What's Happening | What Can I Do? | Who Will Cuts Affect? | Why Are Teacher Librarians Being Cut? | How Much Money Will Be Saved by Cutting Teacher Librarians? | How Will Cuts Affect People? | Will Libraries Close Completely? | How Much Access Will Be At Risk By Cutting Teacher Librarians? | Access? But, Hasn't the Internet Replaced the Need for Libraries? | Why Does it Make a Difference to Have Credentialed Librarians? | But, Aren't Teacher Librarians a "Bonus"? | Realistically, How Will Schools Be Different Without Teacher Librarians?

Make it a habit! Keep attending future board meetings to hold the Governing Board accountable for their actions and decisions. 

Cuts to GUHSD Teacher Librarians will affect all students, teachers, staff, and community members at the 9 public, comprehensive San Diego East County high schools.

While we do not have access to exact figures, much less money will be saved than people may think. Consider the following factors.

• 💰 A District Librarian or Contracted Services Will Need to Be Added - There will be new, added costs associated with hiring either a district library or contracting librarian services with an outside agency (e.g., SDCOE). Also, what may be saved in money will be lost in services. With a district librarian, a single person will be split serving 9 comprehensive school sites. With SDCOE, the Librarian of Record is a single person already serving ~70 school sites.

• 💰 At Least 5 Full-Time Classified Staff Positions Will Need to Be Added - Since 5 of the 9 school sites are staffed by a solo Teacher Librarian working without a classified Library Technician, cutting Teacher Librarians would leave these school libraries without any dedicated library staffing. Not only will these libraries lose all staffing with any experience; it also means new staffing that did not exist before will need to be hired. Will the district be allocating funds for sites to add these new positions?

• 💰 Additional Part-Time Staffing Will Be Needed at All Sites - Schools with solo Teacher Librarians (those without a full-time classified Library Technician) have already faced staffing issues keeping the library open throughout the school day (required by CA Ed Code 18103) since this takes more than one staff member to at least cover lunches and breaks. If Teacher Librarians are cut, all 9 sites will require additional staffing, which will either cost money or pull a staff member away from other responsibilities.

• 💰 Lower Paid Teachers Will Be Bumped - A Teacher Librarian must have a teaching credential prior to getting an additional teacher librarian credential. Thus, GUHSD teacher librarians also hold single subject credentials, and it is assumed they would bump teachers in their credentialed subject areas. Since most Teacher Librarians have many more years of experience than the new teachers they would bump, this means that much lower paid teachers will lose their teaching positions. Plus, we need these new teachers!

• 💰 Teacher Librarians are Professional Asset Managers - GUHSD Teacher Librarians are currently responsible for managing a high volume of valuable assets including not only library materials, but also textbooks and Chromebook resources. Proper management saves the district a large amount of money by preventing loss and recouping funds for damaged and lost items. Cutting Teacher Librarians would compromise the integrity of asset management by removing staff members with professional skills, expertise, and experience.

School libraries will lose their educational grounding and focus. The library space and existing books may still be accessible for students, but the professional managing the program will be gone.

It's like having a championship team with an all-star coach. You get rid of the coach to save money and put an athletic trainer in charge instead. The athletic trainer may be stellar at their job, but they do not have the expertise and experience of the coach. The team really needs both professionals, but what will happen to the team without a coach? 

The argument that libraries and librarians are no longer necessary due to technology is ill-informed for multiple reasons, including the following.

Teacher Librarians already fill in the gaps from staffing shortages caused by previous cuts.

While staffing configurations vary by school, these 6 site-level positions have already been reduced to 2-3 positions now such that the following is true:

• 5 of 9 Teacher Librarians run the library program without the support of a Library Technician. This means that in addition to their teaching-related responsibilities, they are also responsible for duties typically shared with Library Technicians such as processing library materials and handling of Chromebook repair processing.

• Teacher Librarians have absorbed a large portion of responsibilities related to device management and site-level technology help desk support. In fact, with their professional background and skills, Teacher Librarians have created much of the FutureForward Chromebook infrastructure (i.e., procedures, documentation, help resources, etc.) in collaboration with the now defunct GUHSDtech Instructional Technology Services team. Without GUHSDtech now, there is an even greater need for Teacher Librarian support.

• Teacher Librarian Chromebook support goes beyond checkouts, troubleshooting, and repairs. Teacher Librarians provide direct instruction and support from a student's start of high school with technology orientations all the way to graduation with the coordination of senior Chromebook sales.

• Many Teacher Librarians are also responsible for managing textbooks for the school, particularly if they are staffed with an additional classified staff member. Providing textbook access is not only required for Williams Act Compliance, but it represents a substantial financial asset for sites. Beyond checking textbooks in and out, Teacher Librarians are skilled in reporting, data analysis, and communications to recoup lost assets.

We could try to list every classroom collaboration, every committee we participate on, every club we advise, every resource we've created, and more. But, this page is already getting long!

The thing is, the loss of Teacher Librarians is not something that can be captured as a single line item. It is about losing people and the whole learning community that they bring together. Please help stop and reverse these cuts to support our students.