The union that represents Halton Region’s public elementary teachers is calling a move by the local school board to eliminate school teacher-librarians a “devastating blow.”
In a mid-March statement, Halton Elementary Teachers (HET), a chapter of ETFO, characterized the workers as the “heart and soul” of a school and is urging the Halton District School Board (HDSB) to reconsider eliminating the position for 89 schools.
“They know what resources schools have and what they need and ensure that our libraries are kept current,” said Lisa Klimkowski, president of HET.
“Teacher-librarians are usually the person that manages the school technology, which, in a post-pandemic world, we realize we can no longer do without.”
HDSB spokesperson Marnie Denton told Global News the move is a “reassignment of staff resources” and not a cost-cutting measure.
About 20 current teacher-librarians positions will be affected. None of the staffers work full time in that position.
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“The change will allow us to hire approximately 15 learning resource teachers who will provide targeted early literacy support to schools in need after the last two years of interrupted learning,” Denton said.
“Those positions will be permanent.”
She said 17 technicians will be added to keep libraries running in place of the previous teacher-librarian post.
Klimkowski said the HDSB has “slowly chipped away” at the role and attributed the decision to cuts made by the Ministry of Education.
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“This decision absolutely will directly impact our students given the elimination of all the things teacher-librarians do,” Klimkowski said.
“It will also impact them because many of these expectations will be downloaded onto their already-overloaded classroom teachers.”
Teacher-librarians at Halton’s secondary schools will not be affected by the move.
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