Opposes second guessing librarians

Editor,

I attended the March WCPS meeting in support of WCPS library/media specialists. I agree with “Supporting intellectual freedom in schools” published in your March 31 edition, Letters to the Editor section.

Having spent 46 years as a teacher at Stephen Decatur High School, and through my outreach to elementary, intermediate, and middle schools as part of my theatre program, I came to know many of our school librarians/media specialists.

I knew them to be devoted professionals dedicated to ensuring that all students in their respective buildings had access to  materials that would represent them as individuals and as members of larger communities. That remains the mission of all of the WCPS librarians to this day.

As a former teacher, I believe the job of those who work in our schools is to help every child feel accepted, welcomed, and valued.

To that end, and using clear protocols, WCPS librarians choose materials that represent the lives, needs, and interests of all students, making certain that no child is left, not behind, but out.

Selectively removing materials that have been properly vetted by professional staff undercuts efforts by all those who work in schools to value, to support, and to represent all children.

A library, whether in a school or in a community, offers every reader the opportunity to choose not only to further their knowledge, but to further their understanding of themselves and others, to develop empathy, and to know that whatever a person’s struggles and victories, triumphs and fears, we are all part of a shared humanity, of one vast human family.

Gwendolyn Freeman Lehman
Retired, SDHS
(1969-2015)
Berlin