When the school hallways were crammed with students trying to get to class in under six minutes, there was one room that remained peaceful and quiet.
When the cafeteria was filled with hundreds of students talking at the same time, there was one room that was a safe haven for those who needed to focus on studying for their test next period.
When every class piled on more and more coursework, there was always one room made for the students who needed a few minutes to escape the magnitude of Cypress Woods: the library.
Although the library is still open, it has been gravely affected by the district budget cuts. Once a place full of hidden stories and satisfied smiles, the library has had to make several adjustments as a result of a district-wide reduction of librarians.
“Whereas we had a librarian Monday through Friday, now we have someone in there, you know, twice a week,” Principal Lloyd Turner said.
Each high school and middle school librarian now has three high schools that they work at throughout the week. The librarian at Cy Woods, Susan Seiffert, works here every Friday and most Thursdays. On the days that she’s not here, there is a library aide to help. However, many of the middle schools and elementaries in CFISD do not have assistants, resulting in the libraries being closed on those days.
“It’s been difficult,” Seiffert said. “Because there used to be two, the librarian and the aide, now there’s only one, and that leaves the aide doing things that she can’t do by herself because it’s just too overwhelming.”
Seiffert is in charge of the administration part of the library such as ordering books, organizing the shelves, and making sure the resources needed for students are readily available. However, Seiffert’s passion when working at the library is centered somewhere else.
“Having to do all the administrative stuff to make the library run, yes, that has to be done,” Seiffert said. “But what I enjoy is being with the kids and talking about books and getting in their lives and knowing them.”
Now that Seiffert can only be here one or two days of the week, forming bonds over a mutual love for reading has become increasingly harder. She misses the days when she, as a librarian, could help a student who didn’t like to read find a newfound interest in books.
“Reading is such a big part of learning and big part of a student’s life,” Seiffert said. “There will probably be certain activities that we were able to do in the past that we’re now not going to be able to do.”
One of the activities students can no longer partake in is Lunch Book Club, a club where students could get together once a month during their lunch period and discuss their love for books while eating. The previous librarians, Andrea Skowronek and Terrie Schexnaider, were the sponsors for the club until this year, as one of them was relocated and the other retired.
Lunch Book Club also used to provide transportation to the annual book-signing event, TeenBookCon, where students could meet famous authors and discover new, upcoming books. The status of this year’s event is uncertain.
However, other than the activities that have now been canceled, the library generally served as a safe space for those who needed some time away from the chaos of student life.
“I don’t want to sound overdramatic or anything, but it was the only place in school where I could feel comfortable, safe and like I’m at home,” Evan McLain, junior and regular visitor of the library, said.
McLain has gone to the library every day since freshman year. He enjoyed the peace and quiet that the library provided.
“I have a sensory disorder, so I can’t really tolerate being in the cafeteria,” McLain said. “Too much, too loud, too many smells.”
He appreciated simply having a place to read, having a place to go whenever he finished his work. He used to go to the library once he finished his assignments in class, however, this is no longer a possibility. The only available time for him to visit is during lunch and even then McLain is faced with obstacles.
“I need to get a pass, and lunch is only 30 minutes,” McLain said. “If I’m lucky, I can get like, 20 minutes in there, but often I kind of get only 10.”
Moreover, there are days when he can’t even find the person with the pass or encounters too long of a line. McLain believes that out of all of the budget cuts added to the school system this year, this one is by far the worst.
“I think that it was one of the many poor choices that the school and the school district have been making this year,” McLain said. “Cutting the librarians is by far the one that has made me the angriest and the one that has affected my well being as a student the most.”
Because of the budget cuts, many factors remain uncertain and have left some library members without an outlet.
“It just makes me so sad that we are not going to have the opportunity to be part of kids’ lives,” Seiffert said. “It’s sad. It’s very sad, because that is what I love to do.”
