PLEA FOR HELP FROM FUHS LIBRARY

The following e-mail message was sent to Pat Vierra Zima (FUHS '53) who has received help from the library and who has helped fund the restoring of old school newspapers.

I'm sending this e-mail to you because I have provided help to you in the FUHS library for alumni concerns or historical information related to Fullerton Union High School. On Monday, April 16 (the day we came back from spring break), we were informed that the position of library technician (the support person in to the librarian in each of the six high schools) had been cut. We librarians would like to rally as many people as possible to go to the May 1 meeting of the Board of Trustees in a show of support for the services provided by the school libraries. Fullerton is, of course, the original school in the district, and our library is the one that houses the rich historical archives, the collective memory of the early years of the school, the district, and also Fullerton College. I have been able to offer support to alumni, including tours and physical resources, because I have a back-up person who can run the library if I step out or dig into the archives. The board has to vote on June 19 on a budget that includes funding for two positions at the District office that were not in this year's budget but does not include funding for the library technicians who partner with us in providing library services to students, staff, and alumni. The June 19 approval of the budget will probably be a consent agenda item; it will be a done deal by then, but there is time to revise the proposed budget before then.

The meeting is at 7:30 p.m. in the Education Center Board Room, located at 1051 West Bastanchury Road, Fullerton, California. To be able to speak to the board, we will need to complete blue cards and wait until the rest of the meeting is over, probably around 9:00 or 9:30 p.m. We can't have everyone speak for five minutes, but we would like a show of support just by sheer numbers, whether or not you can actually address the board. WE DO NOT WANT YOU TO CALL THE DISTRICT OFFICE AND VOICE YOUR OPINION BEFORE THE MEETING.

I'm contacting you as alumni or those interested in the history of Fullerton High School. We are also trying to get parents, students, and teachers from the entire district to show up on that night in support of not passing the budget as it is currently proposed. I'm attaching a file describing the duties that Erin Black does in our library. These could not be done by a fill-in person, because the union regulations forbid allowing someone to do the tasks in the job description of a classified person whose job was cut.

The reason given to us was "declining enrollment," but we are talking a possible decline of about 50 students per campus over the next three years. There are about 4000 more students in the district than there were when I came in the 1994-95 school year, according to the California Department of Education's website. The governor has a May Revise for the state budget; our board has a chance to do a May Revise on their proposed budget as well.

I'd really appreciate your support.

Thanks,
Diane Oestreich
Fullerton Union High School Librarian

Please click on "Comment" to see the file she attached describing the duties.