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Kalamazoo School Librarians
May Lose to Teacher Pay

In anticipation of a 2% pay raise for teachers, the Kalamazoo (Mich.) Board of Education is considering eliminating 11 of 18 elementary librarians and one of two librarians at each high school.

At a board meeting April 27 attended by teachers and librarians, administrators said they had no choice, since a budget unveiled in early April calls for $1.9 million in cuts, according to the April 28 Kalamazoo Gazette.

More than $1 million of the cuts involve administrative positions, with the agreement that the remainder was to come from the schools. School principals decided to cut librarian positions, saying that teachers can do librarians’ jobs and librarians can be switched to teaching positions that open up.

“I’m not going to say that teachers can’t teach [library skills]—that would be foolish—but it is what we are trained and educated to do, to get that child excited about reading,” said acquisitions librarian Jean Williams.

The board will make a final decision in late May.

Posted May 8, 2000.

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