Leadership Plan Kaycee Hallett November 29, 2012 Advocating to Stakeholders: Elected Officials: Mayor of Oak Harbor is Fred

Conley, Robert A Pauley is the Village Administrator, and State Representative is Randy Gardner. Getting elected officials interested in the happenings of the school is an important factor in general for getting money for the education system, and money for the education system is good for the library program. At Oak Harbor, Randy Gardner has already visited when the new Superintendent was elected. With this visit he spoke with the Superintendent about different issues when it came to education and he had lunch with students and held a discussion during that lunch about educational issues and got their views on it as well. He seems to be a good place to start when it comes to advocating the government as he is already open to hearing about the issues of the educational system. With the help and the permission of the Superintendent and the Principal government officials, especially Randy Gardner, would be invited to the school for a day, where they would shadow teachers and spend the day doing what teachers do. When this happens local media outlets on board telling them would be informed because it is a great publicity opportunity for the candidate and for the school, but also to help ensure that the officials stay because they are less likely to back out or make excuses when there are cameras present. By having elected officials come to the schools and spend the whole school day there they will come to grips with the difficulties of the job, especially when money and resources are tight. This visit would have to be planned with the cooperation of the Superintendent and the

Principal. For this to work they would have to agree on the invitation and agree on the schedule for the day as far as where the official will be when. During this the library would be added to the officials agenda for at least one period, during which a class or lesson would come in to show the official that taking care of the books is just one aspect of the librarians job. This would be the biggest part of the plan when it comes to advocating to elected officials. It would also be beneficial to take the time to present them with the latest research. Media: The media is an important part of how our society works. It is a smart practice to be on the good side of the local media outlet and possibly to have connections with them. At the very least it is important to send any press releases, especially when it comes to telling the media what good things are happening at the school. Most likely they arent going to print or televise everything that is sent to them but that shouldnt be discouraging. There could very well be a slow news day news and so the good things in schools will become a backup story. If there are special programs going on at the school, and especially at the library, that information will be sent to the local news outlets. Upon interning at a Television station in Toledo, Ohio (45 minutes north of Oak Harbor) one of the tasks was writing up stories from the press releases they received for the day. They werent discriminate and didnt choose which ones got in the news cast; they just handed over a stack of releases and had them all written for the evening newscast. With this in mind, press releases can be a very useful tool, one that most librarians should keep in mind. On top of keeping connected with the local media, it is important to develop media. Publishing monthly newsletters or e-newsletters to be sent to parents, administrators, and other interested parties about whats happening in the library will keep them abreast with everything new and exciting happening in the library and show that the librarians job is not just shelving

books. Different student projects should be included as well to show what the library and the librarian due to help with student education. Along with developing a newsletter it would be a great idea to start an online newspaper out of the High School. It could be staffed by students and in this way kids could learn about the news process and spread whats going on in the town, and especially in the school, to those in the surrounding community. If developed right it could become the go-to site for news in the area. Plus it essentially would have the students advocating for themselves. Administration: Keith Thorbahn is the Principal of Oak Harbor High School, Dr. Guy Parmigian is the Superintendent, and Tim Coffman is the Treasurer. The Benton-Carrol-Salem district, of which Oak Harbor schools are made up including the Oak Harbor High School, Board of Education members are President Jeff Dornbusch, Vice President Heather Dewitz, Steve Rhodes, Jaimie Tooman, and Kim Dusseau. Keeping in touch with the administration, and keeping them informed of what is going on in the library is essential. It is the librarians job to show that the library is an irreplaceable asset in the students education. The simplest way to do this is to keep an open line of communication. The Principal is right there in the school so he is one of the first people that should be kept informed of whats going on in the library. According to the American Association of School Librarians article 10 Easy Leadership Ideas to Help School Librarians Become Leaders on Their Campuses, the Number 1 leadership strategy is to meet regularly with your principal. Tell him whats going on in the library, what the good things are, what exactly the plans for the upcoming month are. Try to get him on board with new ideas and innovations. By keeping the Principal informed, and hopefully getting him excited about what is going on in the library, there is a better chance that the other administrative officials will be open to hearing the ideas. A good place to start with the Superintendent and the

Board of Education is to make an introduction. Stop by sometime when theyre not too busy or go to a Board meeting and afterwards make an introduction. Keep things simple and polite; maybe tell them about a few of the good ideas you have in mind. After that just try to keep an open line of communication. Maybe attend a few Board meetings, even ones that dont involve the library. This will hopefully help them to recognize that the librarian cares about whats happening in the schools, as opposed to only whats happening with the library. Do keep them abreast of whats going on in the library. Make sure they get any of the media that is developed such as the newsletter, also when sending press releases make sure one goes to the Board and the Superintendent. Parents: Parents want their kids to have the best education possible, but most dont realize how important the school library is to that education. Thats why a newsletter is important. It would help to keep them informed about happenings in the library and by including school projects done by their students it would help keep them interested. Parents are busy; they have to perform a juggling act between job life and home life, not to mention stress about money and the economy. When talking to parents and sending them newsletters make sure it is not only about money matters. This is again about an open line of communication. Make sure that parents know whats going on in the library and why it is beneficial for the students. Teachers: The best thing that a librarian can do is get the teachers on board with the library. It may be difficult to garner their cooperation at first as they may not be used to a librarian that takes a hands on role in the students. It is important to show that as a librarian what is done, is done for the benefit of the students and the teachers. Start out by talking to the teachers; see what they think the library needs. Offer them resources that would be helpful for their subjects. Also approach them about collaborative ideas and work to get cooperation between different subject

classes and between the library. Introduce teachers to new technologies that students would find beneficial and fun when it comes to projects and offer to teach workshops on how to operate them. Also ask for collaboration between the library and the teachers. Show them how you could help students with projects and how it is a benefit for all to allow the library to become an integral part in the educational process. By getting the teachers on your side and talking about the library and what an asset it is, the teachers will essentially be advocating for the library. It is important that those in charge hear more voices praising the library than just that of the librarian. Students: Everything that is done should be done for the benefit of the students. They may not see outright what a great thing the school library is but that doesnt mean they shouldnt be shown. Help them with their projects, with finding books, with anything that they may need and show that the librarian is on their side. Also be a presence to them; talk to teachers about classroom visits to talk books, orchestrate contests between classrooms for reading, and give prizes to students who are reading the most books. If students are excited about whats happening in the library they are sure to share it. The article Putting Students First by Debra Kay Logan explains why having other people to do the advocating is so important. When students, parents, teachers, and administrators know and experience the benefits of a strong school library program, they can he our most effective advocates. Stop and think about that. Which is more powerful: a librarian who says that libraries and librarians are necessary, or a group of community members fighting for school libraries and access to professional staffing?

Research on the Importance of School Libraries When advocating for the library program it is important to have the proper research to back-up the position of the library. There have been many studies conducted on the importance of libraries in schools and the importance of librarians. School Library Research is a Research Journal of the American Association of School Librarians and much of their research proves the importance of librarians and libraries to student education and is a great source of information. In the published research article, School Librarian Staffing Levels and Student Achievement as Represented in 20062009 Kansas Annual Yearly Progress Data the results showed that librarians have a positive impact on student learning in all subject areas. The results of the studys overall findings are summarized in figure 4, which displays a bar graph of the five middle school subject areas. It shows that having at least a part-time LMS (and preferably, a fulltime LMS) tends to yield notably higher proficiency rates in all five subject areas than does having no LMS. The elementary and high school summaries exhibit a pattern of differences that is similar to the middle school results.

Evidence-Based Practice Plan Oak Harbor schools are in a unique position for a research plan of their own, one that would possibly help with library advocacy. In the elementary schools the libraries have been closed due to lack of funding, same for the junior high school. While this is highly unfortunate it gives the opportunity to compare grades from years with a library to now without a library. Taking this comparison could go a long way in showing that libraries are worth the money it costs to have them. It would be a simple enough task to look at overall grades in the past for the elementary students and the junior high students and compare them now. It would also be interesting to look at reading proficiency levels for then and now. Judging by research done previously, like the one shown above, the grades should be higher when there was a library in the schools. Once the results of the study in Oak Harbor prove this the research should be presented to the Board of Education and published and given to parents and to elected officials.

Resources:

Dow, M. J. (2012). School librarian staffing levels and student achievement as represented in 20062009 Kansas annual yearly progress data. School Library Research, 15, doi: 21651019 Logan, D. K. (2008). Putting students first. American Libraries, Retrieved from http://ezproxy.libraries.wright.edu:2048/login?url=http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/results ?vid=9&hid=104&sid=b4f0b0c9-6347-4069-8777f5dcfd90298d@sessionmgr4&bquery=(logan AND putting AND students AND first)&bdata=JmRiPWVoaCZ0eXBlPTAmc2l0ZT1laG9zdC1saXZl

Nassar, N. (2006). 10 easy leadership ideas to help . AASL, Retrieved from https://pilot.wright.edu/d2l/lms/content/viewer/main_frame.d2l?ou=149813&tId=396968