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Has anyone done any work with North Central Accreditation?  NCA has recently
joined with Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Council on
Accreditation and School Improvement and as far as I can tell there are no
requirements now for librarians in the districts that are North Central
Accredited (new standards effective 2007/08).  

My position was always a bit sketchy (district librarian providing release
time at the two elementary buildings and no time at the middle school or
high school) but now that NCA has no requirements and budgets are tight my
position has been eliminated.  I will be working in a fifth grade classroom
next year and all the libraries will be run by support staff.  Needless to
say I am very disappointed.

Anyhow, I was just wondering if anyone had any insight with NCA staffing
requirements - maybe I just missed something that I can point out to our
administration.

Thanks everyone.  It's been great being a part of LM_Net over the years.

Kelly Sandy
Newaygo Public Schools
Newaygo, MI
ksandy@newaygo.net
 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Terrance Bynum [mailto:dpsmediaman@CHARTER.NET] 
Sent: Tuesday, June 05, 2007 11:03 PM
To: LM_NET@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
Subject: [LM_NET] HIT: Staffing ratios

Here's the hit--thank you to everyone that responded. I did NOT use more
than one response from each state.

The original post...

With budgets being cut all over the country, I'd like to target which states

have staffing ratios mandated by state law or state education department 
regulations, and what those ratios are--if you know.

MN--no longer any mandates.

1 librarian mandated per 1000 students for New York state middle and high
school 
students. 

Here in Massachusetts we have recommendations but no mandates.  The only 
reason my job is safe at the high school is because NEASC, our 
accrediting body, requires one fulltime library media specialist to 
maintain accreditation. 

Massachusetts School Library Association is working with the DOE to get some

teeth into the printed State Standards. Our standard says 1 librarian and 1 
full-time aide for every 500 students. It was 1 librarian for every 800 
students but was changed to reflect in increasing demands on librarians. 
These are standards but are not enforced by the DOE. 


Oklahoma has definite guidelines in Accreditation Standard VII. Here is the
link:
http://title3.sde.state.ok.us/library/Standardvii.pdf

Here is the link to Maryland's standards, staffing is one of the things
mandated, as is collection size and facilities.
http://www.mdk12.org/share/standards/statemed.pdf

Alaska has no mandated requirements.

Thank heavens ours in Montana are some of the strongest in country.
Part-time 
req. under 250 kids, 250 to 500 1 full time,  500 to 1000 is 1.5, over 1000
is 
2.  That is at every level k-12.

We have recommendations, no mandates in Missouri

You can look at this for Tennessee, but I can tell you that some of these 
"requirements" go unmet every day. There's not much teeth in this. And 
especially in small schools, the "librarian" is often a teacher who wants 
out of the classroom. 
http://www.discoveret.org/tasl/tnstatereq_slmc.htm 
 
North Dakota has staffing ratios mandated by DPI. In order to remain 
accredited, a school must provide a library media specialist, unless the 
total school population is less than twenty-five, in which case the school 
must provide DPI with a library media services plan that designates what 
access students have to library resources and services. Credential 
requirements are based on the size school that is being served. 
I hope this is what you were needing. 

Rule 10 mandates 1/5th time elementary school librarians in Nebraska. 
Middle school and high schools are required to have 1/2 time librarians. 
My position was cut to 1/2 time two years ago...after 30 years of being 
fulltime.  I serve two elementary schools.  A fulltime librarian covers the 
middle school and high school.  We each have a fulltime aide. 

I've been told by an administrator, but not seen in writing, the following
info for NJ.
Only Abbott schools MUST have a certified library media specialist in each
building, while all the other schools in NJ need to have, as a minimum, one
certified librarian PER DISTRICT.

Staffing ratios in Michigan are set by local district contract

Librarians are mandated only at the HS level in CT. Our regional accrediting
body; NEASC suggests one librarian for every thousand students but, I don't
think the state has a regulation for how many librarians you should have as
long as you have one. Still I know several large high schools that have 2
librarians. My library has 2. We have a student population of about 1600.
The other HS in the district has about 1400 kids and they have 2 librarians
as well.

Here in Indiana, we don't have library staffing ratios mandated to us. It's
up to the school system and their prorities. (and budget.) We are only
required by the state to have a certified school librarian in the high
schools. However, I believe most middle schools have them as well.
 
(Rhode Island)There is talk of revising our state standards.  The following
standards are considered state law now: 
 Elementary:   no librarian required for schools with fewer than 100
students 
        1 1/2 days a week in schools with fewer than 250 students 
        1/2 time librarian in schools with 250 - 499 students 
        full-time librarian in schools with 500 - 999 students 
 Secondary:     1/2 time librarian in schools with fewer than 250 students 
        full-time librarian in schools with 250 - 499 students 
        full-time librarian plus a full-time clerk in schools with 500 - 999
stud 
        2 full-time librarians  plus a full- time clerk in schools with over

                          1000 students 
        There shall be additional clerical assistance for enrollment beyond 
                          1500 students 
More details are on line at:  http://www.ri.net/RIEMA/BEP/bep.html 
 
So far as I can tell there is no state regulation requiring any libraries or

librarians in schools in Delaware - let alone any staffing levels.
 
Terry Bynum
Media Specialist
Stowe Elementary School
Duluth, Mn.
Terrance.Bynum@Duluth.k12.mn.us

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