To: Humble ISD Board of Trustees
Keep Humble ISD Library Shelves Open
We, the undersigned parents, taxpayers, and community members of Humble ISD, respectfully submit this petition to oppose the School Library Advisory Council's (SLAC) Acquisition Policies and Procedures.
We request that the school board leave collection development and library material decisions in the hands of trained, certified professional librarians rather than an appointed advisory body. The SLAC's excessively restrictive acquisition policies create unnecessary bottlenecks and delays in acquiring valuable educational resources for students. Individual families already possess the right and responsibility to guide their own children's reading habits without imposing district-wide blanket restrictions based on narrow criteria.
We urge the Board of Trustees to maintain standard professional collection policies, and ensure that our school libraries remain open, inclusive, and trusted spaces for all students.
We urge the Board of Trustees to maintain standard professional collection policies, and ensure that our school libraries remain open, inclusive, and trusted spaces for all students.
Why is this important?
The SLAC Acquisition Polices and Procedures override our district's highly educated library specialists. The policies allow politically or personally motivated agendas to compromise the librarians' collection development based on educational and artistic merit.
School libraries should function as spaces for open thought; removing or not purchasing titles restricts a young reader's right to explore ideas and build empathy independently. Not allowing librarians the ability to purchase books in a timely manner prevents them from being able to capitalize on a young learner's interests at that point in time. Not all of our district's students have access to public libraries due to a variety of reasons, including proximity and socio-economic status. If we truly want to improve our reading scores and to foster a love of reading in our district's students, we must allow our librarians to do their jobs without excessive red tape and restrictions placed upon them by the SLAC.
CALL TO ACTION:
School libraries should function as spaces for open thought; removing or not purchasing titles restricts a young reader's right to explore ideas and build empathy independently. Not allowing librarians the ability to purchase books in a timely manner prevents them from being able to capitalize on a young learner's interests at that point in time. Not all of our district's students have access to public libraries due to a variety of reasons, including proximity and socio-economic status. If we truly want to improve our reading scores and to foster a love of reading in our district's students, we must allow our librarians to do their jobs without excessive red tape and restrictions placed upon them by the SLAC.
CALL TO ACTION:
- E-mail each Board Trustee (separately) in opposition to the proposed expansion of the School Library Advisory Council (SLAC)'s control over library curation decisions. Include that the SLAC Policies and Procedures should mandate SLAC transparency in accordance with the spirit of the law (SB13). SLAC Policies and Procedures should require SLAC members to publicly identify which book(s) each member pulls off the recommended purchase list.
- Join Friends of Humble ISD Libraries Facebook page to stay informed and engaged in supporting our district's librarians. https://www.facebook.com/groups/friendsofhumbleisdlibraries
