Posted March 17, 2006.

Provo Schools Phasing Out K–8 Librarians

The Provo, Utah, City School District is stepping up its plans to phase out most of its certified media specialists at the elementary- and middle-school levels. Instead of awaiting retirements and resignations to shift the positions to classified employees—nonteaching staff members who are trained to maintain existing media centers and circulate materials—officials will cut budgets by 50% for K–8 libraries districtwide as of the 2008 school year. The savings will total some $250,000 per year and help the district absorb the costs associated with revaluing assets and liabilities under the Governmental Accounting Standards Board system as mandated by federal regulations, according to Business Director Kerry Smith.

“We don’t want to disrespect our media people, who’ve been doing a wonderful job in our elementary schools, but we have to direct our resources to where they make the biggest impact, and that is in the classroom,” Assistant Superintendent Ray Morgan said in the March 15 Provo Daily Herald, explaining that most school librarian duties can be performed by staff with less education. Edgemont Elementary School Principal Dennis Pratt agreed, telling the Daily Herald he has been “very, very pleased” with the classified librarian at his school.

“It’s a desperate thing that’s happening in Utah, and we’re not happy about it,” countered Laurel Harris, chair of the Utah Library Association’s School Library Section, adding that the staffing changes in Provo mean “we’ll be down to just three or four districts in the state that have elementary librarians.” She went on to tell American Libraries that at Jordan High School in Sandy, where she is the librarian, “I get kids here that don’t understand how to use Dewey Decimal, let alone how to do basic research.”

Certified media specialists in Provo who aren’t leaving the system are being transferred to classroom posts. But Amelia Earhart Elementary School librarian Becky Lewis told the Daily Herald she hasn’t decided whether to accept such a transfer. “I look forward to putting kids and books together to make a perfect match to start a new reading career. I love to teach them to want to research and to love to learn facts.”

Posted March 17, 2006.