OGDEN, Utah – Parents concerned about the loss of all 20 licensed librarians from the Ogden School District met with the district superintendent Wednesday to discuss the issue.
Brad Smith, Ogden School District superintendent, said other districts in Utah have been making cuts to their budgets along the way, but their district has been able to avoid cuts, until now.
Mellissa Marler is one parent with concerns, and she said the loss of librarians will be detrimental to students.
“The research shows that schools with media specialists have higher scores, and it’s consistent across the country in every study,” she said. “Give us the opportunity to keep that, even if it were just for a year. He says we have a little more room for a year. Give us a year to come up with some better solutions.”
Smith said the move is an unfortunate reality.
“I know people’s lives are disrupted in the schools, and their ways of dealing with one another are disrupted, and people potentially are losing jobs, or having to move to new positions,” he said. It is not easy. It isn’t pleasant.”
The district is also planning to close swimming pools, and they’ve asked the public to take over funding the pools if they want to keep them open. The district will also reduce their ROTC program, eliminate some staff positions and reduce the number of employees at the district offices.
