Five speakers attended the May 14 meeting of the appointed Board. We spoke to honor two HISD librarians who won statewide awards, and we spoke to remind the BOM and the community about why school libraries matter, why every HISD student should have access to the excellence that could win state awards in other years.

Cheryl Hensley introduced Brooke Corso.
I’m here today to recognize Brooke Corso as this year’s Texas Librarian of the Year, an honor bestowed by the Texas Library Association, representing approximately 5,000 members across all types of libraries. 
       For the past eight years, Brooke has served as the librarian at Pin Oak Middle School. The library is known as “The Living Library” because of its continual balance of reflection and innovation. Her students are passionate, expressive, and eager to be heard — and the library is a place where every voice matters.
     At Pin Oak Library, every type of reader is welcomed, and every kind of book has a place. With its genrefied “Barnes & Noble style,” the library inspires creativity, curiosity, collaboration, and discovery.
       All HISD schools deserve a librarian like Ms. Corso and a library like Pin Oak’s.
Please join me in congratulating the Texas “Librarian of the Year,” Brooke Corso of Pin Oak Middle School.
​NOTE: Ric Campo applauded. It can happen.​

Summer may be almost here - the heat is already beginning. But first, let's celebrate the work of libraries in HISD. There may not be very many these days, but the few there are work very hard to support their students and school curricula.

Friends of HISD Libraries (FOHL) Grants
Friends of HISD Libraries (FOHL) funded 11 HISD library staff to attend the full Texas Library Assn conference in early March. If not for this grant opportunity many, if not all, of these recipients would not have been able to attend this conference which was held this year right here in Houston.  Professional development is the cornerstone for improving practice. There are limited opportunities HISD offers library staff to continue to grow in their roles. FOHL was delighted to provide funding for this event.
       We asked the recipients to tell us what they learned and these are some of their comments. In the same way that every library and campus are different, every library staff person has a different focus when looking for new and better ways to engage their students. Every one of their students is different as well, which is why the library experience matters so much! If only every HISD student across all 274 schools had access to these library programs as they exert curiosity about our world.

GRANTEE COMMENTS about their TLA Experience
Elementary

• Elizabeth Awani-Holmes - The session that had the greatest impact for me was "Bringing Non-Fiction to Life: Gamification for Library-Classroom Connection. I learned to use nonfiction titles to create fun, engaging and interesting lessons using non-fiction books.
• Kersten Hunt - The Library on their Terms session gave lots of ideas for programming. This session reminded me that programming doesn't have to be grandiose, but that consistency is key. It gave a lot of good ideas for simple, but engaging ideas to get kids in the library. 
• Tien Nelson - I can't believe this was my very first time to participate in the Texas Bluebonnet Award (TBA) session! It was lots of fun and inspiring! My school will order several copies of the TBA titles this year - we will also get the kids excited to "read five - then decide" and host a voting party in January.
• Carrie Pena - The Teacher’s Day session - With your grant for my attendance, I was able to fund a 3rd-grade ELA colleague to join me for the Teacher's Day session. We had such a great experience and made plans for my assistance with enrichment activities as well as creating a lunch book study group with her bubble babies. I truly feel this opportunity has opened how my teacher colleagues will view me as an educational partner and not just an ancillary drop-off.
• LeAnne Raimond - My most meaningful sessions were the author panels- to hear directly from authors gave me a deeper understanding of what they do and new ways to look at and share their books. I wrote down several idea sparks I had during sessions or conversations, some to immediately act on and many as idea seeds to marinate and reflect on for the future. 
• Marisa Hartling - K-8 - I went to several sessions on new books (2x2 books, Little Mavericks, etc.) and a few sessions on nonfiction and manga.

 
Middle School

• Carly Brown - By far, the most practical presentation was Amanda Hunt's session called "AI Ethics". She is on top of the AI developments (as on top as anyone can be). Her ideas about how to teach children/middle schoolers strategies for using AI were so helpful. For example, to teach AI copyright issues, have students create something ridiculous (she used "Snoop Dog ice skating on a rainbow") in Adobe that only uses Adobe copyrighted material; then create the same thing in Gemini or Copilot and compare the results.
• Celeste Cooper - I got so many great ideas from [HISD’s] very own Mary Chance at her session, "Getting Middle Schoolers to Show Up.'
• Brooke Corso - I wanted to focus on technology tools and integration this year with sessions such as "Innovative Tech Ideas that Work" and "Digital Breakouts".

 
High School

• Rowena Verdin - One idea I am excited to bring back to my campus is being more proactive about AI. Our students are already using it and it is important that we help them understand its significance and incorporate an ethical information literacy component into their learning.

AI is Everywhere
Three of our grantees focused on AI as it impacts schools and libraries, including the TLA Librarian of the Year Brooke Corso of Pin Oak MS. I have also been collecting articles about AI in schools that may be of interest to readers of this newsletter.
       Here are three different perspectives on AI as it impacts our schools and students, plus example images of how HISD is using AI to the detriment of our kids.
       FYI, "AI" is not even intelligent. It is a conglomeration of all the data that has been given to it, then searched by various algorithms. It's answers are somewhat random and remain unreliable.

How Accurate Are Google's A.I. Overviews? "The company's A.I.-generated answers look authoritative, but they draw on an array of sources from trustworthy sites to Facebook posts." You’ve all noticed the omnipresent AI Overviews that now appear at the top of every Google search. These are BUYER BEWARE temptations. This NYT article tells readers that Google AI Overviews are correct over 9 of 10 times - which also means they are wrong tens of millions of times every hour. They link to websites that don’t really say what the Overview indicates, or otherwise adjust the finding to make sense in their AI perspective on reality. All of us who use Google are advised to double-check our finding; this advice is increasingly hard to follow. Read the article for more detail.

The AI School Librarian substack offers
“When Search Stops Teaching,” 
which suggests that
       “The issue is not just that AI gets things wrong.
         It is that it changes how people decide what is true.”
The article goes on to discuss how schools and libraries need to teach students new ways to vet the information they get through Google or any other search tool. They cannot just accept that AI Overview that shows at the top of the page -
and we all know how much we want to take the easy path.
       “When the first answer becomes the only answer, access is not equal.
        This is not just a literacy issue.
        It is an access issue.”
Students need to learn not to accept pre-processed answers. They need to analyze the sources so that they are not getting AI hallucinations - that’s a new technical term for the info AI sometimes invents. They need school librarians to help them learn these skills. Read the article.

Why Librarians Matter in Curating Collections
AI and Libraries: Why Librarians May Become Arbiters of Reality (20 April 2026)
​​Lastly, “Librarians are not working in the realm of “what if” when it comes to AI; they’re managing the real-world effects right now.“ 
​While yes, AI can help librarians accomplish some aspects of their jobs better, AI is the death of peer review for scholarly articles and even for books for K-12. The two articles above mention how AI reworks content to make an answer that may not be correct. How can that tool correctly determine if scientific research has been managed ethically or if a book is well-written literature for children? Human voices need to be involved. Librarians are becoming “arbiters of reality” even as some school districts in Texas are using AI to find book titles to remove. Librarians matter! And HISD students do not have them in too many schools.
​IMAGE SOURCE: https://the-digital-librarian.com/2023/01/23/artificial-intelligence-in-the-library/

Returning the AI lens to HISD, remember that many of the lessons required in NES schools are designed by AI. Here are two images from HISD lessons in recent months. I’ve put them in full size so you can see the hash they make of truth and reality.

The first illustration is intended to show the Harlem Renaissance. Rather than choose an actual piece of art from the era, HISD chose to let AI provide a mash up that includes Picasso-esque faces and bodies wearing different clothes at the same time. What other bizarre bits can you see???

The next one is a biology illustration of organs in the human body. Please note the confusion where the LUNGS should be, and the caption “Mungs”. I have no idea what mungs are either. And there is a vertebra labeled on the top slice that cannot be right!
 
These are excerpted from actual papers students brought home from HISD schools.

AI, like every tool in history, can be used for good and for ill.
It is our job as librarians, parents, elected officials and even K-12 students to be ever vigilant that we are using it for good and not losing our own skills of discrimination and truth-seeking. 
 
This newsletter uses old-school methods to protest the Takeover. Well, email is pretty old school after 30 years. But we also work to keep you up to speed on new tech as it impacts libraries and K-12 education. Please continue to speak out about the need for strong school libraries in all HISD schools – even in a budget crisis. The crisis of undereducated students will be worse when our city cannot run properly.

​SNL focuses locally, because we live here in Houston and continue to obsess about the lack of libraries in most HISD schools. But we also pay attention to the broader landscape of education and library access, always in search of new ideas to help us have more impact here at home. Today, I offer you a range from local news to why reading aloud matters (a favorite topic for us) to the need for international awareness in our book choices at all ages. And I can’t leave out Civics Education or censorship either. Our collaboration across Houston is so important as we continue to work in behalf of all HISD students. Easter, Passover and other spring holidays offer us a new beginning on these uber-important fronts. The challenges are real and ongoing. We hope these resources will help you speak wisely and often.

​Texas Library Association Conference in Houston
As we mentioned in February, Friends of HISD Libraries (FOHL) has provided grants to 11 HISD library staff to attend on March 29-30-31. SNL and some FOHL leaders will be presenting at the conference. Grantees will be asked to offer reflections on new ideas they bring back from this exciting local opportunity which is not in Houston every year. Stay tuned for further info as we hear those reflections. 

​“...children’s listening comprehension exceeds their reading comprehension through age 13, on average.”
Wexler, Natalie. “How Can You Tell If a Curriculum Truly Builds Knowledge?” (Mind the Gap blog, 22 Mar 2026)
I love this blog. Wexler constantly offers me insights into current trends in K-12 pedagogy. The specific point I want to discuss today is in my title. Wexler states, “But when children are still learning to decode—and really, until they become proficient readers—it’s far more efficient to build knowledge of a new topic by having teachers read aloud from texts that are more complex than those students can read on their own.” (emphasis mine) 
        In her footnote, she cites “Speaking and Listening in Content Area Learning” by Douglas Fisher and Nancy Frey (Reading Rockets). The authors remind us that “Decades of research, not to mention personal experiences, confirm that listening comprehension outpaces reading comprehension from early childhood through at least middle school.” I suggest that readers of this newsletter add this rallying cry to our collective calls to restore libraries as core supports of improved literacy skills across HISD. Currently, Miles’ NES curriculum disallows reading aloud at any age, regardless of demonstrated benefits.​
IMAGE SOURCE: literacyhive.org/a-read-aloud-recipe/

Defaultism in Picture Books 
Boukarim, Leila. (KQ blog, 24 Feb 2026) 
As we face a widening war in the Middle East, remembering to offer children AND THEIR ADULTS a wide array of stories that reflect a wide world of cultures and experiences. Boukarim offers lovely insights: “I never think of myself reading an international book for children; I am simply reading a story, one that can teach me something I didn’t know, that can expand my world view, that can offer me a window into another world, regardless of whom the story is about or where it’s taking place.”
        “Children, as well as their grown-ups, absolutely need to read books that offer them stories they didn’t know, about people they didn’t know. Because if we ever hope to live in a world that is more just and compassionate, where everyone is treated with the respect and dignity they deserve, this, I feel, is the only way to make that happen.” Here is one example booklist of Immigration Stories: Books for Young Children.

​Civic Education
In other work I’m doing to support libraries beyond HISD, I find I need to raise awareness of the need for civic education. Even adults who were exposed to strong Civics courses in HS are now many years later in their lives and foggy on some details. Libraries have the opportunity to play a role - but so do all citizens who care. That's us. You and I. Every day. I’d like to offer a couple of nonpartisan resources we can all refer to:
+ Civics for Life (Sandra Day O’Connor Inst.)
+ https://www.cybercivics.com/ Digital Civics Curriculum 4-12
We also need to remind ourselves and our communities about the threat of misinformation and “truthiness” to everyone’s understanding of current events.

What the Library Is For and Why “Just Buy the Book” Gets It Exactly Backwards (22 Jan 2026)
The national Freedom to Read Project offered this post which reminds us how important libraries are, and why they should be easy to access by any and every one, including on EVERY K-12 campus. FTRF also offers this Turning the Page Guide. In the midst of HISD turmoil, we likely want to remember the broader efforts across Texas and more broadly to limit the topics and genres of literature and factual content available in libraries. The national Freedom to Read Project offers this Guide to resisting censorship efforts locally and statewide. 

Here in Texas, we also have the Texas Freedom to Read Project which "​seeks to connect, support & mobilize parent led groups fighting to protect students' right to read throughout the state.

Talking to Your Friends About Book Censorship: Why It Matters and How to Do It
FTRP also offers this helpful list of tips. Every one of us needs to be reminding our neighbors who haven’t been paying attention how much the loss of books and other content from libraries matters to how our country moves forward.
And we note that Monday, April 20 (2026) is National Right to Read Day. It’s a very good day to celebrate school libraries as well as HPL and HCPL. Closed school libraries are blatant examples of book banning by a different name.

​Remember to keep supporting CVPE. Attend HISD Board meetings and keep your neighbors informed. CVPE remains a leader across the state as other districts face state takeovers.

Friends of HISD Libraries Funded 11 Grants for TLA Attendance
The Texas Library Association Annual Conference is in Houston this year, March 29-30-31. This conference is famous across the US for being big, fun and power-packed with information for all kinds of librarians. FOHL has a mission to support excellence in HISD Libraries and librarians. What better opportunity than this conference here in Houston. The grantees are expected to share with other HISD Library staff things they learn, so that all our existing libraries can benefit. 

Write Your Legislators! OFTEN       
Every Texan lives in a school district. Every Texan is a taxpayer. And everyone has a stake in strong public school libraries - regardless of whether you are a parent, a school librarian, or work in another type of library.
​
That's why we're asking all of you to take a few minutes to contact their local school board members and encourage them to keep school libraries in mind as they discuss budgets, legislative and planning priorities.

This is the opening of instructions for sending a template letter you can personalize and send to your appointed HISD Board of Managers as well as our ELECTED school board. You can copy City Council and the Mayor as well, if that is your style. HISD is in a mess, yes. But we who care about school libraries need to treat the BOM et al as if they can hear reality. We need to keep reminding them why school libraries matter when how they could improve literacy across HISD. We have not chosen an easy path, but it’s truth will win out eventually. We cannot give up.
BOM addresses; Elected School Board addresses

When School Stops Feeling Safe: Librarians Supporting Immigrant Students in Real Time [title is live  linked]
What Minnesota librarians are doing right now, and what every school can put in place this week. (The AI School Librarian, 23 Jan 2026 – this newsletter helps school librarians not get lost in the AI wormhole.)
This comes from Stand with Minnesota and offers 6 specific ways to support students in the face of ICE threats. Rumor control. Privacy. Calm, respectful responses to reasonable questions from kids.

AI Hallucinations
Few of us reading this newsletter spend our days looking at bibliographies in support of graduate researchers. But this article is eye-opening and useful in broader understanding of how the AI which is daily in all of our faces actually affects us.

“ChatGPT doesn’t lie, exactly. It patterns matches. When you ask for a “cited article about remote work productivity,” it knows what citations look like. Author name, year, compelling title, respectable journal. It assembles these patterns into something that feels right. Like a dream where everything makes sense until you wake up.”
How to Spot AI Hallucinations Like a Reference Librarian
IMAGE SOURCE: https://www.wsj.com/tech/hallucination-when-chatbots-and-people-see-what-isnt-there-91c6c88b

Strength in Numbers​
January and February have been whirlwinds. We are all struggling to keep up with the pace of developments in HISD and beyond. CVPE would love your voice at school board meetings. This week we learned of school closures not on the BOM agenda. :(

The Primary Election opens in a few days. We will stand together for strength. And keep raising our voices in behalf of school libraries for all HISD students. Be sure to tell the candidates to remember school libraries. ​Every candidate remains a community leader even if they don't prevail in the election; they remain a potential voice for our cause. Keep them engaged in our work.

WRITE YOUR LEGISLATORS! About education and libraries - and anything else that concerns you. We elected them. They WORK FOR US!

Welcome, SNL members.
(Join our mailing list here.)
Share with your friends so they can join as well.
We promised you periodic information with suggestions of action you might take. Here you go.
​​​Reach out with questions/suggestions: studentsneedlibraries@gmail.com

Newly Elected Board Members Sworn In
​On January 8, 2026, our new elected school Board members were sworn in. HISD held the event in the Overflow Room for the Board meetings, in indication of the status they give this important group of representatives of the people. Maria Benzon (D5), Felicity Pereyra (D1), Mike McDonough (D6), Myrna Guidry (D9)  and Bridget Wade(D7) now have an official role to speak for us about campus libraries and all the other details of the District which are currently being so abused. Please reach out to these Elected Board members to voice your thoughts. Pat Allen (D4)and Placido Gomez (D8) are continuing Electeds who attended the swearing in. Other continuing members are Dani Hernandez (D3) and Savant Moore (D2).

“Mike Miles says the 'science of reading' justifies limiting books in HISD.
Experts say no.”
​Lisa Falkenberg wrote in our Houston Chronicle on Nov 21, 2025 about why Miles is wrong to limit HISD students’ access to books in class and from campus libraries. "​But I've come to believe that Miles is misreading the science — and that his takeover experiment in Houston risks a whole new mistake: pushing aside the very books and stories that help kids like Zoe fall in love with reading in the first place."

“…reading volume is one of the most powerful predictors of achievement.”
​This article by Danielle Dennis of the University of Rhode Island, “Access denied: How banning books reduces reading volume and achievement” asks “Is book banning contributing to declining literacy rates?” She says yes. “To help children succeed at reading, they need opportunities to read at high volumes.”

Don't Forget to Elaborate
According to Natalie Wexler in her Jan. 4 Mind the Gap blog, “explicit instruction and retrieval practice are fundamental components of learning, but students need more than that to acquire deep knowledge.” Elaboration requires readers to apply new understandings in their own context. "Deep learning is complex—far more complex than retrieval practice—and there’s no simple universal formula. ...Elaboration simply means adding something to information you’ve absorbed. That could consist of making a connection between different texts or between a text and a student’s pre-existing knowledge or opinions. It could be answering questions like how, why, or what’s an example. (Answering those kinds of questions is sometimes called “elaborative interrogation.”)"
​

Sanctuary Stories
​In this season of ICE mayhem, immigrant children are likely experiencing much fear, especially if close family or friends have been detained or deported. I’m Your Neighbor Books is offering Sanctuary Stories & Family Safety which sends age appropriate books to families via an ally’s address. No identifying info about the family is collected.

1. The group will appreciate cash donations to support their work.
2. Many in the SNL community may know families who would benefit.
3. Librarians and others who share books may want to consult the books included on the website, sorted by immigrant community.

Our StoryBridge Listens: Democracy & the Arts
​Listen to a 5 minute audio about why the First Amendment matters to us all. Dorcas Hand was asked to record this clip for Our StoryBridge Listens: “Choosing Your Own Book is a First Amendment Right.” Scroll down the page – maybe listen to other clips while you are there!

The Strainer Lesson - or Why Reading Matters
 “Teacher, I’ve read so many books… but I’ve forgotten most of them. So what’s the point of reading?”
That was the question of a curious student.
The teacher didn’t answer. He just looked at him in silence.
A few days later, they were sitting by a river. Out of nowhere, the old man said:
“I’m thirsty. Bring me some water… but use that old strainer lying there on the ground.”
The student looked confused. It was a ridiculous request.
How could anyone bring water in a strainer full of holes?
But he didn’t dare argue.
He picked up the strainer ...
READ the full story as linked in The Strainer Lesson
Thanks to Classic Literature on Facebook. It is dated Sept 11, 2023 but still circulating because I just found it.

Take time to understand our HISD situation more broadly: Recommended Reading ​to Understand the Takeover

And remember to FOLLOW and support Community Voices for Public Education (CVPE).

​January brings a new year, and with it hope for many successful projects. The links in this newsletter allow us to look back at 25 for wisdom to approach in 2026. So far, our year is full of challenging news all around - locally in HISD and across the world. But this Students Need Libraries in HISD community will stand strong together and with CVPE and other pro-public education organizations to continue our resistance to the Takeover. We will bring libraries back to HISD campuses - it's just taking way longer than we hoped.

​Confronting the Crisis of Reading Among Children: What Can Librarians Do to Promote Literacy and Intellectual Curiosity? 
​This ALA Intellectual Freedom Round Table webinar last night offered a HANDOUT with books of interest at the elementary level to spark curiosity and empathy. Anyone interested can view the entire hour. In Part 2, other speakers will focus on Teens. As we enter the holiday season, empathy and gratitude seem important values to feature.

As we enter the holidays, I share this from Facebook. Full and effective Literacy is an exchange of information. A reader absorbs new ideas, digests them and offers the world new understandings from the combination of ideas read and heard. How sad it is to know that many students are not talking about their reading and learning outside the classroom - and in HISD, not so much in the classroom either. It is food for thought. Thanks to Ms Shawna Jent for posting.
IMAGE SOURCE: https://www.keiro.org/features/intergenerational-connections​  (Worth a read.)

Texas Senate Bill 13 (SB 13) – Giving more rights?  Or Removing Them….,
AKA SB 13 for Non-Librarians
SNL asked Suzanne Lyons, retired Library Services Director and long time campus librarian, to break down this controversial bill for you, our SNL followers.
 
“SB13 was passed and signed by Governor Abbott on 6/20/25 and is effective as of 9/1/25. This legislation deals only with library materials, not instructional/textbook materials.
 
So what does this mean to you? …” Read the blog by clicking on the linked title.
IMAGE SOURCE: https://tfn.org/back-door-book-ban-sb-13/ (May 2, before implementation guidance was issued.)

ACLU Fact Sheet: SB13 and SB412
These bills seek to make it harder for Texan students to access books and information that reflect their realities and prepare them for their futures.

The Freedom to Read Foundation offers this poster free, as well as 6 small downloadable posters for schools and libraries to better understand the impact of the First Amendment on our daily lives, especially in libraries. Request a poster at ftrf.org/firstamendment. Key court cases are explained on the back.
​
SB13 (schools) and SB412 (public libraries) come dangerously close to infringing on everyone's First Amendment rights, especially our PK-12 youth.

National Register to Vote Day Sept 16, 2025

• Remind your friends and family to check that their registration is current.

BECAUSE (read next…)​

As always, please share this newsletter with anyone who may be interested.

Debbie Hall recognized winners of Elenora Alexander stipends to support professional growth:

• For the TCEA Online Conference: ($149 each)
  • Roslene Walton
  • Brittany Wright
  • Kersten Ficke
• TLA/University scholarship: ($250 each)
  • Leslie Hokansen
  • Jennifer Moore
  • Evelyn Mendez

Debbie knew Ms. Alexander, and has overseen this fund for 33 years as it has supported trips to TLA conference, textbooks for students in library certification programs, and other professional development expenses.
IMAGE SOURCE: https://www.ebay.com/itm/277003892012 ​

​Kaitlyn Carpenter, a previous winner of LPOY, talked about the benefits of TLA membership. The conference will be in Houston next April, and we hope to see lots of HISD attendees and presentations. ​

Representatives from HISD attended. City Council Mario Castillo sent a staffer with a commendation for FOHL. Our state representatives and senators are busy in Austin, but Chrisina Morales and Gene Wu sent staff. Elected HISD Trustee Placido Gomez came. City Council Mario Castillo sent a staffer with a commendation for FOHL. ​

​Raise Your Hand Texas is keeping up with important info about the fight for public education in Texas both funding and vouchers.
Please write to your state legislators.

​

What Happens to K-12 if the federal Department of Education Shuts Down? (Newsweek 20 March 2025) You have probably already noted this but reminding you again how important it remains to speak up. Contact you state and federal elected representatives at every opportunity.

• Funding For Disadvantaged And Disabled Students
• Monitoring National, State Education Performance

Senators Cornyn and Cruz need to hear from you as  well as your US Representative.