Teens, Aides to Man Library

High school students and part-time aides may replace the school district's only librarian in Lordstown, OH. The Lordstown Board of Education voted on June 4 to accept a proposal by members of the Lordstown High School National Honor Society to work in the district's two school libraries during the 2002–2003 school year. A plan to hire two library aides for three to four hours a day was also passed and is awaiting the superintendent's approval.

Gary Koch, the board's vice president, calls the plan "a temporary stopgap measure" prompted by the district's fiscal crisis, which prevents the reinstatement of a full-time media specialist, reported the Tribune Chronicle . In March 2002, a state-appointed fiscal commission eliminated the position of Jane Cribbs, Lordstown's sole school librarian.

Koch says student volunteers will not miss class time to work in the library, but will use their study-hall periods to help kids find books and other information. "More or less, [they'll be] mentoring and reading to the younger students," Koch says. "In order to keep the doors open and keep books from walking away." Lordstown Teachers Association President Pat Pollifrone says the union does not object to students functioning as aides to the librarian. "But we do object to students being used to replace the librarian," he says. Pollifrone hopes that the librarian position will be reinstated. In a May 31 e-mail message, State Superintendent Susan Zelman reiterated Ohio's new operating standards for schools, saying, "A credentialed media specialist must supervise library aides."