Letter: Please Restore Full-time Library Paraeducators To School Budget

The following letter was sent to the acting Amherst School Superintendent, the Regional School Committee and the Amherst Town Council on June 1, 2023.

We are parents and residents of Amherst, MA, connected to all three elementary schools. We are writing to encourage you to preserve the three full-time library para-educators in the 2023-2024 school budget.  These educators are critical to ensuring that our children have quality books readily available for circulation at Fort River, Wildwood, and Crocker Farm Elementary Schools. 

The library para position is unique in that it has its own line item in the school budget, undoubtedly making it an easy target for cutting when cuts are needed.  However, this position is also uniquely important in our schools, as the library paras provide direct support to the full school through their library and school support roles. 

Managing and maintaining a quality library education program and a quality book circulation program is not possible with a single staff person.   Amherst schools currently provide every student with:

–40 minutes of library education each week

–the opportunity to check out 4-10 books weekly; or daily, if needed

–open library hours, throughout every day when students and teachers can check out books and receive research and curriculum support

–careful tracking of books, communication with parents to ensure books are returned so that students can take books home

–an excellent selection of books, made possible by ensuring books are returned, shelved, and repaired when needed

If the library’s two full-time positions are cut back to a single position, it will be impossible to maintain this level of circulation and instruction.  Students will not be able to check out as many books, more books will be lost, less books will go home, and teachers and students will lose needed access to the library.

Today’s schools face a huge challenge in teaching literacy to students.  The draw of screens and electronics pulls our students away from books, and many area schools no longer circulate books to students at home.  We are lucky to be in a district that has a robust elementary library program, but these cuts will cripple our students’ access to books. The culture of reading will change.

Margaret Sawyer
Ellen and Andey Guidera
Allegra Clark
Cora Fernandez Anderson
Lynette Arnold
Ariella Schwell
Ellen Boucher
Jaehyun Byun
Alexandra Monesson
Natasha Widener
Merideth Lively
Leila Tunnell
Emma Simmons
Zoe Abram
Katie Lazdowski
Kit Sawyer
Vanessa Cardinale
Annique Boomsma