Beth Short-Rhoads alerted the Sitka School Board to the project at its regular meeting on September 4 (9-4-24).
Her testimony had a feeling of déjà vu, as Short-Rhoads was in the same chair six years ago, arguing against the closure of the middle school library when her daughter was in 6th grade.
“Now, she’s a senior,” said Short-Rhoads. “She doesn’t have a school library at the high school where she can check out books on a regular basis.
The district has one qualified librarian, but following unprecedented budget cuts this spring, he’s been moved to the middle school and is no longer in the Sitka High library full time. Short-Rhoads believes this undermines the important role of libraries in education.
“I know very well what the district is facing and the budget cuts that have come from on high but I was told, and many other parents were told, that the Sitka High library would be open this year and that students would be able to check out books,” said Short-Rhoads. “That has not been the case at the beginning of the school year, students weren’t able to check out books from any library in the district. That’s unacceptable.”
The school district’s compromise has been to staff the libraries with “media specialists,” or regular classroom teachers who receive additional training to manage libraries. In an email to KCAW, district superintendent Deidre Jenson explained that the transition was “a learning process” for everyone involved, and that training for the media specialists had not yet occurred.
“We need to get the media specialists as well as other personnel, particularly in the high school, training as well as access to the cataloging system in order for students to check out books,” Jenson wrote. “We’re working on that plan.”
In the meantime, Short-Rhoads told the school board that parents were trying to “turn lemons into lemonade” by sponsoring a library card drive at Sitka’s downtown public library, with the help of teachers to recruit students.
In the Sitka Public Library…
“I’m Emily Demmert, and I teach English at Sitka High School.”
Emily Demmert is one of those teachers. The very next day she escorted several of her students to the Sitka Public Library to obtain cards. Demmert says it was devastating to learn that Sitka High students would not have access to the school’s library.
She’s clearly on the side of reading.
“Kids don’t become lovers of books by just reading what’s assigned in English class or History class or whatever else,” said Demmert. “They have to learn how to browse for books. Think about books, make choices, reject books, get recommendations, and we talk about all of those things in my classroom.”
And all of those things are facilitated by a good school librarian.
Demmert believes that reading is critical to growing good citizens, and libraries are critical to reading. Period. Obtaining a library card is a requirement, even, in her Journalism class. And now, as Sitka reckons with an extended, community-wide internet outage, one of Demmert’s students, Leah Herzberg, understands what this facility represents.
“It’s the vast knowledge that is on shelves, on high shelves, that is important about libraries,” she said.
In front of the Sitka School Board, as her three minutes ticked away, Short-Rhoads wanted the board to see the school libraries as more than just rooms full of books.
“Libraries represent the freedom to read, no matter whether you have the funds to buy a book or not,” said Short-Rhoads. “Thank you.”
Short-Rhoads said no student would be denied a public library card, even if no adult co-signed the application, and that there would be the additional incentive of a pizza party in October.
