Jeanne Ellen Mathis- Taylor District 3
1. Please share your thoughts related to the importance of the school library/media center and the role of a certified, trained librarian/media specialist in schools.
Media Centers are our best opportunity to create and foster a love of reading. Media Centers are also a great way to promote AR reading. Media specialists that go all out with fanciful themes and inspire imagination for our students are district superstars. Certified specialists are, and should always be, an integral part of every district.
2. Florida school libraries/media centers have always supported parents' rights to direct their students' education. How would you balance parental rights and student access to library materials, especially given that some books trigger different reactions among parents, all of whom deserve rights?
I would say that, as a parent and a school board member, if there were a way to link FOCUS or create an app that let's parents track a students checked out library books, that would give oversite to parents and be informative enough to allow parents to make decisions of their child's reading activities.
3. Students have access to reading material through captive classroom instruction, read-alouds and novel studies, as well as through self-selection in libraries where they choose their own book. How would you differentiate between the appropriateness of reading material in a captive classroom vs. self-selection in the school library?
I'm not sure about this one, it is subjective to one's own values and life experiences.
4. As written in Florida House Bill 1069, “Parents shall have the right to read passages from any material that is subject to an objection. If the school board denies a parent the right to read passages due to content" deemed unsuitable as defined in the bill, the school district must discontinue use of the material. If a reader is denied, explain why you would interpret the law by supporting or opposing a fair and public review of the book, as outlined in each district's objection policy.
Supporting.
Media Centers are our best opportunity to create and foster a love of reading. Media Centers are also a great way to promote AR reading. Media specialists that go all out with fanciful themes and inspire imagination for our students are district superstars. Certified specialists are, and should always be, an integral part of every district.
2. Florida school libraries/media centers have always supported parents' rights to direct their students' education. How would you balance parental rights and student access to library materials, especially given that some books trigger different reactions among parents, all of whom deserve rights?
I would say that, as a parent and a school board member, if there were a way to link FOCUS or create an app that let's parents track a students checked out library books, that would give oversite to parents and be informative enough to allow parents to make decisions of their child's reading activities.
3. Students have access to reading material through captive classroom instruction, read-alouds and novel studies, as well as through self-selection in libraries where they choose their own book. How would you differentiate between the appropriateness of reading material in a captive classroom vs. self-selection in the school library?
I'm not sure about this one, it is subjective to one's own values and life experiences.
4. As written in Florida House Bill 1069, “Parents shall have the right to read passages from any material that is subject to an objection. If the school board denies a parent the right to read passages due to content" deemed unsuitable as defined in the bill, the school district must discontinue use of the material. If a reader is denied, explain why you would interpret the law by supporting or opposing a fair and public review of the book, as outlined in each district's objection policy.
Supporting.