Promote Your Library-Media
Program
What can you do to be pro-active? Write to your
state senator and representative before the session opens in
January. On the local level, ask loyal library supporters to
contact district decision-makers.
Since the school finance decisions are in the
hands of the state legislature, start now by contacting your two
officials. If you don't know the names of your senator and
representative, look at your voter's registration card for the
district numbers, call the Secretary of the Oregon State Senate
(503) 986-1851 and Oregon House of Representatives (503) 986-1870
for their names and addresses.
Tips for letter writing: Be respectful, positive
and polite. State your concern in the first paragraph. Let them
know that you're a constituent. Use local, specific examples.
Focus your comments on students and their learning, not on
yourself or your job. Assume they know nothing about school
libraries or what your job includes. Write as an individual, using
your home address. Do not use school letterhead. This is a
personal letter from a voter, not official school business.
A sample letter:
Dear Representative Jones,
Congratulations on your recent re-election to
represent our district. I am a teacher/librarian at Central High
School in Central City and I am very concerned about school
funding and the effects on our students.
As I help students in grades 9-12 find information
for class assignments, I teach them how to use the Internet,
reference works on CD-ROM and in print, and newspapers and
magazines in print and electronic forms. These search skills are
vital to their success in college and the workplace.
Since the passage of Measure 5, many students in
Oregon have lost the help of a teacher/librarian due to staff
reductions. With the added impact of Measure 47, I'm worried that
our students will not get the help they need. This is especially
critical for students who do not have a computer at home.
I encourage you and your colleagues to find stable
school funding so Oregon's students can have the opportunities
they deserve.
Best wishes for a good legislative session. Thank
you in advance for all your work.
Sincerely,
Name
home address
On the local level, ask your most active teachers,
parents and older students to write letters of support to school
board members or district administrators. Ask them to use specific
examples of how school library services have impacted teaching or
learning. Administrators need to know why library programs make a
difference in the classroom and why they are basic, not extra.
You might prepare a list of names and addresses of
administrators and board members to give to potential
letter-writers. Without getting into too much gloom and doom, tell
them that depending on the legislature's action, programs might be
cut as they have been in other districts.
Don't be shy. Ask. The kids deserve the services
you provide. Things won't happen unless you write letters yourself
and ask others to do the same.
Nancy Sullivan, OEMA Promotions Chair
nsulliva@pps.k12.or.us ,
Return to Promotions page
