READING: The September/October 2014 issue of “American Libraries,” the magazine of the American Library Association, featured the story of a successful endeavor by school librarian Cece Fuoco.
Fuoco, who grew up in Smethport, is the librarian at Genesee Valley Central School District in Belmont, N.Y.
The article, “Students Make Their Voices Heard to Increase Access to School Library,” details efforts her students made to stop library downsizing at the school.
After students at the school learned fifth- and sixth-graders would no longer have library time in the 2013-14 school year, a group of fifth-grade boys started a petition asking the school to continue having scheduled library time.
The students were inspired to start the smartphone petition when Cece told them if they weren’t happy, “You can try to do something about it,” the article read.
The students took the petition to each fifth-grade homeroom for signatures, then, petition and list of reasons in hand, met with principal Brian “Mr. Ed” Edmister.
After speaking with the students, “Mr. Ed” was on board. School officials “gave the boys the responsibility of working out a schedule with their teachers. The result? Since January, 5th graders have been able to visit the library twice a week, on Tuesdays and Fridays, at the end of the day,” the article read.
Sometimes even children know what is good for them.
The librarian was also chosen recently to participate in a program for librarians.
According to a press release on the matter, “Cece Fuoco is one of only 38 librarians selected from a highly competitive national pool to participate in Leading to the Future, a four-day immersive leadership development program for future library leaders offered in August by the American Library Association (ALA).”
Participants in the Leading to the Future program are selected based on a number of traits, and they “are expected to return to their library equipped with new skills for leading, coaching, collaborating, and engaging within their organizations and in the communities they serve, and prepared to identify, develop, and implement solutions which benefit everyone,” the press release stated.
We love to see anyone advocating for literacy and education.
