Starting a new chapter
BY RYAN CHALK
Posted: 11/13/2009
Dixon High School students, from left, Nathaniel Benning, 18, Troy Tobler, 14, and Chris Joaquin,16, use computers inside the campus' recently reopened library Thursday. (RICK ROACH / THE REPORTER)
Shuttered since the start of the school year, doors of Dixon High School's library are once again open, but students aren't the only ones checking things out.
On Nov. 5, trustees with the Dixon Unified School District approved an agreement with the Dixon Public Library District to operate a branch of the public library at the school. On Tuesday, the library opened to students as well as the general public.
According to Superintendent Roger Halberg, the library provides volunteers to staff the library three days a week.
The library is open from noon to 3 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, although it will be closed on days that school is not in session.
Last May, the decision was made to lay off the district librarian during a time when the district was looking to trim roughly $4 million from its budget.
Until now, there was no way to staff the library, keeping students out and the wealth of knowledge locked inside.
Halberg said that there have been mixed feelings at the school over the reopening of the library. Since its closure, teachers and their students have had access to the library computer lab, and some teachers have expressed concerns that the public may interfere with their use.
Another group that has expressed its concern over the library's opening is Local 1021 of the Service Employees International Union, which represents classified employees. In a letter to the superintendent last week, union worksite organizer Seth Francois charged that the district is bringing in volunteers to do the jobs of its members without going through the proper protocol of "meet and confer."
Specifically, use of the library creates a need for cleaning staff to clean the facility -- work done by union members. The laid-off librarian was not a member of the union but a certificated employee.
"You continue to push your agenda without giving us proper notice," the letter stated. "You are obligated to meet with us to discuss any matter that will change the terms of our contract and/or change the working conditions. We have members that are still laid off and your actions to bring volunteers to do the jobs of our members will not be tolerated."
Halberg countered that there was no violation to any contracts because the library was already on a cleaning schedule due to its use as a computer lab and there were no classified employees laid off in association with the library closure to begin with.
Nonetheless, the union's letter demands that the decision to allow public library officials to run the site be reversed or "we will have no choice but to take swift and whatever action necessary to mitigate the district attempts to bargain in bad faith and to disregard the district's commitment to follow the contract and the law."
Under the agreement, the Dixon Public Library District has agreed to lease the high school library from the school district. The school library will operate as a branch of the city library, according to Gregg Atkins, librarian for the Dixon Public Library District.
"We were getting impacted by high school students looking for materials we knew they had sitting in the school's library," Atkins said.
The library will be staffed with two to three volunteers during operating hours. Atkins said he is looking forward to the day when the school district can hire back its librarian, as volunteers can't offer the same level of support to teachers as a skilled librarian.
"We're just a stop-gap measure," Atkins said.
