The Anglophone South School District is eliminating its remaining school library workers, according to a provincial union.
It comes as school districts have been told by the province to redirect $43 million of their budgets back into classrooms.
Theresa McAllister, provincial president of CUPE Local 2745, said the decision impacts 15 people covering 17 positions.
“The students rely heavily on the library workers to assist them in their search for materials, resources,” McAllister said in an interview.
“They build up some really good relationships with the workers so that they can go there. A lot of students use that as a safe haven.”
District defends decision
In a statement, a spokesperson for the school district said the decision was part of an overall effort to maximize their budget to focus most directly on student learning in classrooms.
Jessica Hanlon said they value the staff members and feel their skill sets can be better used in other functions of the school, such as in administrative assistant positions.
“Library worker positions are not instructional and do not directly impact student learning or literacy development. Library worker roles are clerical support roles,” Hanlon wrote in an email.
“As many schools have shifted to classroom-based book collections and Learning Commons models, schools no longer have traditional library tasks.”
Hanlon did not answer questions about how much the district was asked to redirect and whether more changes would need to be made.
Affected employees will be eligible for placement elsewhere within the district, according to the district spokesperson.
McAllister, however, said that could lead to a “domino effect” by bumping others from their positions.
“It could displace a lot of people, and we don’t know because we haven’t started that process yet,” she added.
Labour board complaints filed
The union said it will file grievances if other staff, parents, volunteers or students take on the duties traditionally performed by library staff.
Anglophone South is the second school, after Anglophone West, to eliminate school library workers in an effort to reallocate funding.
They are the only two anglophone [districts] that have chosen to lay off the least paid members, the library workers. The other two anglophone sectors have not reduced their libraries or eliminated them, nor have the francophone sectors,” said McAllister.
McAllister said the union gave options to the school districts and the Department of Education to help maximize their budget, but she did not provide any specifics.
CUPE has filed two complaints with the labour board over the decisions made by the two school districts, she added.
