“Our less fortunate students are the ones that suffer the most; primarily because many of them live in situations that are reading desserts. They don’t have access to the reading materials. They don’t have a choice in the reading materials that they are given to read,” said Newsum.
Reading desserts, yum.
I wonder what reasons they’ll come up with for this move… probably frame it as being better for the kids.
Back in the 90s, I’d say the STAR program worked nicely, anecdotally anyways. Add in the Pizza Hut personal pan pizza rewards. I was zooming through books once I found what I liked. Texas: let’s take things away from the kids.
ngl I was obsessed with the Pizza Hut program. It was SO fun as a kid.
I’m really concerned about the future… Without education & resources, we’ll start raising isolated and less empathetic people, and things will just get worse…
Pizza Hut must’ve done that everywhere … I wasn’t in Texas for high school. And, I mean, it was a brilliant marketing coup. Everyone I knew in high school wanted Pizza Hut over any other brand. Only once discovering just-off-campus pizza options in college did I discover how truly execrable Pizza Hut was.
So, let me get this straight, they’re replacing libraries with prisons? Am I understanding that right?
Someone tell me I’ve got this wrong.
That’s what I appear to have just read as well. “This is what happens when people want bad books in schools” is a selling point to many, though in Houston?
Basically yes
It’s unfortunate that immigration to New Zealand is so difficult.
So basically, the school-to-prison pipeline without extra steps.
2/3 of kids who aren’t reading proficiently by 4th grade end up in prison or on welfare.
Why give them books and librarians and reading specialists to bring them up to speed? Just gettin’ the lil’ buggers accustomed to their future conditions, dontchaknow!
https://governorsfoundation.org/gelf-articles/early-literacy-connection-to-incarceration/
Never mind how ridiculous this is, discipline cannot be thought, it grows from confidence.
I’m guessing all we can do about it right now is beg the assholes to stop being assholes, wait several years and hope enough other people don’t like this enough to maybe vote out the politicians doing it and maybe overcome all of the gerrymandering, or just watch in horror? ~Strawberry
Can someone post the text? This site has an auto playing ad with audio.
https://www.weareteachers.com/houston-isd-fires-librarians/
Try that link, if’n it works, I’ll switch the links. With how many adblockers and such I have on Firefox, I don’t see autoplays or ads, and can force pop ups and other things to go away.
HOUSTON – Houston Independent School District will be eliminating librarian positions at 28 schools this upcoming year and utilizing some of the libraries as ‘Team Centers” where kids with behavioral issues will be sent, the district announced.
This comes as part of the new superintendent Mike Miles reform program, New Education System (NES). Currently, there are a total of 85 schools that have joined Miles’ program, and of those, 28 campuses will lose their librarians. The district said they will have the opportunity to transition to other roles within the district.
The remaining 57 NES schools’ librarians will be assessed on a case-by-case basis, according to the district.
Retired HISD Teacher in Charge of Library, Lisa Robinson, believes the library is full of some of the greatest stories ever told.
“It was such a joy to help them find the perfect book,” said Robinson.
She said those stories are now ripped to shreds.
“My heart is just broken for these children that are in the NES schools that are losing their librarians,” said Robinson.
Librarian positions have been an ongoing debate in HISD. Robinson said the former superintendent, Millard House II, made efforts to keep library staff.
“The mandate for librarians had been put back in place. With one swipe of a pen that has been destroyed,” said Robinson.
Superintendent Mike Miles said students are behind on reading levels, especially in 4th grade.
Former HISD Librarian and Manager of Library Services, Janice Newsum believes eliminating librarian positions could hurt reading performance even more.
“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,” said Newsum.
Mayor Sylvester Turner believes the move is unacceptable.
“You don’t close libraries in some of the schools in your most underserved communities, and you’re keeping libraries open in other schools,” said Turner.
“Our less fortunate students are the ones that suffer the most; primarily because many of them live in situations that are reading deserts. They don’t have access to the reading materials. They don’t have a choice in the reading materials that they are given to read,” said Newsum.
The district said the libraries will not be closed, just used for different purposes.
Some of the library spaces will now be turned into “Team Center,” designed for students to work individually or in teams throughout the school day. Students with behavioral issues will also be placed in the Team Center where they will be able to join their class virtually.
The libraries will now be available to students who are dropped off at school before classes begin or after school before they go home.
KPRC2 reached out to the superintendent’s office for comment about why eliminating librarian positions are necessary. District officials said Superintendent Miles will be taking questions during his family event at Sugar Groove Middle School on Thursday at 6 p.m. He will have another family event Saturday, July 29 at West Briar Middle School at 9 a.m.
