In the state of Illinois, all librarians must also have teaching certifications, and most also have endorsements to teach specific grades and subjects.
When the district stopped funding positions and let principals and school councils decide how to spend their money, many had a hard time making the numbers add up.
For Nettelhorst, it was “here’s the position and she can be in a library or we can have a teacher in front of 30 kids,” Walter said. “And no matter how much you love libraries and as much as I do, you can’t have a classroom without a teacher in front of it.”
Walter says even though the librarian is now teaching 4th grade, the students can still use the library, because the clerk and parent volunteers help staff it.
Still, he says, it’s a lose-lose.
“As a parent, it feels that CPS has set us up into a situation where we have to decided which finger we don’t want,” Walter said.