MCPS libraries

[Anonymous]

Yes, PP, different for this generation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How do ES "media centers" receive new books? From school book fairs, donations etc.?

They have a budget and the media specialist purchases book for the collection.

Central office also orders titles in bulk and distributes them.

This is not correct, at least for elementary. Media specialists do all their own purchasing of books.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Any of you following - Freedom to Read Act? See below. moco360. William J. Ford, Maryland Matters.

[A bill that proposes to protect library books, reading materials and other resources from would-be censors received a long and at times dramatic first public hearing Wednesday.

The Freedom to Read Act stands atop a “decency agenda” championed by House Speaker Adrienne A. Jones (D-Baltimore County), which has become part of a national conversation on what literary material is being made available in public schools and public libraries.

“This crucial and timely legislation will safeguard our libraries from becoming the next frontier of censorship, protecting literature and the freedom for readers to choose for themselves,” the chief sponsor, Del. Dana Jones (D-Anne Arundel), said before the House Ways and Means Committee. “The Freedom to Read Act…will prevent intolerance and hate from taking root in our institutions and in our schools.”

Jones sat alongside five supporters of the legislation, including Skip Dye, senior vice president of library sales and digital strategy for Penguin Random House, the book publisher, who traveled from Delaware to testify. Two of the company’s four distribution centers are located in Carroll County.

“There is a dangerous, national trend of book banning. It silences our authors,” he said. “Book bans take a variety of forms [and] they include restrictions, they include removals and rating systems. By doing these things, they not only compromise the autonomy of libraries but also threaten the basis of our democratic society.”

The bill was the last of 19 to be heard by the Ways and Means Committee Wednesday. The marathon session lasted more than six hours, with the hearing on Jones’ measure lasting almost two hours.

The legislation seeks to protect school and public library employees by stating they “may not be dismissed, suspended, disciplined, demoted, reassigned, transferred or otherwise retaliated against” for following state library standards.

Some of the standards, according to the bill, would include not removing library materials, books and other resources based on an author or creator’s background, origin, or opinions. In addition, a library should not prohibit or remove materials from its catalogue “because of partisan or doctrinal disapproval.”

If any county library, resource center, or “cooperative service program” developed by the Maryland State Library Agency have policies that aren’t consistent with these state standards, then the state librarian would authorize the state comptroller to withhold state funding from the institution.

A state Library Board has designated three rural county libraries as regional resource centers in Charlotte Hall in Southern Maryland, Hagerstown in Western Maryland and Salisbury on the Eastern Shore, which will become clearinghouses for more library materials and resources than an individual library can provide on its own, according to an analysis of the bill.

Under the legislation, a person cannot “knowingly and” unlawfully take, disfigure, or ruin any book or other library property.

Anyone accused of these offenses would be charged with a misdemeanor and, if found guilty, could spend up to 10 months in jail, pay a fine not exceeding $1,000, or both. The current fine is $250.

Del. Shaneka Henson (D-Anne Arundel) had several questions about the legislation, including whether librarians are contractual or at-will employees.

Sonia Alcántara-Antoine, the CEO of the Baltimore County Public Library, said no library workers in her jurisdiction are contractual.

Cheryl Bost, president of the Maryland State Education Association, said all library workers in the public schools are full-time employees. In elementary schools, she said librarians can also teach “a class of students.”

Henson also asked who would enforce the rules if a person ruined library property and would have to pay an increased penalty.

“If we are talking about asking police to come into our libraries and to enforce these with greater penalties, and then people are in court [and] subject to the criminal legal process, I would want to clearly understand that while making a decision on the bill,” she said.

‘Ripe for legal challenges’
Two people testified in opposition of the bill.

Suzie Scott, chair of the Moms for Liberty’s Maryland Legislative Committee, hoisted a book slightly above her shoulder titled, “Let’s Talk About It: The Teen’s Guide to Sex, Relationships, and Being a Human.” Her gesture revealed a page of the book with pictures of male sex organs.

Scott, chair of the organization’s Harford County chapter, said she got the book from her jurisdiction’s public library.

Lorna Henry, an attorney with a conservative legal defense organization called Pacific Justice Institute, said the bill seeks to promote a sense of “perceived fairness.”

“The language of this bill is not clear and is ripe for legal challenges in its current form,” she said. “Is the freedom of a 6-year-old to read a sexually explicit book greater than the freedom of their parent to direct the upbringing of that child not to read that book?”

If approved, Maryland would represent one of the few states in the nation to approve a policy with strong protections for what can be found in libraries and penalties for those who attempt to thwart it.

Illinois became the first state in the nation last year to sign a similar policy into law, which went into effect Jan. 1.

Several other state legislatures such as Colorado, Kansas, New Jersey and New Mexico introduced anti-book banning legislation this year.

The Utah House of Representatives approved an opposite bill Wednesday, to allow local school boards to hold public hearings and decide whether certain books should be banned. The state Board of Education would make final decision on whether to override a ban.

The Utah legislature, which is majority-Republican, approved the measure, which expands a 2022 law that allows parents to challenge “sensitive materials” in schools. The move makes it easier to prohibit “criminally indecent or pornographic” books statewide if they’re banned in a handful of school systems or charter schools.

Back in Maryland, the Senate version of the Freedom to Read Act, sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Nancy J. King (D-Montgomery), will be heard at 9 a.m. Friday before the Committee on Education, Energy and the Environment]

Oh Suzie Scott.

[Anonymous]

Oops didn't want to include quote. Sorry.

[Anonymous]

Oh the poor librarians. My favorite people having to deal with these idiots.

[Anonymous]

HB 0785
Freedom to Read Act

Sponsored by: Delegates D. Jones, A. Jones, Atterbeary, Ebersole, Wilkins, Fair, Feldmark, Grossman, Mireku-North, Palakovich Carr, and Wu
Status: In the House - Passed Enrolled
Analysis: Fiscal and Policy Note (Revised)

Synopsis: Establishing a State policy that local school systems operate their school library media programs consistent with certain standards; requiring each local school system to develop a policy and procedures to review objections to materials in a school library media program; prohibiting a county board of education from dismissing, demoting, suspending, disciplining, reassigning, transferring, or otherwise retaliating against certain school library media program personnel for performing their job duties consistent with certain standards; etc.

https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Legislation/Details/HB0785?ys=2024RS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The biggest problem with letting students into the media center during lunch is that someone has to supervise them, and there are no extra people available to do that. It’s just not feasible.

Mostly it is the media specialist or assistant.

Our MS, lets kids adopt a shelf and come in at lunch to make sure everything is in place. The shelves are labeled with the kids names. My kid really enjoys that...and loves to be out of the cafeteria.

[Anonymous]

Library is another gathering place to eat lunch since cafeterias are apparently not for eating these days, not enough space to fit thousands of students in high schools but even if cafeteria could fit a few hundred, students eat in other areas of the school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Libraries were actually rebranded media centers in the late 1980s to reflect the major impact of technology. The reason I know this is because a lot of schools built during that time period still have LMC wall plates. And with chromebooks, 3d printers, self-checkout stations, and online resources, it’s increasingly relevant.

+1. I'm kind of surprised that anyone who is young enough to have kids in school didn't grow up with them being called media centers.

Granted, my youngest is in high school, and I graduated in 1990.

But we had a library, and an AV room for all the carts to wheel in the overhead projectors and TVs. Heck, our middle school even had a purple mimeograph machine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Libraries were actually rebranded media centers in the late 1980s to reflect the major impact of technology. The reason I know this is because a lot of schools built during that time period still have LMC wall plates. And with chromebooks, 3d printers, self-checkout stations, and online resources, it’s increasingly relevant.

+1. I'm kind of surprised that anyone who is young enough to have kids in school didn't grow up with them being called media centers.

Don't call me old!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Oh the poor librarians. My favorite people having to deal with these idiots.

I have a real problem with the idea that kids in government mandated settings are provided with graphic content by adults who are not their parents. That is not "book banning" and it doesn't make me an "idiot." If you would like to have your child read such a book, go to the public library, where attendance is optional or buy the book yourself. In fact, if you are worried about equity, you can start a nonprofit to buy graphic content for kids and distribute them free of charge to their homes. But in a place where families are legally obligated to send their kids? No, have some humility.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh the poor librarians. My favorite people having to deal with these idiots.

I have a real problem with the idea that kids in government mandated settings are provided with graphic content by adults who are not their parents. That is not "book banning" and it doesn't make me an "idiot." If you would like to have your child read such a book, go to the public library, where attendance is optional or buy the book yourself. In fact, if you are worried about equity, you can start a nonprofit to buy graphic content for kids and distribute them free of charge to their homes. But in a place where families are legally obligated to send their kids? No, have some humility.

There are a wide array of books available in the library. No media specialists are purchasing materials you consider graphic to force children to read them. These are available for kids to select if they wish - just like the public library you suggest going to. I'm not sure what you think is happening in the library but you seem misguided.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh the poor librarians. My favorite people having to deal with these idiots.

I have a real problem with the idea that kids in government mandated settings are provided with graphic content by adults who are not their parents. That is not "book banning" and it doesn't make me an "idiot." If you would like to have your child read such a book, go to the public library, where attendance is optional or buy the book yourself. In fact, if you are worried about equity, you can start a nonprofit to buy graphic content for kids and distribute them free of charge to their homes. But in a place where families are legally obligated to send their kids? No, have some humility.

A) What constitutes graphic content would have to first be explicitly defined. Is it the statue of the David, is it discussion of private parts and basic biology during Sex Ed or Anatomy?
B) Books being available for check-out is not the same as them be provided to an individual student.
C) Public schools are not government mandated places. Educating kids between 5-18 is the mandate, but parents have choice about where that education can occur (public, private, at home).

[Anonymous]

MCPS media specialists are not allowed to go rogue and put anything they want on the shelves. Books have to be reviewed and approved for specific grade levels with two signatures from other media specialists or teachers. Your opinion may differ from theirs, but every book on the shelves has been approved by professionals to be appropriate for the grade levels that are in that building. If you find a particular title offensive, you are free to challenge it with the school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Library is another gathering place to eat lunch since cafeterias are apparently not for eating these days, not enough space to fit thousands of students in high schools but even if cafeteria could fit a few hundred, students eat in other areas of the school.

Do they clean the library each day after students use the space to eat lunch?