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Parents, students and librarians urge Asheville City Schools to restore media-center staffing
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Summary
Multiple speakers during public comment asked the board to reverse cuts to media coordinator positions at Asheville High and SELSA and to preserve library services districtwide, arguing the losses limit instruction, interventions and students' access to trusted adults.
Several students, teachers and community organizers urged the Asheville City Schools Board of Education to restore media-center staffing and preserve school-library services during a lengthy public-comment period.
Julie Noblett, the media coordinator at Asheville Middle School, told the board she now has "less than a half time media assistant supporting me," and described being forced to decline routine student and teacher requests because the library cannot be supervised. "We have more students at AMS than we have during my eight-year tenure, so I have less support than ever," she said.
Student speaker Jackson Shaw, who said he served as a library assistant at Asheville High, urged the board to keep at least two full-time media coordinators at the campus so one person can run circulation while another teaches. "Our librarians at Asheville High are always supportive, present, and educated," Shaw said, noting their roles in media literacy instruction and in supporting freshman English visits.
Several other speakers echoed those requests. Will Smith, a resident and longtime teacher, said he was "frustrated that we are facing yet another staffing cut at Asheville High" after the superintendent declined to fill one of two media coordinator positions. He argued the decision conflicts with the district's staffing-allotment formula and urged the board not to approve a budget that includes the cut.
Brian Head, a former high-school English teacher and resident, framed librarians as equity and access partners, saying school librarians help triage student needs and connect people to resources. Bailey Griffith, the librarian at Claxton Elementary, described librarians' classroom support, intervention work and schoolwide roles, noting that cuts to media assistants and digital lead positions impede those functions.
Yana Huckema, a school librarian who said she represents ACAE, asked the board to restore funding for library staffing, materials and programming and thanked the district for announcing schools would close on May 1 for statewide educator advocacy. Christina Shimrock of Families of Asheville City Schools urged community participation in May 1 events and local strategic-planning meetings.
The public-comment block concluded without a board vote tied to the library staffing requests. The board moved on to consent and action items after hearing the speakers; several commenters said they will continue to press district leaders at upcoming meetings.
