The Sad State of School Libraries and How it Made me Violate my Contract

I reject the institutionalization of education. I reject discrimination based on lack of educational credentials—but we library assistants are not hired despite the fact that we might have no certification and simply because we are so adept at what we do. Assistants are hired because we can be hired at a third of the cost of an actual certified librarian. I think this hiring practice —hiring "assistants" and not librarians—reflects a growing disregard for libraries and books. A disregard that anyone who loves books should be aware of and struggle against. 

I am a building rep for my union. OSEA, an affiliate of AFT, and, as a building rep, I remind classified workers that they are not paid to develop lesson plans. I remind them that the school district pays them to assist and if the school district wants teachers, it needs to pay for teacher. But let's face facts. We work with kids and we want the best for them. We want to turn them on to the world of books. I've worked as a so-called library assistant for 13 years and in that time, before I clearly understood my contract and the big picture, I created many lesson plans. I decided to create this blog in case anyone else would like to use them.