Houston Independent School District Eliminating Librarian Positions At 28 Schools To Make Room For ‘Team Centers’ For Students w/ Behavioral Issues

Houston Independent School District Eliminating Librarian Positions At 28 Schools To Make Room For ‘Team Centers’ For Students w/ Behavioral Issues

The largest public school district in Texas is making some major changes for the upcoming school year.

Houston Independent School District made the announcement that it will be abolishing the librarian positions at 28 schools and turning the spaces into “Team Centers” for children with behavioral issues. The librarians will be given the chance to move on to other positions within the district.

Mayor Sylvester Turner finds it intolerable that libraries are being shut down at some of the schools in “your most underserved communities,” while being kept open in other schools.

The school system said libraries will now be open to students who are dropped off at school either before classes start or after school before they head home. As for the “Team Centers,” students will be allowed to work separately or collaboratively during the school day. Students who have behavioral problems will be able to virtually join their class.

The decision to eliminate the positions is a component of the New Education System (NES), a reform initiative led by superintendent Mike Miles. There are currently 85 schools participating in Miles‘ initiative. The district stated that the 57 remaining NES schools’ librarians will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.

The new superintendent claimed reading proficiency among kids is falling behind, particularly in the fourth grade.

Janice Newsum, a former HISD librarian and manager of library services, believes removing librarian positions would actually make students’ reading performance worse.

Newsum said,

“When students engage in reading as an activity of choice, they are not only building that reading muscle, but they are also developing their vocabulary they are understanding a bit about the world that exists outside their block radius.”

She added,

“Our less fortunate students are the ones that suffer the most; primarily because many of them live in situations that are reading desserts. They don’t have access to the reading materials. They don’t have a choice in the reading materials that they are given to read.”

What are your thoughts on the entire situation? Let us know in the comments!

[VIA]