The action item was originally placed on the meeting agenda as a consent item not open to discussion, but media specialist Sharon Stockdale persuaded MUSD board member Robert E. Garibay to allow public comments. Nonetheless, the elimination of the job category was approved 6–1. Other approved cuts included the elimination of family life teachers, the district music coordinator, and the district athletic coordinator—categorized along with library media teachers as “particular kinds of certificated services,” the March 15 Madera Tribune reported. School officials have stated that the reallocation is intended to reduce class size and bolster funding for three new schools.
“These March 15 notices are not the end of the discussion,” asserted Barbara Jeffus, school library consultant for the California Department of Education. Explaining that state law requires that educators be notified by March 15 of the “possibility of reassignment or layoff,” Jeffus told American Libraries that library advocates “need to be the path of most resistance so that decision-makers find other ways to reduce costs.”
As of the end of March, the Madera Tribune has published several opinion pieces opposing the decision. “What’s next? Why not English teachers? After all, we grow up speaking English,” retired sociology professor Jim Glynn wrote in the March 22 Tribune.
“One thing about California library people—we never grow to be complacent,” Jeffus said, noting that the advocacy of school district–level librarians in northern California has resulted in funding-hike promises for media center programs in Chico, Rio Linda, and San Francisco.