Residents and teachers urge St. Francis board to protect school libraries, add EL teacher

Several community members and staff used the board's visitor forum to press the district to maintain and strengthen school libraries and to hire additional EL (English-learner) staffing.

Nikki Cruzdie told the board that school libraries and cursive instruction build essential skills and equity of access, saying that closing media centers would "guarantee that only children with resources at home will have access." She also criticized any board member commentary she described as "anti public school," arguing those views have no place in governance.

Elementary EL teacher Beth Kineman presented enrollment figures showing notable EL-growth at multiple elementary schools and urged the board to hire one more full-time elementary EL teacher. Kineman said that current EL caseloads are high (she reported her own caseload at 67 students) and that adding a third elementary EL teacher would permit students at all buildings to receive 30-minute instructional blocks more frequently.

Community member Brian Pueblo and others defended libraries as modern, academic learning spaces that should be staffed by credentialed media professionals; Pueblo recommended modernizing collections and integrating library resources into classroom pedagogy and information-literacy instruction.

The board acknowledged the comments. In response to Kineman's request, an administrator reported the personnel request was added to a cabinet-level list and that the district had just begun internal discussions about options; no hiring decision was finalized during the meeting.

The public-comment speakers asked the board to prioritize student access and staffing rather than reducing programs; administration said it would take the input under advisement as part of personnel and budget planning.