APRIL IS SCHOOL LIBRARY MONTH

 

   April is a busy month - celebrating many wonderful peoples and issues. One that is mostly ignored outside the school library community is School Library Month.  Sadly the statistics on school libraries are dismal.  In California we are absolute last place in funding our school libraries and yet we are the 8th largest economy in the world, on a scale with countries.  The disconnect that I have felt between these facts has never been adequately communicated, in my opinion.  One fact that has stood out to me is that we have about 500 school librarians state wide in California, while New York has had, at least in the past, 10,000.  We in fact have a larger number of schools and students than New York state.  Doesn't matter.  Literacy apparently has never been an important issue in the state of California.

   We in the library world have conducted hundreds of studies that prove the link between professionally staffed and well funded libraries and high scoring schools and districts.   While I am against testing in general, and hate that we are using test scores as the way to compare schools, the importance can't be missed -- we are not serving our schools.

A quote from the American Library Association -

"More than 60 education and library research studies have produced clear evidence that school library programs staffed by qualified school librarians have a positive impact on student academic achievement.

Yet, many students are returning to school without a resource essential for success: a strong school library program lead by a certified school librarian."

Here is a quote from the ALA further explaining the situation - AND HIGHLIGHTING THE LOS ANGELES UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT.  There is no question that our district, the second largest in the country, is the worst off:
"Despite their important contributions to student success, school libraries and school library programs throughout the United States are in danger. As a result, many students aren’t developing all the skills they’ll need for success in college and their careers.

"The primary problem is money. Since the start of the global financial crisis in 2008, many districts have fewer tax dollars to spend. Cuts must be made. Unfortunately, in some districts, school libraries are seen as a “frill”—nice to have, but not essential to student learning. Some decision makers view the Internet and Worldwide Web or public libraries as replacements for school library programs guided by a certified school librarian in every school. The Internet and Web are not replacements for school libraries.

"School libraries are being closed or underfunded—often in districts with disadvantaged students who are most in need of strong school library programs led by a state-certified school librarian. When school libraries and school librarians are eliminated, students suffer. Districts large and small have reached a crisis. For example, in Los Angeles, “About half of the 600 elementary and middle school libraries are without librarians or aides, denying tens of thousands of students regular access to nearly $100 million worth of books, according to district data.” [1]

  

   THE INTERNET AND WEB ARE NOT REPLACEMENTS FOR SCHOOL LIBRARIES.  I need to highlight this -- we are in an age when in fact the need for professionals guiding students in research and critical thinking is more important than ever.  In fact our money goes to high stakes testing and computers on which we test the students.  STUDENTS DO NOT LEARN FROM TESTS NOR COMPUTERS.

   Here's a photo of what a good elementary school library should have:  story steps.  Students should be read to every day.  We know that many of our students in Los Angeles have no books nor internet at home, and no access to public libraries (or they are in dangerous neighborhoods).

  

    In Los Angeles Unified we do not have one professionally trained school librarian at the elementary level.  Many of our middle schools are also without a qualified person.   Fortunately we do have dedicated classified Library Aides (a truly ridiculous title as these people should at minimum be called Library Managers or Library Technologists) at most of our elementary schools.  But few of these schools have money to buy new books.  Our one way of raising money for books is to hold book fairs, but many of the schools use the money for PTA.  Even when there are some dedicated funds for the library, most of our Administrators use the money for other needs.

If for no other reason than providing all students with EQUAL ACCESS to information, I ask that you support school libraries today.  Write a letter, start a campaign -- OPT OUT OF TESTING, OPT INTO SCHOOL LIBRARIES -- but make sure that your child is getting library experience.

One more distress for all of us -- many districts are going to Charter Schools.  Charter schools never have libraries.  If they do, they never fund a qualified professional to run them.  Contrary to charters, public schools at least do what David Shannon says here - TEACH EVERY STUDENT, even the naughty ones!

PLEASE VIEW THIS VIDEO TO SEE WHAT WILL AND HAS HAPPENED TO OUR SCHOOL LIBRARIES:










American Association of School Libraries campaignhttp://us1.campaign-archive1.com/?u=9011bdd5ff860316c0afae3f0&id=4db661e4f1&e=a4ba93d240 
School Libraries | I love libraries - http://www.ilovelibraries.org/school-libraries   
Bleeding Libraries - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01Ovfhuj9Os 
School Libraries Impact Studies - https://www.lrs.org/data-tools/school-libraries/impact-studies/ 
Jesse Ramey on School Libraries Tell Our Story -- https://yinzercation.wordpress.com/2012/11/27/libraries-tell-our-story/ 
School Libraries Build Strong Students - http://www.ala.org/aasl/sites/ala.org.aasl/files/content/aaslissues/advocacy/AASL_infographic.pdf 
L.A. Unified Libraries are forced to close - http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-lausd-libraries-20140224-story.html   

"Education Inc" at Occidental College November 11, 2015

"Education Inc"  is a "documentary about how money and politics are changing our schools."  Produced, Directed, and Edited by Brian Malone. Cindy Malone is Producer and Writer.  Diana Holtzberg is Executive Producer.  Larry Lawrence and Dave Alpert of Alumni of Occidental in Education (ALOED) sponsored a showing of the film and a panel discussion with Steve Zimmer, President of Los Angeles Unified Board of Education, Karen Wolfe, parent and head of PSConnect, and Dr. Suzie Abajian, an Occidental professor as well as graduate, who was recently elected to the Board of Education of South Pasadena schools.
   Education Inc takes place in Douglas County, Colorado, a middle or upper middle class suburb.  Bloomberg, Jeb Bush, et al poured much money into an election there.  A half billion dollar budget was available to
the 1%.  Conservatives won the election because people didn't vote.
The Board picked Dr. Elizabeth Fagen from the Milton Friedman Foundation.
Dr. Diane Ravitch.  Talk about the Manufactured Crisis - David Berliner.
Chris Tienken.   1981 - A Nation At Risk - this is the context of the takeover.  The Board of Education had to market itself.  Fagen advertised the schools.  Thirty plus teachers were interviewed by Brian Malone and all but one were intimidated.  Brian White -- who even speaks up at Board meetings.   Parents are upset too.  They don't like the Voucher program or NCLB.
   A volunteer researcher found out that the Board set up a dummy charter as a way to take the tax money from the public schools, supposedly to give to parents, but went to a private school instead. Ed McVaney and Vogel funded the Ads for the Board - both had interests in vouchers and private schools -- until the court stopped them.  The Board got the Waltons, Daniels Fund, Alex Cranberg to fund their case.  Cindy Barnes was the volunteer researcher who caught the illegality and proved the case.   A student defended Cindy Barnes after she was bullied by the Board, which only allowed their supporters to speak.  None of the Board agreed to be interviewed for the film  Fagen has a BODY GUARD!  The School Board meets behind closed doors.  Reporters can't hear them - banned from meetings much of the time.  Nancy Spence was the only right-winger who would speak -- she believes in competition among schools.  "Parents Choice" as it is called.  Dr. Barry Schwartz of Swarthmore spoke up for the people.
   Jefferson County Schools had the same experience -- low turnout allowed the conservatives to win.  Pushed out the Superintendent and hired a buddy from Douglas County.  Jefferson County parents aren't afraid -- citizens shut the meeting down -- Recall Recall".    All over the country -- New York, Portland, San Diego, etc.    Out filmmaker went to Chicago where there were "bad" schools.  Phillip Cantor speaks -- tells the story of Rahm closing 50 schools and opening charters -- all for the real estate industry.
   Charters are quasi-private (quoting the film here) originally started by parents. [I think this isn't correct -- charters were started by the AFT as a way to innovate - I disagree with the film here.]  [From Wikipedia:  "The charter school idea in the United States was originated in 1974 by Ray Budde,^[10] a professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.Albert Shanker, President of the American Federation of Teachers, embraced the concept in 1988, when he called for the reform of the public schools by establishing "charter schools" or "schools of choice."^[11] Gloria Ladson-Billings called him "the first person to publicly propose charter schools".^[12] At the time, a few schools already existed that were not called charter schools but embodied some of their principles, such as H-B Woodlawn."  Now charters are run by private organizations that cherry pick their students. Don't provide free or reduced lunches.  No special education.  In Illinois hedge funders run these schools.  There have been FBI raids on some of them -- example is UNO in Chicago - under Federal investigation. 
   Board of Education meetings are contentious in Chicago.  Parents are thrown out. [Rousemary Vega and family.]  
   Our filmmaker goes on to talk about NCLB since 2002 and the growth of McGraw-Hill and Pearson and their enormous profits based on Common Core.  He feels CC is good but not the way it is being implemented.  [Again I disagree with the filmmaker.]  
   Brian Malone goes to meet Duncan and asks him about for-profit companies in education. Duncan tells him this has always been so. [Really?]
   ALEC is writing the laws in this country.  Corporations co-write laws and always have. The corporation that writes the bill gets the contract!!
   Cindy Barnard is the volunteer fact finder.  Chris Holbert and Cinnamon Watson are ALEC employees.   There are places where public education is working.  Frank Gargiulo, Superintendent of Hudson County Schools, is an award-winning and innovative Super.  He is against standardization. No grades. Get students excited about a subject -- how to learn and not what to learn. Education is NOT A BUSINESS MODEL.
   Finland has the best education in the world.  Public schools here in the United States are blamed for poverty -- a distraction, Diane Ravitch says.  OPT OUT says Diane Ravitch.  In Douglas County parents take over the streets while deformers take over the airwaves.
   Parents and teachers lost the battle by very small percentage.  48 to 52% of the vote.  But they did so well given the enormous amount of money poured into the election by the deformers.
   Jefferson County is also fighting.  Students walked out.  Civil disobedience is part of our tradition.  In the end, Brian White, the only teacher who spoke in the movie, was asked to leave his job.

Larry Lawrence introduces the panel and describes a demonstration in DC in 2013 - Save Our Schools.

Panel:  Dr. Suzie Abajian:  the film captures the struggle of 20 years of defunding all of our public schools.  Corporatization of the schools.  Health care, housing, schools, living wage.  Public education is not perfect -- we marginalized people of color and poor communities.  The Deformers have used this to promote their agenda. How can we better our schools?  with all students feeling they belong? Ethnic studies is an example.  [Steve Zimmer sponsored the resolution for Ethnic Studies at LAUSD.]

Karen Wolfe:  Colorado is not very diverse [as the film shows].  They succeeded in Jefferson County in recalling their board [but not in Douglas County].  WE ARE DOCUMENTING THE END OF PUBLIC EDUCATION. These films are important to the public record.  In Venice we had a two year fight to prevent the sale of the Post Office -- we lost.  We are watching it happen everywhere.  Eli Broad is running this city - LAUSD - some are on Broad's payroll.  Transfer the public realm into private hands.  Initially Karen believed in Charters.  She would call and complain but got the same response from LAUSD - "Charters are their own district."  She had to force them to publish public records and agendas for their meetings.  Her charter complied -- but most do not.   What's wrong with a billionaire putting money into it - people ask her.  It's a work in progress.

     

Steve Zimmer:  Met the filmmaker.  We should support this.  He self-funded his own film  What happened in Colorado can happen anywhere.  Universal film can help build the counter-narrative that this is happening everywhere.  The fight in Los Angeles -- we have to be honest and have a painful conversation about our schools and the savage inequities.  Our credibility is otherwise limited.  Root of the defunding -- causes the collapse of the social infrastructure.  This [LAUSD] is now the epicenter - stakes are extraordinarily high.  We have to engage parents and community leaders about our vision in transforming education for people of color.  If we aren't honest, people won't listen -- won't care who is funding their child's school.  We haven't broken systemic racism or the motives of the privatization move -- "a some kids - not all kids motivation."  $10 million is going to defeat Zimmer in the next election.  Probably go to over $25 million.  Truth and Democracy are our argument.  Broad has no concern about schools.  We have the most democratically elected board -- Broad wants to destroy the Board and UTLA.

Larry:   Jeanette Deutermann organized in New York -- ultimately 200,000 students opted out of testing.  But not in New York City.  How to motivate the inner city to OPT OUT?

Steve:  there is agreement in this room around testing.  Talk about what these tests do to kids and teachers.  But we have to establish trust that we care about kids.  Relationships -- building trust -- take time.  Talk to families about hopes and dreams.  Families feel public schools are where their dreams die.  Every child has the right to the best of education.

Suzie:  scapegoats in history -- parents, teachers, students all have been -- deficit notion of education. We must DEAL WITH HISTORY - and RACISM -- teachers have to build relationships with communities. We are in this together.

Karen: not an education professor - but parents aren't talking about equity or racism.  Parents do feel teachers discriminate against them based on their zip code.  Parents talk to each other and reinforce each other to speak up for their students.  Schools on the Westside are diverse - in every way.  More charters there -- middle class have fled the traditional schools.  These bigger issues aren't going to do it.  Tired of having to prove that she has spoken to 15 people to represent other parents.  Our schools are emptying out.  Middle class is gone, or going.  We have to speak to all the families -- maintain our diversity -- not just talk about poor families (that makes schools scary to parents).

Steve:  December 8th tried to pass a charter accountability resolution.  It passed now - will it be enforced.  

Karen:  our independent school board is the largest in the United States.  New York, Chicago, Indianapolis are all appointed school boards.

Steve:  Periodic assessments-- benchmarks.  Testing is state mandated.  Testing budget could go to things we need!!!

Suzie:  put the money into Ethnic Studies -- arts -- libraries [Stephen Krashen].

Karen:  testing equipment was 20% of budget for testing when Deasy was there.  We should find out what happened. The FBI is still investigating -- not over yet.  New York rolled out Common Core two years before California - a huge resistance there to testing. New York has the highest per student funding in the U.S.  [$16,000 per student - Calif is about $9,000].   Common Core tests said kids were failures and parents went ballistic.  Karen's son is a junior -- she is opting him out.  Principal said just to eat it.  January 8th, 1964 - ESEA passed. The purpose was equity!  Now all we care about is outcomes.  Get over it!!!! Kids are being told their scores are too low so they have to take a remedial class.  Still tracking kids.

Steve:  Data disease -- he doesn't care about test scores.  Outcomes he means are graduation rates.  83% at El Camino Senior High.  38% at Fremont.

Larry compares Morningside High in Inglewood with La Costa Canyon in Carlsbad.

Suzie:  Kids are tracked even in South Pasadena. Latino kids tracked lower. Special education is pushed out.  Still inequity in best schools.  Putting money into communities -- housing, universal health care, etc.  is what we need.

Karen:  Compton case about kids who face trauma there and need to be served.

Karen:  TEACHER JAIL IS THE SHAME OF LAUSD.  Truth is coming out.  Teachers have saved LAUSD tons of money by leaving.  A WITCH HUNT!  Used Miramonte case to justify their teacher jail.  

See above for Karen Wolfe's group - PSConnect.

Dave Alpert's blog:  ALOED  and TigersTeach.  

CONCLUSIONS - for Los Angeles:  We must fight to keep our democratically elected school board.  We must unite to prevent Eli Broad from turning 50% of Los Angeles Unified schools into privately owned charters.  WE MUST INVEST IN OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS SO THAT PARENTS WILL HAVE CONFIDENCE THAT WE CAN GIVE OUR STUDENTS THE EDUCATION THEY DESERVE.    [JGK]

Elena is starting kindergarten Monday Sept. 13th

Elena is starting kindergarten on Monday and I don't have enough words to express how worried I am about her and the fate of education in general. There is a sinister force at work on the land and unfortunately some of the "best" minds are in charge. Bill Gates with his gazillions is funding the effort to privatize education, destroy teacher and classified unions, and generally dumb down education to a teach-to-the-test mode. I write about this a great deal and think about it every day. I do believe it's the reason our libraries are going away -- libraries help create critical thinkers and life-long learners. Gates and his ilk don't want people who can really critique a society that is now so inequitable that children are going to sleep hungry, families are losing their homes, and people who have worked all their lives are no longer employed or employable. Closer to home what this means is that Sleazy Deasy (Dr. he says), a Gates man, is poised to take over the Los Angeles Unified School District when the current superintendent steps down next June. Cortines was also in the pockets of the rich -- very ambitious for himself and willing to take money that most of us saw as unethical (such as $150,000 a year from Scholastic, a company that makes a huge profit off our schools). But Cortines at least is an educator. Most of the folks now making decisions for our children do not know anything about education. Witness the Los Angeles Times -- the reporters who went into the classrooms to "judge" the teachers only did so because they knew what "value added" score each teacher already had and judged accordingly. They admitted on KPFK radio last week that they really weren't competent (my word) to judge educators. Yet, their story stands, and everyone thinks it will benefit education that these scores are printed in the Times. In my own experience, some of the best, most interesting and inspiring teachers, are not the ones who "teach to the test" so their students' scores may be lower. So what! Will Elena still love to learn, love to investigate, love to sit and pay attention as she does now? I have my doubts. I will do everything I can to continue her love of learning. We need all teachers, parents, education workers to unite and defeat this effort to destroy education. Check out this link to the group California Advocates United to Save Education (CAUSE) and a group that is calling for a Million teacher mark for July 30, 2011. Please get involved!

School Libraries, Special Education, and Charters

Right now my school district (Los Angeles Unified) is turning all of its schools over to Charter Companies which they claim will do a better job than the District itself. The Los Angeles Times claims that Green Dot Charter has done so much for Locke High School, one of the worst in L.A. Here is a letter I wrote to the Times which they won't print:

Re: Cash for the Classrooms (L.A. Times Opinion Piece 9/28/2009)

While Green Dot Charters may provide smaller classes, like all charters they do so because they save money by not providing: 1) Counseling services; 2) Psychological services; 3) Libraries; 4) Special Education; 5) Nursing; 6) Intramural sports; 7) Orchestra; 8) Marching Bands and more. Moreover, Charters generally pick and choose the students they want so they'll test well and be more manageable.

Thirty years in education have taught me that our public schools need to do a better job. But Charters are not the answer. My three year-old granddaughter is receiving excellent services from LAUSD's Special Education. If all schools become charters, who will educate her? Schools will work for our students when money spent on bureaucracy goes directly to the schools. But to achieve this we should not cast aside our special needs students under the Charter mandate of education for the fittest.

Joan Kramer

I am particularly concerned with the loss of nursing, special education, counseling, music, art, and LIBRARIES!!! I have looked at 19 charter organizations and none of them hires a Teacher Librarian. In fact, I'd venture to say none of them has a library!! The head of Green Dot has said "We don't need libraries. Our kids don't read anyway." or something to that effect. This is a pervasive view among many of our administrators as well. I would guess that few of them read anymore, if at all. A teacher came into one of my libraries and sat there telling us that she doesn't read books. She wasn't particularly ashamed of this either. But she did think perhaps she should so she could model this for her students. Isn't this the biggest reason our kids don't read? It's not due to other gadgets and distractions, it's because the adults in their lives do not read!! This is a major loss for our collective good.

CSLA's Conference in November is taking up this most important issue of advocacy. I hope many people can attend and apply some of the good lessons learned by others in Districts where the library personnel have been saved from the chopping block. I fear our Teacher Librarians are in danger in Los Angeles. They have started to cut the elementary paraprofessionals, and I don't think they will stop there. DON'T FORGET TO SIGN UP FOR CLSA CONFERENCE IN ONTARIO NOVEMBER 19-22!!!