At Cranford High School, located southwest of Newark, New Jersey, Christine Szeluga increased circulation by 300% through the creation of a podcast studio, makerspace and history archive. Jenny Cox, who works at Georgetown Middle School in eastern South Carolina, spearheaded a $400,000 capital campaign to replace school library books across her county. Mia Gittlen reopened the shuttered library at Milpitas High School, near San Jose, California, and has since created a “hub of activity” for its 3,100 students and 200 staff members.

While the American Association of School Librarians recommends that there should be at least in every school, in 2023-24, the U.S. had 39,450 full-time school librarians and 99,297 schools — .04 librarians per school, and one librarian for every 1,252 students. In recent years, school libraries have been the focus of heated debate around themes of sexuality, gender and race in the books on their shelves. 

Szeluga, Cox and Gittlen spoke with ĂŰĚŇÓ°ĘÓ about the challenges librarians face and how they have worked to attract more students to their libraries.

This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

You were nominated for the work you’ve done in transforming and revitalizing your library. Can you explain what you’ve been doing the past few years?

Szeluga: During my first year at Cranford High School, I asked the kids, “What do you want?” I had a huge chart on the wall, and the kids chose a podcast studio. I wrote a grant, and thankfully, I was funded, and that started everything. My administrators were so supportive of every single crazy idea I had. Because we started with the podcast studio, we were able to incorporate podcasting into our curriculum. So now it’s become an integral part of our school.

I also run student council, and we’re working on a policy for the new cellphone ban in New Jersey, which the kids have strong feelings about. I’m the intermediary between the students and the administrators. At the end of the day, the kids understand why cellphones can be a distraction. I run our [school] literary and art magazine, and that’s been award-winning three years in a row through the National Council of Teachers of English. I’m really proud of that. I also run the school newspaper, the podcast club, and one of the things I want to integrate for next year is basic sewing skills.

Cox: When I started in the library in 2008, we received $17 [of district funding] per student. In 2020, I requested a meeting with my superintendent and I took some data that was from the American Library Association about the rising cost of books. I told him, “12 years later, and we have not received any kind of [funding] increase.” From that meeting, our budgets were increased to about $27 per child. 

The capital funds project started last year. One of our media specialists went to her principal about the condition of her library collection, and her principal went to the school board with a request to update the library collections. A lot of our libraries were in need of improvement. The school board went back and forth, but they approved the capital funds project, and I had spearheaded it as one of the lead librarians. That project put over 18,000 brand-new books in our school libraries. It was a $400,000 project that was divided up between 18 schools. While we do have healthy library budgets, it’s still not enough to purchase new materials to constantly replace the need to weed out old books. The capital funds project really helped with that, and I got about 4,000 new books in my library.

Gittlen: Part of the [award] recognition is for reopening our shuttered school library. I’ve been told that there was a librarian who worked a short time during COVID and that was the only librarian [we’ve had] since our long-time librarian passed away in 2017. This is the second year of me being in this role and the second year that the school library has been reopened. Before, the library was used as a storage space, a multipurpose room or it was just closed, with the lights turned off. That’s not too unusual — in California, there is a lack of certificated school librarians and school library professionals in general. There are a lot of spaces where there is a room filled with books but it’s not staffed, or it’s just [managed] by volunteers. 

Because the room at Milpitas had books but it wasn’t staffed for many years, it was a cleaning job initially. I officially opened Oct. 1, 2024, so we had over a month of school before people could use the library as a library. It required that I touch every book, reorganize books and see what’s there. Over the course of that year, until I did inventory, I was finding all kinds of books on shelves that were not on our online catalog. That was huge — to shift things where they were supposed to be or get rid of books that had been there too long. 

How long have you been a librarian?

Szeluga: Right out of college, I worked as a museum educator, and I worked in a bunch of museums as an educator. I moved my way up and worked at the South Street Seaport Museum for a number of years doing outreach teaching in various schools in New York City. From there, I started working at the Brooklyn Public Library in their local history archive research program. I became a school librarian in 2017.

Jenny Cox: I’m wrapping up my 23rd year in education. I started out as a classroom teacher and I did five years in the classroom, and then I transitioned into the school library in 2008. I took a couple of years off and served as an instructional technology coach for the district office before I returned to the library. This is my 16th year in the library, and I’ve been in Georgetown County School District my whole career.

Gittlen: This is my fifth year as a school librarian. Before that, I was a longtime classroom teacher and an instructional coach. I’ve been a classroom teacher and school librarian for all of the grades now — K-12 — and I started my career at the high school level, so it is definitely full circle to return to the high school level. 

Have discussions about book bans and public objections to titles in your library been an issue?

Szeluga: We’ve only had one challenge, but that was quickly resolved after discussion with the challenger. We have a very supportive administration who supports the books that the certified librarians choose for the libraries. We also teach about banned books in our curriculum, which goes in depth about the process, the history and the pitfalls of censorship, and we have a pretty extensive book challenge policy and form for when or if books are challenged. 

Cox: It has not really been an issue here. We have strong policies and procedures in place for selecting and reviewing our materials, and we try to follow those guidelines very carefully while still providing appropriate resources that meet the curricular and the interests of the students. We’re all well trained on how to evaluate materials and look at what the reviews are. We’re very cognizant about what we’re putting on our shelves. 

Gittlen: Fortunately, I have not personally experienced any book challenges at the three libraries I’ve worked at. This school year, our Amnesty International student club approached me about creating a display for Banned Books Week. This was our first student-organized book display. I’m more impacted by the lack of school libraries and librarians. California has the . Our were last updated in 2010. With an expanding view of literacy — including digital literacy, AI literacy, media literacy and financial literacy — librarians are needed more than ever. 

What other changes have you made to library operations?

Szeluga: We had amazing librarians before I came in, and they had the foresight to preserve school newspapers, yearbooks and literary magazines. We have some report cards from the 1920s, and we have the original publication of the dedication of the school when it opened in the 1930s. I saw that we had all this stuff in boxes, and I wanted to properly catalog it. So I got another grant to get all the proper archival materials, and I had a couple of student interns help me process all the documents, ephemera and newspapers, so it’s preserved and collected and organized for future generations. It is all together in one area of the library. I call it the local history research section.

There are always kids in the library — before school, after school, during lunch. We have a lot of programs. We have the podcasting. We do puzzles, and I do a monthly alternating craft. We have a Cricket [machine] so the kids can create their own shirts. I have a button maker. I have a lot of hands-on activities that kids can do. And we also have a really strong culture of reading in our school. We have two book clubs. We have an intergenerational book club, so that’s teachers, students and the outside community. We typically read a couple books a year. And we also have a student-led book club called Lit Happens, and we read probably five or six books a year.

Cox: When the teachers bring their kids in and I work with them to plan activities and lessons — that’s my favorite part of my job, the instructional visits. It’s basically to reinforce what the teachers are doing in their classrooms with the students, and it gets the kids into a new environment every now and then. We do exciting, fun things here, because we’ve got a much bigger space in the library than in the classroom, so we can spread out and do bigger things. 

When I started here, kids came in and out to check out books, but it wasn’t so much on an instructional basis, and I had to work really hard to make that happen. It starts with building relationships with the teachers so they view me as an instructional partner, not just someone who manages books. My first year, I targeted a teacher from each grade level, and it spread by word of mouth. Then the kids would talk about it and they’d be so excited. And then the kids and other classes were asking their teachers, “When can we go?” I think my first year here probably had less than 50 instructional visits, and now I have to tell teachers no because of my schedule. I get 300 to 350 instructional visits a year now.

Gittlen: I started bringing classes back into the library, and it had been a while since that was provided. A lot of people hadn’t come since the longtime librarian passed away in 2017. I launched a library scavenger hunt for orientation. Last year, probably three teachers from the English department brought their classes in, and this year, every ninth grade English class either came into the library or there was one teacher I went to their classroom with. I do a lot of lessons about searching for information online and utilizing the databases we have access to. 

In order to re-engage with the school community, I’ve hosted coffees for staff once a month. They get to come in, sometimes do a quick activity and then there’s treats and coffee. Because I work on such a large campus, it is a chance for people to interact and see one another when they don’t ordinarily do that in their day to day. What has been successful are collaborations with students. We’ve done all kinds of activities, and it’s become a place where student clubs can meet or have special events. We’ve had a number of authors that have visited. It’s becoming a hub of activity for not just students, but the whole school community at large. Last year, we could shut down and not open for one reason or another, but this year it was much tougher to not have that space for students who come in for lunch, etc. I’m working with the music department, and we’re going to launch [NPR-style] “Tiny Desk” concerts using student musicians. They’re going to come in and play at lunch.

What do you want people to know about libraries or being a librarian?

Szeluga: I think a lot of people think that librarians, and particularly school librarians, sit behind the desk and read all day. That’s not the case at all. There’s just no time for that. I meet every single freshman class every September, and I say, “My No. 1 job is to help you become a better student. My secondary job is to help the teachers.” And that is the role of a librarian — it’s to help in any capacity. Funding is constantly getting cut from the federal government and the local government. So I want people to realize how important libraries and librarians are. Not only are libraries important to have a reprieve, have a space that everyone belongs to, but as librarians, our job is to support everybody and meet them where they are. 

Gittlen: Libraries are a beautiful intersection between so many things: the books, the ideas, the pleasure reading. There’s so much science, technology, education and math skills connected to the library, all kinds of different literacies, the research piece, the information, media literacy and professional development. So just working with clubs and leadership — it’s just been me finding my “work home.”

As an education support professional in Hawley, Pennsylvania, about 30 miles east of Scranton, she’s been a teacher’s assistant, substitute, district registrar, homeless liaison and attendance officer. She’s currently the principal’s secretary, serves on the city council, is a board member for the state education retirement system and is the president of her district’s educational support professionals union.

Her experience and passion for helping homeless youth were reasons why she was recently named the Pennsylvania State Education Association’s Dolores McCracken Education Support Professional of the Year.

Monaghan was the Wallenpaupack district’s homeless liaison for 15 years. She helped arrange transportation for students and when they didn’t come to school. Before the pandemic, she launched a nonprofit in an effort to find temporary housing for students who didn’t have a permanent home.

When Monaghan received news about her award in November, she said in a that she was honored to be associated with its namesake, who was the first educational support professional to serve as president of the state teachers union. McCracken died of cancer in 2018.

“Having known Dolores and witnessed all that she accomplished on behalf of education support professionals makes this so much more significant and humbling,” Monaghan said. “I have tried to use her belief that if something needs to be done, you just do it and then move on to the next project, all with the hope of improving circumstances for those around you.”

There are more than 2.2 million education support professionals in U.S. public schools, according to the . These include paraprofessionals, office staff, food service workers, security personnel, bus drivers and custodians

More than 75% of education support professionals have responsibilities for ensuring student and student safety. About 84% work full time, with an average of $37,097.

Aaron Chapin, president of the Pennsylvania State Education Association, said in a that Monaghan is a “model of dedication and citizenship” and consistently gave back to her school and community. 

“Ann excels on so many levels,” Chapin said. “She is a compassionate leader, hardworking volunteer, skilled support professional and effective public official. As a leader in her local [union] and in PSEA, she is a strong voice for her fellow support professionals.”

Monaghan spoke recently with ĂŰĚŇÓ°ĘÓ’s Lauren Wagner. This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

Tell me about your time as a homeless student liaison.

I was a homeless student liaison for about 15 years. I did not realize how many students are homeless in this district. A lot of people didn’t realize. Our poverty rate is 64% to 65%, but we have a good tax base because we’re land-rich. So people were like, “What do you mean we have homeless students? We don’t have homeless people in this area.” I was like, “Yeah, you do. If you really look very closely at the definition, we have a lot of homeless in this area, especially kids.” I became very interested in the topic, especially when we tried to find places for some of these kids to go. I realized there was nowhere to go in this area. 

Wayne and Pike counties are the only two counties in the state that do not have a homeless shelter. It was not a new situation for the district, it was just one that was never really acknowledged. I was able to work with the administration — even though we didn’t have a place to send the kids — and we were able to work with agencies and made sure they had transportation. The district was really good about taking care of all that. Even though I’m not the homeless student liaison anymore, I work with the person who is now the liaison, and I haven’t given up on the idea of getting a homeless shelter in the area.

In your work with the homeless community, you began the creation of Hawley Forward, an afterschool program nonprofit. How is that going?

The whole idea started prior to COVID, and we had a building that we wanted to see if we could talk to the owner into donating and turning it into a hub for afterschool programs. There was space upstairs that we thought about making into a dorm area for kids we call sofa surfers — for whatever reason, they’re not with their parents or they don’t have a place to go. With COVID, all those plans fell through. So we’re still working on that. I’ve been talking to one of the local pastors who has a church property they’re not utilizing. They’re talking with their church council, so we may be able to do something on a small scale for our students. Sometimes we just need some place for kids to spend a couple of nights because there’s something going on at home and things are not stable. We’ve had seniors who aren’t able to be at home, and we just have to get them through to graduation. That’s what we’re hoping to still be able to do.

What made you want to go into education?

When I was in high school, I wanted to go to college and I wanted to be a teacher. I got my teaching certification in New York. I taught for the Diocese of Brooklyn for a number of years, and then I moved to Pennsylvania. But there were no teaching jobs available, so I subbed for a while and then I was asked if I wanted to take a position as a teacher assistant to do attendance and study halls. That’s how I got into working at the school here. That position just gradually morphed into what it ultimately became. 

I was ready to retire three years ago, and the principal asked if I would take over as [his] secretary. He said, ‘I can coach you.’ Because I wanted to be a grandma, I worked out babysitting issues with my daughter. And I stayed on to be the administrative assistant. 

You’re the president of both a local education support professional union and the Pennsylvania State Education Association’s northeastern region. What are you working on in both positions?

I’ve been the local union president since 2009 and am finishing my third year as president of the Northeastern Education Support Professional Division. Right now, my local Wallenpaupack union isn’t negotiating. We settled a contract last year, so we’re in the second year of the new contract. But [for the regional organization], I’m working with the Bloomsburg School District. They have a whole bunch of new leaders and they’re going into a negotiation, so we’re trying to work with them to get fully acclimated. 

Advocating for a living wage for support staff is still key. I know support staff who have been in their job for 25 to 30 years and are barely making $25,000 a year. That’s not a living wage, and especially in this day and age, with the cost of groceries, gas and utilities. Even [making] $15 an hour, we have people who work two or three jobs just to make ends meet. It’s important that support staff be recognized and be paid adequately, because buildings could not run without support staff. We’re the ones who answer the phones, keep the place clean, keep the kids fed, get them to and from school. It’s a vital role, and it needs to be recognized. For a lot of years, people [thought] it was just a side job. But it’s a career for people, and we need to support them in that profession. We don’t have as many dedicated people coming in as we used to because the money is not there.

Talk to some high school and college students about this year’s Free Application for Financial Student Aid, or FAFSA, and they share their concerns as well as their optimism. Few voice anger about the glitches that have made this financial aid season so stressful.

Why? Because they understand that is the key to $150 billion of college grants, work-study funds and federal student loans that will pay for college. They understand that FAFSA is not the enemy.

Regardless, the number of FAFSA submissions are down nationwide, including Texas, because of problems with the form that have delayed some students from completing the application and have discouraged others from attempting it.

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High school and college counselors, advisers and administrators know this and have scheduled a second wave of workshops now through early May to encourage students to fill out the form and submit it.

About 200 students who had questions about their application participated in the bilingual FAFSA Workshop on April 20 at the Education Service Center Region 19 to get answers. Almost all came with family members, a laptop computer and financial information with the hope that they could start, or submit their applications that day.

Among them was Yaxley Bouche, an 18-year-old senior from Austin High School. She and her mother, Diana, wanted to complete the parent portion. Once done, the student could submit her FAFSA.

“I’m a little stressed about how much money I will get,” said the Central resident who wants to study nursing at El Paso Community College or the University of Texas at El Paso. “Will it be less than others because I’m submitting (my application) late?”

With the help of a small army of volunteers, mostly from EPCC and UTEP, students found the guidance they needed.

The two institutions organized this special event and agreed to participate in others during the next two weeks to help other families that have been confused by FAFSA.

One volunteer helped Diana Bouche start an account, which will take three days to be verified. After that, her daughter can submit her application, which should be accepted in 10 business days.

“I’m not comfortable yet,” Yaxley Bouche said as she closed her laptop before leaving. “I’m still concerned with the wait.”

Fewer seniors complete FAFSA

According to the as of April 12, only 29% of high school seniors have completed their FAFSA. More than 1.2 million have submitted their application, but that is 36% less than this time last year.

The network’s numbers show that almost 34% of Texas senior class – approximately 373,000 – has completed the application. Since the Class of 2022, Texas has mandated that high school seniors submit a FAFSA, the Texas Application for State Financial Aid, known as TASFA, or sign an opt-out form.

In an effort to make the FAFSA process easier, Congress passed the . The new application was to be more user-friendly with fewer questions (36 down from 108). It also was supposed to expand the eligibility for federal financial aid.

The U. S. Department of Education released information late last year that the number of Texas students eligible for a Pell Grant under the new FAFSA would increase by almost 51,300, and the ones who would earn the maximum Pell amount would grow to about 132,700. A Pell Grant is federal need-based aid awarded to millions of students annually.

The DOE normally releases the FAFSA on Oct. 1, but this cycle’s forms were not released until the last week of 2023. Since its launch, the application has suffered several setbacks because of technology and human error.

Financial aid offers lag behind

Karla Cid, 18, and her mother, Veronica Cid, traveled from Fabens to participate in last weekend’s FAFSA Workshop. The parent did not have a Social Security number and the pair sought a way to create and verify the mother’s account.

“This is confusing to everyone,” said Veronica Cid, who, like her daughter, spoke through an interpreter. “No one can help. We’re all in the same boat.”

Cid, a first-year psychology student at EPCC, said she filled out last year’s FAFSA form and earned a Pell grant for almost $3,700. The 2023 Fabens High School graduate questioned why the government had to change the process.

“If I don’t fill out the FAFSA, I can’t go to school,” said the younger Cid, who works for a fast-food franchise in Fabens. “I’m stressed. If I have to pay out of pocket, will I need to work more?”

Despite her application ordeal, she was confident things would work out. Her Plan B is to take fewer courses and go part time.

Ian Valdez, a college and career adviser at Socorro High School through Advise Texas, said that he was aware that one of his students had received an aid offer from a four-year institution. Results of a survey done last week by the showed that 16% of public universities had started to send aid offers, while 54% of higher education institutions had not packaged aid offers yet. It also reported that at this point in a typical year, more than 80% of the institutions would have sent their aid offers to students.

Valdez said that among the main issues his students have shared during this FAFSA cycle included mixed-status families, or families with members of varying legal status, and poorly worded questions.

Another problem Valdez noted was the students’ procrastination. He said that about one in six have not even started to fill out their FAFSA despite his nudges and assurance of his help to get it done.

“They don’t know how easy it can be,” said Valdez, who volunteered at the workshop. Under the best circumstances, applications can be completed in 30 minutes or less. “If there is a problem, we can set up a one-on-one with them and their parents.”

‘We’ll fix the problems’

EPCC and UTEP echoed that suggestion. Officials asked students who need help with their FAFSA, especially to address challenges, to contact their institutions’ enrollment or financial aid offices.

“We’ll work with the families with questions, and we’ll fix the problems,” said Ines Lopez, EPCC’s executive director Student Financial Aid.

UTEP and EPCC officials said that their institutions had accepted fewer FAFSA forms than normal for this time of year, but were confident that the numbers would recover before the start of the fall 2024 semester.

“The (high) schools have reached out to us because their (FAFSA) completion numbers are low,” said Carlos Amaya, EPCC vice president of Student & Enrollment Services. “They wanted more FAFSA nights and we’re going to help them to beef up their numbers.”

Additionally, UTEP plans to conduct application workshops for its continuing students the week of April 29.

Amanda Vasquez-Vicario, UTEP vice president for Enrollment Management, said the university had received about 19,000 FAFSA forms so far. At this time last year, they had 25,000.

Vasquez-Vicario said she is “cautiously optimistic” in part because the institution has seen a slow but steady increase in the FAFSA forms from first-time college students.

The UTEP official said that her team tells students that there is no need to panic, but some, especially those from mixed-status families, are the most anxious. They wonder if they will get the necessary financial aid, she said.

Vasquez-Vicario said the enrollment staff assures students of the university’s commitment to help, and suggests alternative sources of financial aid such as UTEP’s Paydirt Promise program where most students from families with incomes of $80,000 or less could be eligible to attend UTEP and not have to pay tuition and mandatory fees.

This first appeared on and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

As Superintendent Alberto Carvalho and the school board met inside the downtown building, custodians, cafeteria workers, bus drivers and classroom assistants — arriving on buses from across the district — waved placards and chanted, “no justice, no peace.”

“I installed air filters to make sure students and staff would be able to breathe clean air in their classrooms while they were there working and studying,” SEIU 99 President Conrado Guerrero said from the flatbed of a truck. “We’ve gone from heroes to zeroes.” 

The two sides have been bargaining since 2020, when the pandemic interrupted negotiations. The 30,000-member SEIU 99 says the district is offering no raise for the 2020-21 school year, a 5% raise for 2021-22 and a 4% increase for 2022-23. Amounting to about $1,000 additional per year for most workers, that’s insufficient, said Max Arias, the union’s executive director. 

“These were the essential workers” in the district, he said. A strike authorization vote would take place in January.

Arias wants minimum wages for members increased from $18.50 per hour to $24. The union’s demands also include more eight-hour days and paid training for bus drivers and those in other positions. “We’re at an impasse,” he said. 

In a statement, the district said, “Los Angeles Unified continues to engage in respectful negotiations with our labor partners. We are committed to compensating our employees fairly in this current economic environment, while also preserving our ability to provide services to our students in a sustainable manner that promotes lasting student achievement.”

Talk of a strike is the latest conflict the district has faced with one of its labor unions. United Teachers Los Angeles opposed Carvalho’s original plan to spread four learning “acceleration days” for students throughout the school year. The district rescheduled them for winter and spring break, even though students are now less likely to participate because they’re on vacation. of the district’s more than 420,000 students have signed up for the first two days, Dec. 19-20, according to the district.

SEIU 99 wanted the district to stick to the original schedule because it would have provided members additional work. 

The teachers union isn’t close to a strike vote yet, but members are increasing pressure on the district. Earlier this month, they at multiple locations.

The union went on a in January 2019, with many of the it is making now, such as smaller class sizes, less standardized testing and more nurses, librarians and counselors. The union wants a 20% raise and argues that the district has over $3 billion in budget reserves to cover it.

But on Tuesday, teachers union members were on hand to support SEIU 99 members. 

“We’ve been negotiating for seven months. They’ve been negotiating for three years,” said UTLA President Cecily Myart-Cruz. “It’s about solidarity.”