California School District Closes All 28 Libraries

By Rocco Staino -- School Library Journal, 8/31/2009

First California’s Folsom Cordova Unified Schools got rid of all its certified media specialists—and now it’s axing its support staff and closing its doors. As of today, all 28 K-12 libraries in California’s will shutter, leaving 19,000 students with limited access to their media centers.

This marks yet another blow to the district’s libraries. Due to severe budget cuts six years ago, five certified librarians were eliminated and the district replaced them with technicians and assistants.

Now, even the support staff is getting the boot.

School library staffers became a bargaining chip in negotiations between the district and the California School Employees Association, the largest union for school employees. As a result, library technicians, assistants, and clerks have joined a total of 59 classified employees whose jobs have been eliminated to help close the district’s $14.7 million budget shortfall.

The district has urged the union to ask employees to take an ongoing three-day furlough in exchange for the restoration of 16 classified positions, some of which include library staff. But union leaders have rebuffed the offer, demanding that all positions be restored.

In the meantime, students will only be allowed access to the library when accompanied by a teacher, and they will not be allowed to check out any materials.

School superintendent Pat Godwin has suggested that teachers take a 'bucket of books’ to the classroom and circulate them at their discretion.

Officials of the Folsom Cordova Unified School District have not responded to SLJ’s phone calls or emails.

Pink slips were mailed in mid-July, and the library closures came three weeks after the start of the school year because the district was required to give its employees 45-days notice of their termination.

This blow to the library program comes six years after the district reassigned middle and high school librarians and halted subscription databases due to a lack of funds.

The district, located 20 miles east of Sacramento, recently invested $100,000 in Follett’s Destiny Textbook Manager program to help librarians automate textbook circulation, but the future of the program is now in doubt. 

Linda Rodriguez, a library tech at Folsom High School for the last 18 years, was surprised that the district chose to reinstate freshmen athletics instead of saving the libraries. "What a nightmare," she told the local Sacramento Bee. “There is no accountability, and things are going to be cannibalized."

Superintendent Godwin has suggested that students use the Internet, the public library, or resources at home to complete their classroom and research assignments.

In the past, when Folsom elementary libraries were closed, the Folsom Public Library saw an increase in use. Katy Curl, director of the Folsom Public Library, is expecting the same to happen this time. “The community has a history of backing school libraries,” she says. “Things are incredibly tough, but I am hopeful that some of the positions will be reinstated within the month.” 

Meanwhile parents and students of Sutter Middle School have taken this issue in their own hands by launching a fund drive to keep their library—which circulates about 15,000 items—open.