West Virginia School Librarians Threatened with Layoffs

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By Beverly Goldberg

In response to a looming fiscal crisis, the superintendent of the Wetzel County (W.Va.) Schools has proposed eliminating as of FY 2006–07 all library staff at the system’s four high schools. The $150,000 saved by laying off 1.5 certified media specialists and one half-time aide would help offset more than $1 million in cuts that Wetzel County school officials must realize due to declining enrollment, according to Superintendent Paul Barcus.

At its March 20 meeting, school board members agreed to eliminate the two half-time posts in which William L. Stokes serves as librarian for both the Patton City and Valley High Schools. The board is scheduled to review Magnolia High School librarian Marsha Morris’s half-time position in April.

“What I’m trying to do is to leave the so-called major academic areas alone as long as I can,” Barcus told American Libraries, explaining that he modified his original proposal to eliminate all K–12 library posts after hearing “some personnel and parental concerns” that K–8 students still “utilized” school libraries at least once a week. Among the messages Barcus got was testimony at a March 6 board meeting from parent Abby Tennant. “Where better to combat illiteracy than the school library?” she asked officials, according to the March 8 Wetzel Chronicle.

Barcus also told AL that while the school libraries have “modernized somewhat” by adding computers, they still function as “the primary source of printed information.” In the meantime, all the classrooms now have online workstations, meaning that students conducting research find it easier “to go across the room than across the hallway or to another floor” to use the library.

Jeanie Deem, whose “lone ranger” certified librarian position for all of Wetzel County’s elementary-school students was reinstated in late February, told AL she believes board members hadn’t known “that we do anything in the library besides check books out.” She also said that community members expressed surprise that she spoke in opposition to Stokes’s layoff. “This is about eliminating any library position,” Deem said, since the district is “already understaffed.”

American Libraries, Fri, 03/31/2006 - 19:37