So true Sara.

And there is a research portion of both the Smarter Balanced and PARCC tests coming soon to a school near you, and when the kids don't do well on this portion of the test, who is going to wake up and realize they NEED librarians to teach kids how to do that kind of stuff? Research is all over the Common Core and a research simulation task is one fourth of the Smarter Balanced test and one third of the PARCC test, so someone out there realized that knowing how to do research was important. But I bet our billionaire mayor never read these documents, or the Common Core standards, so he can't put two and two together. Librarians = research skills.

College is all about research skills. You HAVE to write papers in college and papers are based on information which is based on library research, not Internet research.

Who is going to make the connection that kids in schools with librarians will do better on the tests than those in schools without librarians? Whoever is running the schools and making these decisions, is clearly not up on their research about why librarians are important for our kids.

As someone said on the petition comments, this is only going to widen the achievement gap.



____________________________________________
Patricia Sarles, MA, MLS
Librarian
Jerome Parker Campus Library
100 Essex Drive
Staten Island, NY 10314
718-370-6900 x1322
psarles@schools.nyc.gov
http://www.scoop.it/t/help-with-the-common-core-state-standards/
http://paper.li/psarles/1332609247
http://psarles.wikispaces.com
http://library.nycenet.edu/common/welcome.jsp?site=6467

To save man from the morass of propaganda, in my opinion, is one of the chief aims of education. Education must enable one to sift and weigh evidence, to discern the true from the false, the real from the unreal, and the facts from the fiction ... The function of education, therefore, is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. - Martin Luther King, Jr. The Purpose of Education

There is no fiction or nonfiction area of the Internet. - Alan November
________________________________
From: Sara Kelly Johns [skjohns@gmail.com]
Sent: Thursday, August 15, 2013 3:10 PM
To: aaslforum@ala.org
Subject: [aaslforum] Re: Re: support for NYC school librarians

Thanks, Debra.

It helps if NYC Board of Ed knows other people are watching this from all over, IMHO. It's going to affect all school librarians in NYS with spillover in other areas of the country if this waiver goes forward.

I appreciate your support, Sara




On Thu, Aug 15, 2013 at 5:52 AM, Debra Gottsleben <debragottsleben@gmail.com<mailto:debragottsleben@gmail.com>> wrote:
I signed. Probably better if people are from NY but still wanted to show support.

Debbie Gottsleben SLMS
Morristown High School
50 Early St.
Morristown, NJ 07960
973-292-2000 x2145<tel:973-292-2000%20x2145>
debragottsleben@gmail.com<mailto:debragottsleben@gmail.com> (personal)
debra.gottsleben@morristownhighschool.org<http://wnhighschool.org> (work)


On Wed, Aug 14, 2013 at 7:07 PM, Sarles Patricia (18K500) <PSarles@schools.nyc.gov<mailto:PSarles@schools.nyc.gov>> wrote:
Dear colleagues all over the country,

New York State law requires secondary schools to have either a full- or part-time librarian, depending on the population of the school.

Many of us in New York state have jobs because of this law.

However, many schools in NYC violate these state regulations, as reported in Monday's Wall Street Journal:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324769704579006604137520932.html

and also picked up by the Atlantic Wire:

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/entertainment/2013/08/new-york-city-has-fewer-school-librarians-ever/68217/

Now the NYC Department of Education wants to seek a waiver from the state so that it does not have to staff its schools with librarians. This was just reported on NY1 news two days ago:

http://www.ny1.com/content/education/187074/doe-asking-state-to-waive-regulation-requiring-schools-to-employ-librarians

So I am writing because there is a petition that was started by Christian Zabriskie, a NYC librarian, that will be sent to Dr. John B. King, New York State Commissioner of Education, to keep librarians in NYC schools. I would like to make you aware of it in case you would like to sign it:

http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/librarians-belong-in.fb30?source=c.fb&r_by=8579709

Thank you for your support,
Patricia


____________________________________________
Patricia Sarles, MA, MLS
Librarian
Jerome Parker Campus Library
100 Essex Drive
Staten Island, NY 10314
718-370-6900 x1322<tel:718-370-6900%20x1322>
psarles@schools.nyc.gov<mailto:psarles@schools.nyc.gov>
http://www.scoop.it/t/help-with-the-common-core-state-standards/
http://paper.li/psarles/1332609247
http://psarles.wikispaces.com
http://library.nycenet.edu/common/welcome.jsp?site=6467

To save man from the morass of propaganda, in my opinion, is one of the chief aims of education. Education must enable one to sift and weigh evidence, to discern the true from the false, the real from the unreal, and the facts from the fiction ... The function of education, therefore, is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. - Martin Luther King, Jr. The Purpose of Education

There is no fiction or nonfiction area of the Internet. - Alan November




--
Sara Kelly Johns
Instructor, Mansfield University School Library & Information Technologies Program
President-Elect, New York Library Association
Executive Board, American Library Association
AASL Legislative Committee
67 Canaras Ave.
Saranac Lake, NY 12983
johns@northnet.org<mailto:johns@northnet.org>
skjohns@gmail.com<mailto:skjohns@gmail.com>

"All knowledge is spendable currency, depending on the market"--Maya Angelou, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings