Failed Principal > Central Office Pipeline Alive and Well?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Saw N.L. present today in person to a group of librarians. I was giving her the benefit of the doubt for a year but EEK she is still clueless. I am thinking about what the previous poster said about this position needing to be an important advocate for school libraries and I just DON’T SEE IT at all. Worrying

This sums up FCPS....no true support or advocacy for school staff. Just those looking to get out of schools and move into cushy offices in Gatehouse.

[Anonymous]

I am another librarian in FCPS and just had this post shared with me. I also wanted to express that the new library coordinator seems to be a passive, uninformed, and uneducated library leader. She has had several opportunities this year to advocate for our library to our school administration and has instead hid in the central office. If she did speak up, I was never made aware of it. Despite multiple issues, she never bothered to even come talk me, email me, or just pick up the phone and check on our status. I only hope that she stays as short a team in Gatehouse as she lasted as a school principal, and I echo other posters in wondering how the heck someone thought it was a good idea to stash her here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am another librarian in FCPS and just had this post shared with me. I also wanted to express that the new library coordinator seems to be a passive, uninformed, and uneducated library leader. She has had several opportunities this year to advocate for our library to our school administration and has instead hid in the central office. If she did speak up, I was never made aware of it. Despite multiple issues, she never bothered to even come talk me, email me, or just pick up the phone and check on our status. I only hope that she stays as short a team in Gatehouse as she lasted as a school principal, and I echo other posters in wondering how the heck someone thought it was a good idea to stash her here.

PP... I feel weird posting this here... but I don't even know how or where to advocate. Who supervises the library coordinator?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am another librarian in FCPS and just had this post shared with me. I also wanted to express that the new library coordinator seems to be a passive, uninformed, and uneducated library leader. She has had several opportunities this year to advocate for our library to our school administration and has instead hid in the central office. If she did speak up, I was never made aware of it. Despite multiple issues, she never bothered to even come talk me, email me, or just pick up the phone and check on our status. I only hope that she stays as short a team in Gatehouse as she lasted as a school principal, and I echo other posters in wondering how the heck someone thought it was a good idea to stash her here.

PP... I feel weird posting this here... but I don't even know how or where to advocate. Who supervises the library coordinator?

The Director of Curriculum and Instruction— Colleen Eddy

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am another librarian in FCPS and just had this post shared with me. I also wanted to express that the new library coordinator seems to be a passive, uninformed, and uneducated library leader. She has had several opportunities this year to advocate for our library to our school administration and has instead hid in the central office. If she did speak up, I was never made aware of it. Despite multiple issues, she never bothered to even come talk me, email me, or just pick up the phone and check on our status. I only hope that she stays as short a team in Gatehouse as she lasted as a school principal, and I echo other posters in wondering how the heck someone thought it was a good idea to stash her here.

PP... I feel weird posting this here... but I don't even know how or where to advocate. Who supervises the library coordinator?

The Director of Curriculum and Instruction— Colleen Eddy

Thank you! I’m planning to email her my concerns.

[Anonymous]

I noticed that there are library vacancies this year. That is something I never thought I’d see. Is that normal??

[Anonymous]

Another PD with this woman and the librarians continue to be flabbergasted at how little she knows about libraries and librarians. Everyone around her looks demoralized.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I noticed that there are library vacancies this year. That is something I never thought I’d see. Is that normal??

NOT normal at all. Never saw a vacancy under the last library manager. If there was, it must have been quickly filled.

[Anonymous]

It's desperately depresssing. The contrast to Priscille Dando is so stark. Priscille was such a passionate, outstanding advocate for freedom to read, for the transformative power of libraries, and for access to libraries and diverse books. Since she left, it feels just...rudderless. We get a "newsletter" with reposted announcements from other departments and always-useful and informative info from LIS tech team (for which she can take no credit since that team thankfully has not left after Priscille.) It's like an empty suit is in her place. Meanwhile, for my program anyway, teachers are being told they can't use any instructional time to come to the library. And when I reached out about that...*crickets*. Because NL is not going to push back against n principals or remind them of regulations or, god forbid, advocate that a change in regs that increased fixed library time in elementary master schedules by 50% (!!!) has had a deleterious effect on library programming or ability of librarians to collaborate with classroom teachers...there's no communication about anything like that. Just regular newsletters.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I noticed that there are library vacancies this year. That is something I never thought I’d see. Is that normal??

NOT normal at all. Never saw a vacancy under the last library manager. If there was, it must have been quickly filled.

I believe they told us at the library kickoff PD that there were 3 schools starting the year without librarians. That was as like *completely* unheard of in the past.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's desperately depresssing. The contrast to Priscille Dando is so stark. Priscille was such a passionate, outstanding advocate for freedom to read, for the transformative power of libraries, and for access to libraries and diverse books. Since she left, it feels just...rudderless. We get a "newsletter" with reposted announcements from other departments and always-useful and informative info from LIS tech team (for which she can take no credit since that team thankfully has not left after Priscille.) It's like an empty suit is in her place. Meanwhile, for my program anyway, teachers are being told they can't use any instructional time to come to the library. And when I reached out about that...*crickets*. Because NL is not going to push back against n principals or remind them of regulations or, god forbid, advocate that a change in regs that increased fixed library time in elementary master schedules by 50% (!!!) has had a deleterious effect on library programming or ability of librarians to collaborate with classroom teachers...there's no communication about anything like that. Just regular newsletters.

Hit the nail on the head. This was the same conversation I was having with my co-librarian. I think it’s hard for someone to advocate for the profession, for reading, and for the power of libraries when that person has so little experience in the role.

Then we remembered that she isn’t here because of merit, passion, commitment, or because she wants to get truly involved with positive change. She is there because she was a horrendous, disorganized principal who Dr Reid had to get out of her building, and quick.

The library program is eroding, and she is sitting on the sidelines watching the waves rolling in, laying on a beach chair and prob wondering whose job it is to step in and do something.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is super common. Saw it as a fed many times. Problematic people get promoted to get them out of where they are a problem.

Yep. Happens in federal government as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I noticed that there are library vacancies this year. That is something I never thought I’d see. Is that normal??

NOT normal at all. Never saw a vacancy under the last library manager. If there was, it must have been quickly filled.

I believe they told us at the library kickoff PD that there were 3 schools starting the year without librarians. That was as like *completely* unheard of in the past.

Not unheard of at all. There were four librarian vacancies at the beginning of the 23-24 school year. Massive teacher shortage since Covid… not surprising that it’s also affecting librarians.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is super common. Saw it as a fed many times. Problematic people get promoted to get them out of where they are a problem.

Yep. Happens in federal government as well.

Oh yea, you can't get rid of ppl in government, especially if they have been there a long time. They just get moved along and "promoted".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I noticed that there are library vacancies this year. That is something I never thought I’d see. Is that normal??

NOT normal at all. Never saw a vacancy under the last library manager. If there was, it must have been quickly filled.

I believe they told us at the library kickoff PD that there were 3 schools starting the year without librarians. That was as like *completely* unheard of in the past.

Not unheard of at all. There were four librarian vacancies at the beginning of the 23-24 school year. Massive teacher shortage since Covid… not surprising that it’s also affecting librarians.

Correct. I think the point is that this is all occurring under the new administrator. In previous times, these were coveted roles and many teachers were eager to join up. I fear there is no vision for the impact libraries can make right now.