Parents, teachers and students urge board to keep site librarians as JUHSD outlines districtwide library plan

The Jefferson Union High School District presented a proposal on March 27 to reorganize library services, including hiring a district librarian to lead a districtwide plan for collections, media literacy and AI use. The proposal sparked extended public comment and repeated appeals from teachers, union leaders and parents to preserve site-based librarians at the district’s high schools.

Deputy Superintendent Corinne Baca outlined the district’s vision for libraries as “dynamic, student-centered spaces” that emphasize information and media literacy, a diversified physical and digital collection, staff professional development and an AI-use policy. Baca presented a tentative timeline that calls for hiring a district librarian, conducting site needs assessments and developing implementation plans tailored to each school.

Nut graf: While district leaders said the reorganization is meant to modernize libraries and ensure consistent services, dozens of speakers from Oceana High School and other campuses told the board that removing certificated librarians from sites would harm students — in particular students with individualized education plans, English learners and those relying on library staff for research, supervision and exhibition projects.

Speakers at the board meeting included Monica Casey, president of AFT Local 1481, who reminded the board that staffing changes remain a negotiable topic and asked that negotiations be reflected in the district’s timeline. Oceana teachers and staff — including science teacher Laura Hodder and English teacher Erin Peters — described outreach efforts (a staff-signed letter, attendance at LCAP meetings and a site board meeting) and said district staff had not sought the site’s input before proposing the library changes.

Multiple public speakers pointed specifically to the role the Oceana librarian plays in exhibition projects that are embedded in that school’s curriculum. “Removing the librarian places an unusual strange burden on us,” said Tony Marilich, an Oceana math teacher and academic council facilitator, who described exhibition-based learning and the librarian’s role in mentoring students across grade-level projects.

Union and community speakers also questioned the sequence of decision-making: they said a needs assessment should come before staff reassignments. Laurie Hughes told trustees the district’s equity tool requires stakeholder engagement and argued that the district did not follow its own process. AFT President Monica Casey asked the board to include negotiation outcomes in the timeline and said AFT had not yet negotiated the new district-librarian position or working conditions for library technicians.

District staff responded that the proposal grew in part from a prior negotiation framework discussed with the union and that the district seeks to provide living-wage increases for staff through previously negotiated settlements. Deputy Superintendent Tina Van Rapphorst and other administrators said the district will proceed with a needs assessment and staff training plans and that the county librarian and external partners are available to support library technicians.

Ending: Trustees agreed to hear the community’s concerns and said the needs assessment and April budget discussions will be used to determine how to support site-specific needs such as Oceana’s exhibition projects. The item was presented for discussion and no final action to reassign or eliminate individual site librarians was taken at the March meeting.