Houston schools eliminate librarians and 'repurpose'...

[Tennesseer]

Houston schools eliminate librarians and 'repurpose' libraries into 'discipline centers'

The Houston Independent School District, the largest in Texas and the eighth-largest in the United States, will eliminate librarian positions in 28 schools and turn libraries into what are being called “discipline centers,” according to Click2Houston.

Mike Myles, the state-installed schools superintendent and former charter schools CEO, earlier this month announced cuts of up to 600 central office positions.

Texas has a $32 billion state surplus but rather than allocate needed funds to public schools, lawmakers in the majority-Republican state legislature, at the behest of Governor Greg Abbott, just delivered a massive property tax cut.

The move to gut librarians and massively reduce access to books and other material does not appear to be budget related, as librarians will be allowed to apply for other positions.

KHOU reports libraries at those 28 schools “will be repurposed into ‘team centers’ where students who had to be removed from class due to behavioral issues will be placed to watch their class virtually.”

Former HISD librarian and Manager of Library Services, Janice Newsum, says, “When students engage in reading as an activity of choice, they are not only building that reading muscle, but they are also developing their vocabulary they are understanding a bit about the world that exists outside their block radius.”

Mayor Sylvester Turner appeared to suggest the schools that are losing their librarians are already underserved.

“You don’t close libraries in some of the schools in your most underserved communities, and you’re keeping libraries open in other schools,” Turner said.

Houston schools eliminate librarians and 'repurpose' libraries into 'discipline centers'

[Tennesseer]

City leaders criticize Houston ISD superintendent Mike Miles over plans for school libraries

Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner and other city leaders Wednesday criticized a plan by new Houston ISD superintendent Mike Miles, who is eliminating librarians at dozens of schools in the district while converting their libraries into multi-use spaces where misbehaving students will be disciplined.

Librarian and media specialist positions are being eliminated at 28 campuses designated to be part of Miles' New Education System (NES), which entails premade lesson plans for teachers, classroom cameras for disciplinary purposes and a greater emphasis on testing-based performance evaluations, among other initiatives. The libraries at those schools will continue to include books that can be read or checked out by students but are otherwise being reimagined as "team centers" where special programming will be held and disruptive students will be sent so as not to interfere with their classmates' learning, according to HISD spokesperson Joseph Sam.

The library-related changes also could be coming to the 57 schools where principals elected to be NES-aligned campuses, with Sam saying that would be determined on a campus-by-campus basis.

Turner asked for Miles to reverse course on his decision to overhaul libraries in certain schools while allowing others to continue operating with dedicated professionals. Most of the 28 schools that were designated for the NES program are in the feeder patterns for Kashmere, North Forest and Wheatley high schools, which are located in low-income communities of color.

Rest of article here: City leaders criticize Houston ISD superintendent Mike Miles over plans for school libraries

[pulmonarymd]

Texas gotta texas.
As Trump said, "I love the uneducated". Texas is just creating future Republicans

[NomoreDramaQ1015]

Good ole days here we come! 

We are moving back towards "Separate but equal" and what is terrifying is the new Supreme Court will probably back it up since after all the founding fathers didn't include that provision in the constitution.

Iowa is more creative they are allowing you to not pay school taxes if you choose a religious school.  You get all that money refunded to you to use for tuition.  It's all in the name of "parental rights" and "freedom of religion".  

[grumpyhermit]

Every time I think Republicans can't get more disgusting, they manage to surprise me. Schools already felt like they were heading the way of prisons, so I guess Texas just decided to do it bigger, better, faster. 

[billisonboard]

Jul 28, 2023 9:19:02 GMT -5 NomoreDramaQ1015 said:

Good ole days here we come! 

We are moving back towards "Separate but equal" and what is terrifying is the new Supreme Court will probably back it up since after all the founding fathers didn't include that provision in the constitution.

Iowa is more creative they are allowing you to not pay school taxes if you choose a religious school.  You get all that money refunded to you to use for tuition.  It's all in the name of "parental rights" and "freedom of religion".  

If a parent's school taxes are theirs to pay for their kid, why the hell am I paying school taxes when I don't have any kids in school? We are losing the whole concept of public schools.

[Opti]

I think low-income communities need libraries more than wealthier ones. The library at school might be the only one they get to unless they live very close to a public library. 

[ken a.k.a OMK]

[busymom]

Maybe if they got more kids reading, they'd have fewer discipline problems...

Of course their goal might just plain be to have more uneducated citizens.  It's easier to keep the uneducated under their thumb. 

[Artemis Windsong]

I know text books are more loved. More fun to browse for a selection but I can get a wealth of other city libraries on my phone through my local city public library.  As well as magazines.

My kids thank me from time to time for instilling in them a love of books because I read so much when they were young.  Now the grandkids are avid readers.

[kadee79]

Jul 28, 2023 19:50:48 GMT -5 Artemis Windsong said:

I know text books are more loved. More fun to browse for a selection but I can get a wealth of other city libraries on my phone through my local city public library.  As well as magazines.

My kids thank me from time to time for instilling in them a love of books because I read so much when they were young.  Now the grandkids are avid readers.

I got one of my grands to start reading at an early age.  But my grandson absolutely refused to read anything that wasn't required for his school work.  
Hopefully, he is not doing pretty good in his own business...marketing.  And that was NOT what he went to college to study at all...he was supposed to be studiying to be a physical therapist MD.  Funny how things change as they mature.
And my DGD is now a teacher....in Tx. of all places.

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

In an attempt to be fair: 
On the term librarians, 
The state in which I live, the dept of ed, at least two decades ago, stopped requiring actual MLIS librarians in each school. There is one required for the district. Small, rural districts usually share one through the service district. "Librarians" were cut a long time ago is my point. They were replaced with employees who are on the same tier as instructional aides. 

On the concept of access to books: 
Most districts in the state in which I live provide a personal device for each student. In my district's case it's an iPad. I can put any book I want on a student's iPad. Access to books has not been depleted. Now, there is a debate about reading on a screen versus reading on paper, but that's not this debate. 

[djAdvocate]

civil disobedience might be a good idea.

[Tennesseer]

Another state with Library content issues. I shake my head in disbelief that is is happening in our country.

Judge blocks Arkansas law allowing librarians to be criminally charged over ‘harmful’ materials

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Arkansas is temporarily blocked from enforcing a law that would have allowed criminal charges against librarians and booksellers for providing “harmful” materials to minors, a federal judge ruled Saturday.

U.S. District Judge Timothy L. Brooks issued a preliminary injunction against the law, which also would have created a new process to challenge library materials and request that they be relocated to areas not accessible by kids. The measure, signed by Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders earlier this year, was set to take effect Aug. 1.

A coalition that included the Central Arkansas Library System in Little Rock had challenged the law, saying fear of prosecution under the measure could prompt libraries and booksellers to no longer carry titles that could be challenged.

The judge also rejected a motion by the defendants, which include prosecuting attorneys for the state, seeking to dismiss the case.

Rest of article here: Judge blocks Arkansas law allowing librarians to be criminally charged over ‘harmful’ materials