Thursday, September 11, 2008

Thank those who support you!

I had the opportunity to speak at the Fresno Unified School District Board meeting last night. A group of FUSD TLs were there to thank the school board for providing increased funding for our libraries. Since some have asked, I said this:


My name is Tom Nixon and I am the Teacher Librarian at Tehipite Middle School. I am also the Northern Section Region 3 representative for the California School Library Association. This past weekend I was at a board meeting for that organization and I had the pleasure to tell them that:

In Fresno Unified, teacher librarians are valued for their expertise and are supported by the district administration;

In Fresno Unified, the school board and the superintendent understand that there is a research connection that shows that students with higher test scores come from schools with strong library programs;

In Fresno Unified, the school board and the superintendent get the strong connection between literacy, successful library programs, and having credentialed teacher librarians in charge of those programs;

In Fresno Unified, unlike other parts of the state, that funding for libraries and teacher librarians is steady and that it is a priority of the school board and the superintendent.

This does not happen by accident. Clearly, it is due to the work of the board, of Mr. Hanson, and of our director of school libraries, Karen Tozlian.

On behalf of my colleagues, I thank you for your hard work and for your continued support.

2 comments:

Bookworm said...

Great speech, Tom. Thanks for advocating for libraries.
Jane

Tom said...

You are entirely welcome!


Tom