Jennifer Rike, Retired Librarian
In May 2020, I retired from my high school library position and have spent the past school year trying to figure out how to be retired. During COVID, I stayed in touch with former colleagues, and realized my former peers were experiencing a hard time. It wasn’t just Covid struggles, this went beyond that. One friend could not even talk about it. But sometimes, your gut just tells you to reach out to someone. I’m so glad I did.
We began with a conversation about the past year. But then came a shocker. My friend mentioned that in April all elementary principals had been told it would be “okay” to put all their librarians in rotation. My friend’s principal was going to follow that advice. Sadly, the elementary librarians in my former district had no advocate at the district level. My school district of 49 schools doesn’t have a library director. And the person who had suggested rotation? Their district level advocate.
My anger and frustration at the situation forced me to step up. This was a Thursday afternoon and the next school board meeting was the following Tuesday. So there were about four days to pull together some sort of presentation for the board.
So just how do you advocate when you are retired? First, I recruited some other district retiree friends. This allowed me to build a “brain hive”. Secondly, I reached out to library administrators I had worked with through TLA and in advocacy work over the years. This not-so-subtle plug reminds us of why we need to work with our professional organizations. The Texas Library Association has been a large part of my professional development and advocacy training.
The TLA hive was powerful as I prepared my presentation. My local hive helped craft and deliver the message.
The benefits of the hive included:
1. Help researching talking points
2. Curating links to documents.
2. Perspective in what would resonate with the school board.
3. Valuable suggestions to improve my presentation.
The most valuable suggestion was never, ever surprise your superintendent. Send an email with your intent to speak at the board meeting.
Besides not surprising the superintendent, it gave her an opportunity to have an Area Superintendent and the Directors of Elementary Education to call me. This allowed for a conversation. While not extensive, it was a start.
Next, I constructed 3 focused questions for the school board. Then I sent an email to my school board with these questions. This variation of the one sent to the superintendent shifted the focus to the board as the audience. It also allowed for continuity of thought. By sending the board an email prior to their meeting allowed them to “listen” more critically. It also allowed me to provide resources for the board to review both prior to and after my presentation.
Lastly, another retired librarian and I spoke at the school board meeting. We prepped dividing the information so we maximized our 3 minute speaking time. We distributed to the school board, superintendent, top administrators copies of the advocacy piece created by Dorcas Hand. I sent a follow-up email thanking everyone for the opportunity to speak.
How effective was this advocacy work? One of the school board members spoke to the superintendent the next day for 30 minutes. Later, two additional school board members thanked me for letting them know what was going on. Will that result in keeping the librarians from going into rotation? I hope so.
More importantly, I know that advocacy works. Our school board and administrators know there are people in the community who are interested and knowledgeable about how librarians benefit learning and student outcomes. And I have built a “hive” of support for the future.
My advice for current librarians includes:
Reach out to the TLA advocacy folks when you need them. Ask them to become advocates or recommend options.
Cultivate your retired peers. The more members of your hive you have, the better your response to the issue. We care and there are no consequences to our job. This is one perk of retirement.
Reach out to parents.
Lastly, remember you are not alone. The phrase “the hive is powerful” is true.
Together the hive can create a voice of advocacy. Start building your hive today so it can spring into action when needed.
Editor’s note: As a District Level Supervisor I can attest that while district leadership will speak on your behalf, parents, retired librarians, and others speaking up through emails, petitions, and talking to Principals, Administrators, and School Board Members is more powerful. Look to district leadership to provide guidance and help with statistics.
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