Component B: Administrative Support

2022-2023

When I arrived in Colorado for the 2022-2023 school year, I encountered a library collection that needed a good amount of work and care. Once I got my arms around the kind of collection I had inherited, its strengths and weaknesses, I was able to plan a way to improve it. I was very lucky to have arrived with lots of brand new books ready to be added to the collection at no charge to the campus. With the support of my district library director, I presented my first State of the Library report to my principal, Mr. Singleton. I wanted him to have a clear understanding of the collection's status and how I was prepared to make it better.  Mr. Singleton was supportive of my ideas and could understand why the library needed financial support, but the budget I was given was unclear and a bit "wishy-washy." He appreciated my presentation and asked me to present it to our SAC (Student  Accountability Committee) group; I was happy to do so. For this presentation for our parents, I brought in examples of books that I had weeded and why so that the parents could see and understand the need to remove and replace books in the library. They were very enthusiastic and willing to help in any way they could. After the SAC presentation, Mr. Singleton provided me a clearly definied budget of $10,000 to begin work on the library. He also promised me $10,000 the following year. I was thrilled.

2023-2024

Over the summer, my principal took another position in the district and my campus brought in a new principal, Ms. Shanor. I met with her at the start of the year to ask about the library budget I had been promised. I was told that the funds were not available and the best she would be able to do for the library was a budget of $1,500. It was a blow to the library and the work I was looking forward to doing in my second year on campus. I did the best I could, brought in what I was able, worked on bringing in strong programming and met with her to explain my continued vision for the library and what I needed in order to accomplish that. Ms. Shanor was incredibly supportive and provided me a much healthier budget: $11,300 for the following school year. It was an incredible moment of achievement. I knew we would be on our way to a stronger collection. 

2024-2025

In the Spring of the 2024-2025 school year, I asked to present my next State of the Library to the entire admin team: my principal, Assistant Principal, and Dean of Students. I wanted to show them how I had utilized my healthy budget and how much progress had been made with the budget I'd been given. The presentation also included a request for funding for next school year as well and the plans I had to continue my work. It was a great success and my presentation was well received. I requested $16,500 for the following school year and received more than I had asked for - $18,000! I felt incredibly supported and knew that with Ms. Shanor's backing, our library was set up for success.

2025-2026

My principal and admin team were very excited to think about what the library can evolve to be as we work to adjust our entire campus for our incoming students. Ms. Shanor once again provided me a healthy budget of $18,000 for library books for the 2026-2027 school year. She also agreed to help support the furniture update with an additional $25,000 campus contribution!