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Students, teachers and librarians urge Seattle district not to cut school libraries
Summary
Dozens of students, teachers and librarians testified at the Jan. 22 Seattle School District board meeting urging the board not to reduce library hours or librarian positions as the district crafts its 2025–26 budget and considers staffing changes.
Dozens of students, parents, teachers and school librarians told the Seattle School District No. 1 Board of Directors on Jan. 22 that proposed staffing changes threaten daily library services that many students rely on.
Speakers described libraries as daily academic and social supports and urged the board to preserve librarian positions and library hours during the budget process. They delivered petitions, school-by-school counts and first-person accounts of how libraries function as safe spaces and academic hubs.
Several students said reduced hours would remove essential supports. Rowan Harper, a junior at Ballard High School, brought a school petition and told the board, “If you cut our librarian’s hours in half, you’re basically taking these opportunities straight out of the hands of…
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