Our state government and Governor Reynolds have been convinced that eliminating the Master’s degree requirement for school librarians and allowing schools to hire untrained and unskilled labor to teach children about information literacy will somehow improve education in the state.
They have also had legislation lobbied to them by an organization called The Family Leader whose stated purpose is "Inspiring the Church to Engage Government for the Advance of God's Kingdom". This legislation falsely accuses librarians of indoctrinating students and harming them with the provision of many award-winning books. This kind of religious influence on our government is specifically prohibited in the Bill of Rights.
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The Iowa Association of School Librarians (IASL) and EveryLibrary could not disagree more.
It is vitally important that school library supporters get on record today opposing these two terrible bills.
- SF 2198 is designed to find problems in school library collections where they don't exist and criminalize both teacher librarians and administrators in the process.
- HSB705 and SF2349 eliminate the requirement to have skilled and trained staff in our state's school libraries.
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The Iowa Library Association, IASL, and dozens of education, civil rights, mental health, and religious organization are registered "against" the bill. IASL notes that Iowa Code 280.12.3(12) already requires schools to have board-approved selection and reconsideration policies in place. "These processes do work to give parents a voice, even if the desired outcome for the complainant is not met every time." It isn't too much to say that if SF 2198 passes, there will not be anything fair about that review and consideration process any longer.
Please send a message today to your members of the Iowa State House and Senate to open their eyes, support our students, and defend the work that Teacher Librarians do. Please join us in standing up for professional educators, especially our school librarians, in the face of this unwise, unwelcome, and unnecessary attack by Governor Reynolds and certain state legislators. Please contact your state Senator and Representative now and let them know what you believe and expect.
#TheMastersDegreeMatters