To help close an $85.7 million shortfall, Hite presented a revised 2012 budget on February 1 that proposed cutting nearly half of the 186 full-time media specialists serving about 127,000 students in more than 180 schools. If the plan goes through, it would save $7.4 million.
The budget gap was the result of a change in state funding methods and declining school enrollment in the county, says Jennifer Hummel, a librarian and technology liaison at the Gladys Noon Spellman Elementary School in Cheverly, MD.
It's not over yet, however. "This is just a proposal and not a done deal," says district spokeswoman Lynn McCawley, explaining that a series of community hearings are scheduled to get feedback from parents and staff."
At the last meeting on February 3, 130 people including Pamela Thomas, a media specialist at the Samuel Ogle Middle School in Bowie, MD, attended. She was one of 21 people who spoke to the district's board of education.
"What data was used to determine the elimination of the 90 media specialist positions?" asked Thomas at the meeting. She went on to explain the importance of certified media specialists in academic achievement and said each individual library collection was valued at $250,000. That meant the elimination of 90 positions would amount to more than $20 million of underutilized materials sitting unattended. Following Thomas's presentation, the board urged concerned citizens to contact their governor's office to ask that funding be restored.
Media Specialist Pamela Thomas
Meanwhile, over the weekend the Maryland Association of School Librarians (MASL)—with support from the Maryland Library Association—posted an appeal on its Facebook page and listserv urging people to contact their legislators, the governor, and the lieutenant governor asking them to not follow through on a proposal to flat fund Prince George's County Public Schools.
This article originally appeared in the newsletter Extra Helping. Go here to subscribe.
most librarians are lazy. They sit around and drink coffee all day while making over $100,000... is this fair?
Posted by john on February 12, 2011 04:26:25AM
Wow, I really hope you're being sarcastic. The median salary for librarians in the US right now is $56k.
Posted by Ned on February 12, 2011 12:36:10PM
Yeah, especially since this averages out to $82k per librarian, which includes insurance...yeah I would say $56k is more accurate.
Posted by Bob on February 14, 2011 07:04:33AM
better them than teachers...
Posted by Chang on February 14, 2011 03:56:02PM
Librarians play critical roles in the education system especially with the advent of technology. Information literacy is a key to success in today's society. It's the application of what they've learned within the four walls of the classroom.
Posted by Jessica on February 15, 2011 11:14:18AM
Librarians are the ones you can turn to when you are
looking for a dish of black-eyed peas or to diss the
Black-eyed peas. They are the most important and
underpaid profession around. The only ones who could call
librarians lazy are those who don't take advantage of
their excellent service.
Posted by terrry brown on February 15, 2011 04:02:20PM
I can assure you that many libriarian have a masters or PHD program and they are highly paid. They sit around having a good time most times and getting paid too. Some of them needs to get fired to create a room for a younger generation of leaders. However, I also need to know what criteria was used to arrive at such a decision in the first place. Dr. William Hite Jr is a very corrupt supritendent. He started a certain program to teach parents how to speak english as an front in order to line pockets....
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