We were shocked and dismayed to hear from the district that they will require Elementary Teacher-Librarians to deliver the additional 10 minutes of prep to all K – 3/4 divisions, with no corresponding increase to Library Entitlements.   

We are requesting that teacher-librarians take a few minutes to fill out this form, so that we will have the stats on how much library collaboration time will be lost district-wide. We will collate this information to present to the Board of Trustees on Wednesday, March 1, 2023, so we appreciate you filling out this form as soon as possible. Responses will be kept confidential. 

As you know, our new Collective Agreement provides an additional 10 minutes of prep time for all elementary school teachers, starting September 2023.  

The STA sent a recommendation last month that, if accepted, would have increased Core Music Prep to 70 minutes per week for K – 4-5. Intermediate Prep would have continued at 50 minutes for grades 4 and 4-5, and grades 6 and 7 would receive 120 minutes of Intermediate Prep. 

That means that a typical 1.0 teacher-librarian will be providing between 130 and 160 additional minutes of prep per week. That will directly reduce the amount of collaboration time available in the teacher-librarians’ schedules down to levels we haven’t seen for 6 years, when library entitlements were not protected by collective agreement language, and library entitlements had been reduced year after year to make up for shortfalls in public education funding.  

This news is devastating to the STA, as we imagine it will be for many of you as well. We have asked the district to re-consider their decision, but they have declined to do so. We will be addressing the matter with the Board of Trustees next week, but we want to let teacher-librarians know as soon as possible. We encourage teacher-librarians to discuss their concerns with administrators and others at their school and let them know the impact this cut to collaboration time will have at their school. Administrators may not yet be aware of this district decision. 

We recognize that this may be distressing news for teacher-librarians and others at elementary schools, and we encourage you to do what you need to in order to care for yourselves and your colleagues. 

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