Teachers, librarians and community urge Pasco School Board to restore librarians and clerks at secondary schools

Speakers at the Pasco School Board meeting urged the district to restore certified librarians and library clerks at secondary schools, warning that reduced staffing will limit student access to books, research instruction and safe supervised spaces.

“Without adequate staffing, the value of this valuable resource becomes inaccessible to students, underutilized, and unmanaged,” said Elizabeth LeCompte, who addressed the board during the public‑comment period. She specifically warned that Pasco High School and Stevens Middle School were slated to lack dedicated librarians and said that outcome would harm equity.

Several certified school librarians described concrete impacts if clerks and librarians are not replaced. Stephanie Post, librarian at Verdi Robinson Elementary, cited state and national studies and said high‑poverty schools without certified teacher‑librarians show lower reading outcomes and graduation…