RICHARD K. MOORE -- Community Commentary

Your editorial “It’s time to write a new chapter in Westside schools,”

Nov. 18, baffles me.

The Rotary Clubs have decided to make a major effort to buy library

books for the three poorest performing schools in the Newport-Mesa school

district.

Yet the schools you speak of are public schools, and therefore get the

same money as all other schools in the district -- over $28 per student

specifically to buy library books. Thus, a school with, for instance, 500

students gets over $14,000 for its school library, or roughly twice what

the three Rotaries hope to raise together.

This new money is in its third year, having been instituted in Pete

Wilson’s last year in office. The effort to provide volunteer readers is

a worthy one, and the emphasis on buying books that appeal to the

children is well-targeted.

But the need in area schools, as in most California schools, is for

qualified staff to run the school libraries on a full-time basis.

Forty-nine other states have state law or regional accreditation

standards making it mandatory to have credentialed school librarians on

staff.

Only California leaves that to the discretion of the local districts

with the result that your child is five times more likely to see a school

librarian if he or she is incarcerated by the California Youth Authority

than if they walk down the street to the local school.

The money allocated to fill libraries with books that support the

curriculum and interest the child is being handled by part-time clerks

with little or no training.

As I say, the actions of the Rotarians are puzzling.

And your lead quote from Peacham mischaracterizes school libraries and

insults the children who are not sleeping but eager to learn if we would

only give them the chance.

* RICHARD K. MOORE is the librarian for the newly opened Sage Hill

School, a private institution based in Newport Coast.