to access everything they need on-line." (sigh) I've already turned
> over to them the results of the Colorado Study, et. al., but they seem
> unconvinced that, in planning for "the school of the future," the library will
> not be obsolete. They postulate that the students of today and of the future
> are so used to being wired (& wireless) that they think and learn differently
> from those of us who are older. Arguments about snuggling up with a book and
> quilt in front of the fire, they say, hold true for older generations, but our
> students are coming of age in a new ethos.
>
> I've been to the meetings; teachers, parents, and many students seem stunned
> at the thought of doing away with the library. The architects seem to have
> convinced the superintendent and the assistant superintendent of finance,
> though, that they are right.
>
> I've looked through the LM_NET archives & could not find a similar situation.
> I've been researching & did not find evidence of other school districts
> thinking that this was a good idea. If any of you have experience with or
> know of such a situation, especially research showing that the library is not
> totally on the way out, I would really appreciate hearing from you.
>
> Ever thankful for LM_NET,
> Lindy
>
>
> Lindy Hutchison, Librarian
> Sweeny HS Library
> Sweeny, TX
> lhutchison@mail.sweeny.isd.esc4.net
>
> "Let us put our minds together and see what life we will make for our
> children."
> --Tatanka Iotanka (Sitting Bull)
>
>
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