Action Requested: support for NYC school librarians

Dear colleagues all over the country, New York State law requires secondary schools to have either a full- or part-time librarian, depending on the population of the school. Many of us in New York state have jobs because of this law. However, many schools in NYC violate these state regulations, as reported in Monday's Wall Street Journal: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324769704579006604137520932.html and also picked up by the Atlantic Wire: http://www.theatlanticwire.com/entertainment/2013/08/new-york-city-has-fewer-school-librarians-ever/68217/ Now the NYC Department of Education wants to seek a waiver from the state so that it does not have to staff its schools with librarians. This was just reported on NY1 news two days ago: http://www.ny1.com/content/education/187074/doe-asking-state-to-waive-regulation-requiring-schools-to-employ-librarians So I am writing because there is a petition that was started by Christian Zabriskie, a NYC librarian, that will be sent to Dr. John B. King, New York State Commissioner of Education, to keep librarians in NYC schools. I would like to make you aware of it in case you would like to sign it: http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/librarians-belong-in.fb30?source=c.fb&r_by=8579709 Thank you for your support, Patricia ____________________________________________ Patricia Sarles, MA, MLS Librarian Jerome Parker Campus Library 100 Essex Drive Staten Island, NY 10314 718-370-6900 x1322 psarles@schools.nyc.gov http://www.scoop.it/t/help-with-the-common-core-state-standards/ http://paper.li/psarles/1332609247 http://psarles.wikispaces.com http://library.nycenet.edu/common/welcome.jsp?site=6467 To save man from the morass of propaganda, in my opinion, is one of the chief aims of education. Education must enable one to sift and weigh evidence, to discern the true from the false, the real from the unreal, and the facts from the fiction ... The function of education, therefore, is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. - Martin Luther King, Jr. The Purpose of Education There is no fiction or nonfiction area of the Internet. - Alan November