Tag Archives: School Librarian

Advocacy, Books

District official ordered “Thirteen Reasons Why”removed

Thirteen Reasons Why, by Jay Asher
(You can read the entire article here) By Erin McIntyre

A School District 51 official ordered school librarians to remove a controversial book from circulation last month, a move that circumvented the district’s traditional process for reviewing such materials and raised concerns about censorship.

“Due to recent events and media attention on the Netflix movie 13 Reasons Why, I am going to have this book temporarily removed from any kind of check out,” wrote Leigh Grasso, the district’s executive director of academic achievement and growth, in an email sent to librarians on April 28.

The order to remove the book “Thirteen Reasons Why,” which was the basis for the Netflix series, from circulation came even though no official challenges to the book were received. It was reversed later the same day after librarians urged administrators to follow the district’s process for considering challenged materials.

Grasso’s order came after at least seven district students have killed themselves since the beginning of the school year, most recently affecting Fruita Monument and Palisade high schools. According to emails obtained by The Daily Sentinel through a Colorado Open Records Act request, Grasso instructed the district’s cataloguing specialist to tell school librarians who had the book in their school libraries to remove it from circulation, which was met with opposition. Some of the librarians responded that they didn’t feel the action was appropriate, and they cited differences between the Netflix series and the book in their responses.

“There is a formal, board approved process to challenge books in our district, and I believe it is our duty to follow that process, because censorship is a slippery slope,” wrote one high school librarian, who also noted that the book has been popular since it was published in 2007 and many students had already read it long before the Netflix series debuted.

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Children's services, Policies, Resources, School Media Specialist

AASL stands on ESSA

School Libraries & ESSA

From the AASL site:

“The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) replaces the No Child Left Behind version of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act with language that includes “effective school library programs.”

The American Association of School Librarians (AASL), as the national organization for the school library profession, is examining ESSA, unpacking the provisions for school libraries within the legislation, and communicating how they will impact the school library community.

AASL will continue to work with the ALA Washington Office, the ALA Office of Library Advocacy, and other educational organizations to highlight opportunities within ESSA language for school librarians and school libraries to be addressed in state and local plans.”

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Resources, School Media Specialist

Association for Middle Level Education offers a Grant

Collaboration Mini-Grant

“Collaboration is a key concept in the successful education of young adolescents, as identified in the following characteristic from AMLE’s foundational document This We Believe: Keys to Educating Young Adolescents: Courageous, collaborative leaders make a difference by putting their knowledge and beliefs into action.

This broad concept includes collaboration between teams, collaboration between a team and exploratory, collaboration with parents, collaboration with community agencies, collaboration with another school, and collaboration within the student body.

The Association for Middle Level Education Foundation Fund Committee is awarding two $2,000 Collaboration Mini-Grants in 2017 to middle grades educators who have taken leadership roles in developing collaborative projects both within and outside of schools. Recipients of this grant will receive funds to enhance an existing collaborative program or to institute a proposed program, and they will be invited present about their collaborative project at a concurrent session at the AMLE Annual Conference. In addition, recipients will be recognized at the Annual Conference. Attendance at the conference will be at the expense of the school and may not be funded by monies from this grant.

Application Information

Eligibility
Any professional member or school that has been an AMLE school member for at least 12 months may apply.

Criteria
Provide a narrative summary of the project or program in not more than three pages. Narrative should include:

  • Groups or individuals involved in the collaboration
  • A description of the collaborative process used to design the program, including how students were involved in its development
  • A timeline for implementation
  • Desired outcomes for students in both academic and social/emotional domains
  • How the project will be sustained in the future
  • How this project will benefit your school, your staff, and your students
  • For projects currently in existence, also include:
    • How long the project has been in place
    • How it changed since initiated
    • Observed student outcomes, both academic and social/emotional

Also include:

  • A budget summary detailing how the grant money will be used
  • A letter of support from the school’s principal
  • Pictures, articles, or artifacts that illustrate the project (not required)

Submission
Each year, applications must be submitted electronically to AMLE no later than April 15. Submissions should be sent to info@amle.org.

Collaboration Mini-Grant Application”

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Policies, School Media Specialist

A School Librarian Caught In The Middle of Student Privacy Extremes

International justice and privacy
From the Electronic Frontier Foundation:

As a school librarian at a small K-12 district in Illinois, Angela K. is at the center of a battle of extremes in educational technology and student privacy.

On one side, her district is careful and privacy-conscious when it comes to technology, with key administrators who take extreme caution with ID numbers, logins, and any other potentially identifying information required to use online services. On the other side, the district has enough technology “cheerleaders” driving adoption forward that now students as young as second grade are using Google’s G Suite for Education.

In search of a middle ground that serves students, Angela is asking hard, fundamental questions. “We can use technology to do this, but should we? Is it giving us the same results as something non-technological?” Angela asked. “We need to see the big picture. How do we take advantage of these tools while keeping information private and being aware of what we might be giving away?”

School librarians are uniquely positioned to navigate this middle ground and advocate for privacy, both within the school library itself and in larger school- or district-wide conversations about technology. Often, school librarians are the only staff members trained as educators, privacy specialists, and technologists, bringing not only the skills but a professional mandate to lead their communities in digital privacy and intellectual freedom. On top of that, librarians have trusted relationships across the student privacy stakeholder chain, from working directly with students to training teachers to negotiating with technology vendors.

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Books, Children's services, School Media Specialist

AASL Position Statements on ESSA

CORI Kids Reading

AASL Position Statements

With the implementation of the Every Student Succeeds Act moving forward, it is critically important that school boards and administrators understand what it takes to have an effective school library program. AASL’s official position statements can help us as we advocate. If components are missing, these statements from the only national organization focused on the school library profession can begin the conversation.

School librarians transform student learning, and every child deserves the services of a certified school librarian and an effective school library program.

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