PA Schools Convert Libraries

Amy Strunk, the librarian at Washington Elementary School in Allentown, PA, was recently forced to give up her media center to make way for a second-grade class. Pam Kopishke, the librarian at nearby Ritter Elementary, had her library turned into a first-grade classroom. But luckily, McKinley Elementary managed to save its library by moving it into the gym.

So now, Strunk pushes a cart of books from class to class, stopping to teach her “literature-based” lesson and helping kids check out books with her portable scanner.

What’s happened to the libraries in this poor urban district? With a total of 22 schools, enrollment has exploded over the past few years—from 16,467 in 2001 to 18,504 last year—due to an influx of families from New York, New Jersey, and other urban areas who are looking for more affordable places to live. Now there’s simply not enough room.

The good news is that there are no plans to get rid of librarians, says Washington principal Donna Scholtis. Although nearly all of her students receive free or reduced lunch, the school has achieved the annual yearly progress requirement under No Child Left Behind for three years in a row, thanks, in part, to its librarians.