Eastern library partnership threatened

By DANIELLE RUSH
Tribune staff writer

October 11, 2008 04:01 pm

— GREENTOWN — The Greentown Public Library has served as the Eastern-Howard School Corp. library since 1950, with libraries housed both at the elementary and middle and high school buildings.
Library board president Sheryl Dean said it has been a good partnership, with the school providing the building and maintenance, and the library providing materials and personnel.
However, the Indiana Department of Education has denied a waiver request for the school corporation in its accreditation process because of this school-community partnership.
In August, the department sent a letter to Superintendent Tracy Caddell stating the school could not be accredited because the school’s library is also the Greentown Public Library, and Director Margi Bontrager is not licensed through the Department of Education as a licensed media specialist. Caddell filed an appeal.
He is disappointed with the response from the Department of Education, which says accreditation will be granted only if the corporation meets one of three options.
The first, which is the one he chose, requires assigning one licensed elementary teacher and one licensed secondary teacher to collaborate with Bontrager to develop, implement and evaluate the K-12 library media program that supports classroom learning and meets the needs of all students. Caddell said this means he will need to find a couple of teachers to volunteer and will have to give them professional time away from their classrooms to work with Bontrager.
Option two was for Bontrager to begin training to become a licensed media specialist within three years. Caddell said that option was not viable because Bontrager is not a school employee, but a library employee, and she already holds a master’s degree in library science. The third would be for the corporation to hire a licensed media specialist, which Caddell said would cost $50,000 to $60,000 per year, not including benefits, and “technically, we do not have a library, as we have saved taxpayer dollars by combining the public library and the school library.”
He said in a time when Gov. Mitch Daniels has promoted consolidating services to save tax dollars, he does not understand why a program which does that is not approved.
“We cannot be given a waiver and have to spend valuable time, resources and money when we have a very viable collaboration which has worked well for years. Not to mention we will have two teachers out of the classroom who should be providing instruction to their kids,” Caddell said.
He said having the public library housed in the school makes many more services available to students than in a traditional school library — for instance, the library is open until 8 p.m. two nights a week, and for several hours on Saturdays, so students can research or use library resources after school hours and on weekends. It also offers preschool story hours both in the daytime and evening, along with a time for home-school families to use the library, and hosts summer reading programs for all ages.
“We offer more services to our kids than any other school I’ve been in,” Caddell said.
In a letter to Caddell, Gary Wallyn, director of the Office of School Accreditation and Awards, acknowledged “the unique circumstances of having a public library on school premises,” and that Bontrager has a master of science in library science, “she is not a licensed media specialist and may not have the training needed to develop an integrated media program that supports classroom learning and meets the needs of all students.”
Dean said the Greentown Public Library has been associated with the schools since 1921, but was not considered to be a school library until 1950, when Union and Jackson townships and Greentown consolidated schools.
She said the public library issue comes up “every few years” during the accreditation process, but has always been resolved. She thinks perhaps Daniels’ recommendation to have one library per county could impact the issue this time.
Dean said local residents and classes use the resources offered, and she hopes the issue can be resolved to keep the library in the school.
“I happen to think this is the best setup in Indiana. I know we’re the only one like this. Our librarians, they strive not only to continue to keep Eastern on Four Star School status, they play an active part in that success. I am very proud of that relationship between the Greentown Public Library and the Eastern Howard School Corp. It would be a huge loss for the school if the public library had to relocate. I think our students are very blessed and our community is, too.”

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