Citing budget pressures, the affluent Boston suburb of Newton plans to lay off 7 of its 14 school librarians:
“We’re just in shock and disbelief,” one Newton school staffer said yesterday afternoon after hearing about the librarians’ layoffs. “Cutting the librarians is so short-sighted, so devastating.”
In a citywide faculty meeting yesterday afternoon and at a school committee meeting last night, Newton School Superintendent Jeff Young unveiled a series of cutbacks and belt-tightening measures aimed at keeping the system within its budget. He did not return a phone call yesterday afternoon.
Complete article from the Boston Herald. More from the Globe.
librarian shortage, eh?
And now those seven librarians with experience are looking for jobs in a small metro area with two library schools.
And our professors wonder why we nearly have seizures when they talk about the Great Librarian Shortage™.
Not yet
If you read the Globe column, you’ll see that the layoffs are going to be proposed on Monday, for next year’s budget. And the librarians are appealing to parents for support.
One advantage to having two newspapers in a city is that one can use them to fact check. Although it’s hard to say whether the Globe or the Herald is more frequently inaccurate.
Re:Not yet
Noted and corrected.
Cheers,
Ryan
Irony
The Globe also printed a story about the new SAT essays, on the same page as the library story. We all know about the importance of libraries and reading/writing skills.
Ironic, isn’t it.
Shades of Salinas
California is willing to dish out billions for stem cell research but can’t fund their libraries.
Massachusetts just wants to spend around $100 million but you gotta think that would cover at least a few school librarians.