Hello CASL community!

A bill has come out of the Education committee, HB5417, which provides help for school librarians in terms of the reconsideration of books. This is in response to the listening session in December. 

This is awesome!!! But we need to work quickly!

The public hearing is Monday, March 11 at 10am at the Legislative Office Building in Hartford. Here are the ways you can participate and we need your help!

• Testify in-person at the Legislative Office Building in Hartford. Link (you will also get a zoom link in case you are not able to be there) 3 minutes. Submit written testimony too.

• Sign up to testify via zoom. 3 minutes. Rep. Currey has recognized that school librarians may not be able to be there when it's their turn and has said he will call on us when we log into zoom. Submit written testimony too.

• Submit written testimony via this link as soon as possible. 

• When submitting written testimony, select Mar. 11 at 10am, Support, HB 5417 and upload a pdf. This is the preferred format.

Register to speak (live or zoom) by 3pm Sunday, March 10. Submit written testimony as soon as possible.

Please note: If you are planning on testifying, it could be during school hours. Make sure your administrator is aware. 

In addition, we need as many non-school library people - colleagues, parents, students, family members, community members, retired librarians, public librarians, Friends of Libraries, etc. as we can get to testify or submit testimony and also contact their state representatives and senators. Here’s how to find your legislators.

When sharing, use email but if you need to use social media, do so within your trusted networks.   

Ideas:

Please use your own words, but this may help those people who need some guidance. Any personal stories about how HB 5417 would impact you, your students, and your community would be especially helpful. 

Sample Story Sharing Format:

I'm the school librarian at [School Name] in [Town] serving [Number of students] in grades [K-12] and I’m speaking on behalf of myself.

[Something positive about your role/school/students/district!]

As other state's try to implement bans on books, Connecticut has an opportunity to be an example for the nation as to how school librarian’s can protect students’ freedom to read.

[Provide examples of why it is important for students to have the freedom to read in your library, why it is imperative that they be able to have books that serve as windows and mirrors and represent the world that we live in . . .].

Please support HB 5417 and allow us to do our jobs to support our students’ freedom to read. 

Talking points:

• A family has the right to limit what their own child can read, but one person does not have the right to decide what all children read.

• Policies: we have selection policies, collection development policies, weeding policies, reconsideration policies - We follow the established board policies

• This is about our students’ right to read.

• Libraries are centers of voluntary inquiry and dissemination of information - 1st amendment rights

• School librarians are specially trained, highly educated, certified teachers - we need full time, certified library media specialists in all CT schools

Please reach out if you have any questions! Thank you in advance!

Jenny

president@ctcasl.org