MONTREAL – The library, it’s a quiet and serene place, probably the calmest area in any school.
“You have to give a sense of ownership to students,” said Jennifer Woolley, the librarian at Lakeside Academy in Lachine.
“They have to know that there’s a place in the school to call their own and many students in this school know this is their haven.”
But things are being turned upside-down after elementary school librarians in Montreal’s west-end received a shocking letter.
“When I opened it, it said your job has been abolished,” St. John Fisher librarian Debbie Poirier told Global News.
READ MORE: Montreal teachers take to the streets over education cuts
The Lester B Pearson School Board (LBPSB) announced Thursday it would be cutting all its elementary school librarians in an effort to keep up with provincial budget cuts.
“We’ve already cut the fat and it’s even harder to absorb these huge cuts,” said Suanne Stein Day, chairperson of the school board.
School boards found out in March that spending in education was increased by only 0.2 per cent.
The decision has outraged some.
“Saying you don’t need a librarian now because we have the Internet is like saying you don’t need a math teacher anymore because you’ve got a calculator,” said Woolley.
READ MORE: Tough decisions ahead for Quebec English school boards
Others are completely devastated.
Poirier has been an elementary school librarian for 20 years.
“Sometimes when I’m out buying books I have some of the students in mind. It’s like ‘oh, I know exactly who would like to read this book,'” she said.
“So, when I bring it in, I’m really excited to show it to them.”
She’s a librarian in not one, but two primary schools.
READ MORE: LBPSB Director General Robert T. Mills set to retire
“There are some that do three,” said Poirier.
“But there are some that do four.”
It’s a difficult, emotional day.
“I have a stack of books sitting on my desk right now that are brand new and I keep looking at them thinking, you may never get read,” she said.
“I know every book in this library. It’s hard.”
The school board said it will rely on librarians from its high schools and volunteers to fill the space, but that’s not a convincing argument for parents.
“I do not see how our children are going to be served adequately with volunteer services,” said Claudine Dionne.
“There’s nothing like a story being read to a class like a librarian does it,” agreed Josie Campisi.
Parents, along with librarians and even students are promising to fight.
“We will write letters, we will protest right until the very end,” said Woolley.
A petition has already been started to force the school board to reverse its decision.
The head of Quebec’s English School Boards said that the lack of funding represents a shortfall of $350 million in the system.
rachel.lau@globalnews.ca
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