Halton District School Board eliminating role of elementary teacher librarians

The role of elementary school teacher-librarian is being eliminated at the end of this school year by the Halton District School Board.

The move is not a cost-cutting one, but a redistribution and maximization of resources to allow the board to help close student learning gaps due to the pandemic, according to Marnie Denton, HDSB's manager of communication and engagement services.

The change in staffing will allow us to hire approximately 15 (permanent) learning resource teachers who will provide targeted early literacy support to schools in need after the last two years of interrupted learning," said Denton.

An additional 17 library technicians will be hired to ensure libraries keep running, she added.

While this role has been slowly chipped away at for the past number of years, this latest announcement is still a devastating blow to schools and students, said Lisa Klimkowski, president of Halton Elementary Teachers in a letter to the board.

Teacher-librarians wear many hats, she said.

They are our experts in STEM, they instill a love of books and reading into our students, they collaborate with classroom teachers to deliver high quality lessons and units. They run book clubs and book fairs and they make the school library the heart and soul of a school."

Teacher-librarians she spoke with were obviously very upset because they know that the role has value."

None, however, will lose their jobs as they will be assigned to classrooms.

Klimkowski said she understands the provincial pressure to close learning gaps and that the board must make tough decisions."

I just don't think this is the right one," said Klimkowski.

Although there are approximately 90 elementary teacher-librarians at the board according to the union, none work fulltime in that position.

The move does not affect secondary school teacher-librarians, said Cindy Gage, Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation, Halton branch president.