The Lumpencitizens Rise Up in Opposition to the Gutting of the Ogden School District Library System

"One small thing that librarians teach students is to properly research and document their assertions.  We call on Superintendent Smith to do the same"

Top-notch guest editorial in this morning's Standard-Examiner, wherein S-E citizen-contributor Kathy Gambles passionately and articulately leaps off Ogden Schools Superintendent Brad Smith's bone-headed decision to fire twenty Ogden School District media specialist librarians and turn over critically-important OSD library operations function to ill-trained, non-professional, part-time "staff assistants."

• Teacher librarians are too important to cut

"Twenty-four independent state studies  from across the nation now document the definite impact of teacher librarians and school libraries on students’ achievement scores. These studies show a direct correlation between quality school library media programs with teacher librarians and increased student achievement, as shown through increased reading levels, higher test scores, and general overall academic achievement," Ms. Gamble says. Hopefully, Superintendent Smith will write this all down so he doesn't forget it.

Barometer of Public Opinion?

And as a possible public opinion "barometer" of how Smith's short-sighted decision has inflamed the passions of local citizens, take a gander at the flurry of angry lumpencitizen letters which have already accumulated on the S-E website, slamming the sheer idiocy of the Smith's planned "gutting" of the OSD library "system":

• Superintendent Smith 'takes the heart out of schools'
• Passionate librarians integral part of education
• Librarians teach students to evaluate web sources
• Media specialists teach kids to love reading
• Superintendent Smith should 'document assertions'

In the latter letter, one S-E reader sets forth some good questions and makes a particularly strong point, wethinks:

How much is the budget deficit? This is the middle of Smith’s second year. What has happened?  Just how much additional monies will the Affordable Care Act cost the district? Isn’t the district saving money by cutting part-time workers’ hours so that none receive health care? How will retirement changes affect the budget?  What other cost saving measures had been taken before deciding to cut librarians? Have there been any cuts to personnel at the district level?
One small thing that librarians teach students is to properly research and document their assertions.  We call on Superintendent Smith to do the same.

Interesting sidebar story we'll link before closing. Apparently sensitive to the constant complaint that Smith doesn't have even a minute's time under his belt as a professional educator, Smith's decided to roll up his sleeves, join the ranks of Ogden teaching professionals (nominally, at least) and donate a little bit of his "spare" time to the "art" of teaching:

• School superintendent to teach constitutional law elective

It'll be interesting, don'tcha think, to find out whether Smith is more capable of teaching a course in a field which (theoretically) he "ought" to know something about, as opposed to managing a public school system, something which Smith clearly knows nothing about, que no?

So who'll be the first to throw in their own 2¢?