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The Friends of HISD Libraries Board, all six of us, spoke in series at the June 12 meeting of HISD's Board of Managers. Students Need Libraries supports FOHL at every opportunity, so sharing details of this event is right up our alley! With four new BOM members joining on this date, we wanted to introduce them to all that school libraries should be. Here are our speeches - 1 minute is not much time, but 6 minutes can show the issue from a few perspectives. At the bottom of this post, we offer a link to the handout we presented to the Board; it offers details supporting our points.  Cheryl Hensley, a semi-retired HISD school librarian, led off by introducing our Library Program of the Year WINNER, Roslene West of Cornelius Elementary. In 1986, the 1st Librarian of the Year was honored. 2 yrs ago, the award was changed to Library Program of the Year. Roslene believes the library should be the heart of the school where literacy, collaboration, creativity, imagination and exploration are the focus. ALL who enter feel welcomed and supported. And like a heart that beats, strengthens and provides life, a school library changes and grows. She believes a good library program is constantly changing to meet the needs of its patrons. Her winning program consisted of Read-Ins for Black History and Hispanic Heritage months, connecting the community with Literature where they can see themselves and their neighbors. At this annual event, City Council representatives, the police chief and even school board members participated. Cornelius also has a Legacy Writers Program which encourages students to become authors. Approximately 30 students' works have been printed as bound books and are available to checkout. Ms West is also preparing the students for the future through strong technology engagement. ALL students deserve a librarian like Ms West!! The community celebrated Ms. West with a rousing round of applause.  Debbie Hall is a retired career HISD librarian who started at Attucks Junior High and moved from Bellaire High School to join Library Services. She remains passionate about the need for all K-12 students to have access to strong school libraries. She shared her most memorable experience as a campus librarian. One of my most memorable moments as a librarian demonstrates the power of a school library. I was working at Stevens ES where I encountered a 4th grade student who was not interested in reading. Every time his class visited the library, he politely told me he preferred not to check out a book. He was obviously very bright and so I thought about what book might be a good fit for this kid. On his next visit I handed him a zany science-fiction title, Lizard Music by Daniel Pinkwater. This book was different and funny, and I thought it just might appeal to him. He took the book home and came back two days later with, “More please”. I gave him another book by the same author and then made sure that I had a new book to offer him every time he visited the library. After several weeks of this, his mother came to the library to meet me and put a thank you note in my permanent file. She had tried for years unsuccessfully to get her son to read. This is the power of a school library. This administration is denying access to the best resources available to grow readers. Libraries are being closed. Reading aloud, which is a powerful reading motivator, is forbidden. Even classroom collections are disappearing as they are considered “clutter”. The school library is an opportunity zone, please don’t close that door to our students.  Anne Furse is a committed library supporter who works with Friends of HISD Libraries to support existing campus libraries and towards the end goal of rebuilding libraries across the district. [See the map at full size here: http://bit.ly/4k3kV1d ] When Superintendent House arrived in 2021, 95 HISD schools had no libraries. That fall he listened to the thousands of Houstonians who advocated for libraries in all HISD schools. In February 2022 his five year strategic plan required every HISD school to have a library and a “librarian / media specialist to ensure that students develop a passion and aptitude for reading, research, and critical thinking skills.” Then came the takeover. The inequity in HISD libraries is now starker than ever. More than 106,000 students, 93 percent of them economically disadvantaged, in 175 schools, have lost access to print and digital books, technology, literacy and research support, study space, and more. These indefensible losses are harming our kids and our city.  Lisa Sandoz Robinson is a retired HISD Media Specialist and ELA teacher. During COVID, HISD applied for and received more than 19 million dollars in federal ESSER funds to revitalize its libraries. The district used these funds to stock its libraries with much-needed resources, including new books and technology. Since the takeover, this administration has overseen the loss of more than 175 HISD libraries. Now more than ten million dollars’ worth of the new resources are no longer accessible to HISD students. This total will continue to grow as more libraries are closed. I implore you: restore certified staff to ALL campus libraries so that these ESSER funded resources can again be available to HISD students. ALL students deserve access to these resources and to the unique expertise that librarians provide. This is an equity issue that must be rectified now as part of your budget discussions.  Dorcas Hand is a retired Houston school librarian who never worked in HISD, but remains committed to reversing the losses of library access to too many HISD students. The NES extreme focus on the Science of Reading does a huge disservice to students seeking strong literacy. SOR skills (phonics, decoding, sight recognition) are not useful in isolation from content knowledge. Education Week recently reported “It’s Not Just About the Phonics” to re-emphasize these points. Sadly, NES’ version of SOR ignores the requirements of background knowledge, vocabulary, and language structure, not to mention “disciplinary literacy” (science, history). It is delusional to think that if students can decode they are literate and STAAR successful. They have no enthusiasm for reading or learning, and they lack stamina to read anything longer than the test length passages which are all they are ALLOWED during school hours. [article links are in the handout below.] HISD SOR is not really teaching students to be successful readers, much less learners ready for higher ed and life. How can they possibly meet college standards if they never have the chance to read a whole book or learn how to read different kinds of information? School libraries are essential to literacy! Thank you.  Suzanne Lyons is a retired school library administrator in both HISD and other districts. She has many years’ experience in giving a kid a library. So what happens when you give a kid a library? In HISD, many incorrectly describe a library as a room of books. So that’s it. Right? No. Not really. Without certified staff to guide students and teachers .. it’s really not a library. And… spoiler alert… a certified librarian also holds teacher certification, and costs no more money to hire. In unstaffed libraries, costly resources can and do disappear. Please recognize that if you give a kid a professionally staffed library supporting the instructional program EVERYTHING can happen. HISD has squandered countless opportunities and has lost numerous highly qualified professionals. Recent Library Program of the Year finalists, including the last year’s winner, have all moved on to other districts. We talk a lot about achieving STANDARDS. In the school library, the standard is EXCELLENCE. Anything else is unacceptable. This district has NOT committed to giving ALL students the right to learn. Do what is right and make a change.  Friends of HISD Libraries works with Students Needs Libraries in HISD to raise awareness of the good that school libraries do, especially for students of less advantaged circumstances who may not have books at home. We are proud to do this work and will continue to speak at Board meetings, and to offer handouts ;like the one we offered the Board on June 12. We hope they took the time to read it. Please add your voices to ours, reminding them as so many other speakers last week did that EVERY STUDENT DESERVES A SCHOOL LIBRARY AND A SCHOOL LIBRARIAN. Please reference our links here: June 12, 2025 FOHL/SNL Handout to HISD Board of Managers
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