No Victory for Philly School Libraries

Having just concluded its first academic year at three elementary schools and two middle schools, Victory makes no apologies for axing the media specialists. Lynn Spampinato, regional director for Victory Schools, says the reshuffling of funds went toward raising student achievement. And for Victory, that meant reducing class sizes, training teachers, and building "multimedia centers" equipped with new furniture, computers, and print and online materials. But what about the need for certified librarians? Well, none of the nine schools Victory oversees in New York, Baltimore, and Philadelphia have school librarians.

"The library isn't necessarily focused on the librarian," says Spampinato. "Librarians are very important, but when you have a limited amount of resources, you'll use your resources for your number-one priority—to open a multimedia center."

Victory officials need to take a closer look at studies by Keith Lance proving that well-staffed, equipped, and funded school libraries are directly related to student performance, says Karel Kilimnik, a second grade teacher at Mary McLeod Bethune Elementary School, which is run by Victory. "I'm totally appalled that [Victory] would walk in and wipe out the heart of the school," says Kilimnik.

Indeed, the five school libraries are still open, but there are no librarians to teach kids about information literacy or literature, says Kathryn Sullivan, Bethune Elementary's former media specialist, who was forced to give up her job to teach writing in, of all places, Bethune's school library. Sullivan says that part of the reason that librarians have been eliminated could be blamed on the fact that Philadelphia's teachers are paid average annual salaries of $69,000, while school librarians earn $80,000.

Many educators aren't pleased with Victory's strategy. Bethune's fully automated, 14,000-volume library is "not being utilized as a library during the day," says Sullivan, who was accustomed to classes filling her library daily.

It's too soon to tell what impact the absence of librarians will have on student achievement, says Kilimnik, because test scores haven't come back yet. But one thing is for sure, "Kids are losing out on a lot because they're not being exposed to the librarians' experience and expertise," she says. The four other Victory schools in Philadelphia are Richard Wright Elementary, Anna Pratt Elementary, Thomas FitzSimons Middle School, and George Pepper Middle School.