Library Assistants' Absence Snarls Students' Studies

Daria Grastara, Hillsborough High School’s student representative to the Board of Education, and a group of students completing a class project were in a predicament. Typically, they would meet in the school library for group work.

But a state mandate that cut library assistants in public schools statewide means changes to the high school library operations—including times to use the high school library before and after school.

“These changes are, in a lot of minds of Hillsborough High School students, we’re very worried,” Grastara said. “ . . . I have a group project that I had to do this past week and we had no ride to the municipal building to us that library, so it’s a big dilemma for high school students.”

Like Grastara, other Hillsborough High School students are already feeling the pinch—in the form of shorter hours and less time to use the library on certain days— from a state mandate that cut library assistants from many public schools, she said.

“I used to spend two days a week, for an hour at least, in the high school library,” Grastara said during the Board of Education’s Sept. 26 meeting. “I would go before school to print if my printer was broken, and I would rely on the library heavily, as do many students.”

According Grastara, the students can only use the library for 15-minute periods on certain days, while also seeing shortened hours before and after school. The library will open at 7:10 a.m., with school beginning at 7:30 a.m., and stays open about 20 minutes after the 2:25 dismissal bell on Tuesdays through Fridays. Because of faculty meetings and two professional learning community days per month, the library is not opened immediately after school on Mondays.

Prior to the changes, students could use the library as early as 7 a.m., and stay as late as 3:30 p.m. every day of the week.

 The library now has two librarians instead of the two librarians and two library assistants it’s had in the past, according to high school Principal Karen Bingert.

“We have them staggering their entry and exit times so the library can be open a little before school and a little after school,” Bingert said. “We can’t flex their time too much because the librarians are needed during the regularly scheduled school day to work with our classes and our students and our teachers.”

The aides had substitute teacher certification, allowing them to stagger entry and exit times during the school day, Bingert said. As a result, one aid would open the library earlier in the day, while the other would come to the school later and stay after to accommodate students’ needs. During the school day, the aids would assist with library operations by issuing passes for students to return to the library, checking books in and out, shelving materials, assisting students with finding materials and other tasks.

“We are looking to use some volunteers from the community, but we have only had a few express interest,” Bingert said. “We are working out a schedule for those people. So right now we are hurting because we don’t have those aides.”

Those interested in volunteering in the high school can reach out to the librarians there about volunteering. Those who do volunteer would need to undergo fingerprinting and criminal background checks, as per the district’s volunteer policy.

However, the volunteers would not be able to extend the library hours, since students cannot be left alone without a certificated staff member.