Elementary schools are losing library technicians
Cape Breton’s elementary schools will no longer rely on library technicians for book loans.
Education Minister Zach Churchill said Thursday that an operational change was made by the Sydney regional office to better support changes in student learning.
About six members of CUPE local 5050 were affected by the decision.
“That’s reflective of the fact that students are using traditional libraries less and less as technology changes, as there’s more information available directly in the classrooms,” Churchill said.
“This isn’t about saving money. This is about ensuring that the education delivery model is always changing to meet the needs of our students and the fact is that they’re learning differently now than they used to.”
Asked if parents were consulted about the change, Churchill said that is not a typical procedure in deciding staffing allocations. He said library technicians were available to students on a once-a-week basis.
“Every year there are changes in staffing resources in every single region of the province and those are based on the changing needs of our students and changing enrolment as well,” he said. Churchill
“Teachers are managing their class and managing experience in the library. The library technicians, I believe, we’re only in the library once a week to provide certain services that weren’t necessarily related to education delivery to our kids.”
According to the department, Cape Breton-Victoria Regional Centre for Education becomes the final school district in the province to remove library staff from its elementary schools.
Library technicians will remain employed at junior and senior high schools, with a decision on what will happen to elementary libraries to be made by local administrators.
Bev McGee, a retired Sydney librarian and literacy advocate, said young students are not always exposed to public libraries and many of them do not have access to books at home.
“It should be one of the most important things that we’re dealing with in our education system is the exposure of kids to good books to read,” she said.
“It’s not just the mechanics of learning to read but giving them something to read and having somebody there who can point them in the right direction.”
Karen Blair, executive director of the
Adult Learning Association of Cape Breton
County, said studies have shown that Blair books are strongly linked to educational achievement.
“With what sounds like a reduction in library programming in elementary schools, there is a potential there to have less books in a child’s home and that can affect academic achievement,” she said.
A spokesperson for CUPE 5050, which represents library technicians, was unavailable for comment Thursday afternoon due to prior commitments.
Churchill said 31 positions have been added to Cape Breton-Victoria in the coming school year. One of the biggest changes in the schools will be having principals exit themselves from the Nova Scotia Teachers Union or stay within the union and return to the classroom.
According to Churchill, early figures suggest that the majority of administrators will continue in their current roles.
“The preliminary numbers are very positive,” he said. “It seems as if the vast majority of principals are going continue on in the new model.
“I’ve been hearing from a lot of administrators that are actually excited about having their own professional association that can deal with their specific concerns as administrators in the system and directly convey those to the government.”
Administrative employees who plan to remain in the system will be moved over to the new Public School Administrators Association effective Aug. 1.