Jamestown School Board meeting (July 30, 2024)
The Jamestown School Board President is calling on the district to hire new library media specialists for their elementary schools.
Board President Paul Abbott said he and Board Vice President Joe Pawelski have met with Superintendent Dr. Kevin Whitaker about the issue, saying that back after financial difficulties around 2010, several library media specialists were let go, “You know, one of the things we continuously hear about is reading competency by third grade is such an important measure for student success in graduation. And I certainly, in talking to Dr. Whitaker, would like us to explore replacing one or two of those positions.”
Abbott said it’s concerning that the district has elementary school libraries that “go dark” for weeks at a time where they’re not available for students to use.
Whitaker said when it comes to focusing on the need to improve literacy in students, librarians play very important role, “So we currently have high school, all three middle schools, and one of our elementary schools with full time librarians. We have four elementary schools sharing two (librarians), so we want to bring back more so that our elementary schools can have full time librarians.”
Whitaker said with an approved budget already in place, they will be looking at what current open positions might fit the duties of library media specialist, and then hire based on that new title.
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