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Christeen Gilman
Stephanie Shteirman
ILS 562
1 October 2014
Module Two Assignment 1: Site Visit
I went to visit the Library/Media Specialist, Kerry Darby, at the Lawrence Elementary
School in Middletown, CT on Monday September 15, 2014. Lawrence is one of eight
elementary schools in the district and is located in the north end of Middletown, near the
Cromwell town-line. At the school Kerry teaches a fixed schedule, grades Kindergarten through
5th.
Town of Middletown, CT
Located along the Connecticut River in Middlesex County, Middletown is located in the
middle of Connecticut half way between Hartford and Old Saybrook, making it an ideal location
for commuters. Per the official website of Middletown, CT the town is considered a small city
which covers 42.3 square miles and has 48,000 residents (City of Middletown, CT). Some
areas of Middletown, especially towards the south end, near Durham, are rural, with farm land
and neighborhoods. However, the downtown district is a bustling city like atmosphere that was
revitalized over the past decade. There are many shops and residents for people to explore;
including an historic toy store known as Amatos, which has been in business since 1940
(Amatos Toy and Hobby Store, Middletown, CT).
A major landmark in Middletown is Wesleyan University, which just completed a $280
million dollar renovation. Wesleyan is well known as a liberal arts college and has 2900
undergraduates as well as 200 graduate students (Wesleyan University in Middletown,

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Connecticut). Middletown also offers a community college known as Middlesex Community

College, which offers day and evening classes. This college can be a more affordable option for
many Connecticut residents seeking a degree or certification (Middlesex Community College,
Middletown, CT).
Also located in Middletown, CT is Middlesex Hospital, which offers inpatient and
outpatient care. Middlesex Hospital also recently built a new Emergency Department and
continues to do renovation on the main hospital (City of Middletown, CT).
Despite its revitalization projects, Middletown still has a poverty level of 12%, which is
higher than the overall state poverty level of 9.2% (City of Middletown, CT). In regards to
education, 32% of residents hold a high school degree, 23% have some college experience and
32% hold a bachelors degree (City of Middletown, CT).
Strategic School Profile for the Lawrence School 2012/2013
Per Lawrence Schools Strategic School Profile for 2012-2013 there are 327 students
enrolled, of which 52.6% are white, 16.8% are African American, 13.8 % are Asian American,
7.3% are Hispanic and 7.3% are two or more races. Of those students 25.7% are eligible for
free/reduced-priced meals compared to 45.1% in the district and 41.3% in the state. Other
important information from the report includes:

4.9% of students who are not fluent in English vs. state average of 8.1%

6.1% of students with disabilities vs. the state average of 11.2%

0% of students identified as Gifted and/or Talented vs. the state average of 2.0%

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78% of Kindergarten students attended preschool vs. the state average of 79.3%

47.4% of students are minorities

84.6% of teachers have a Masters Degree or above vs. the state average of 81.8%

There are 3.9 computers per student vs. the state average of 2.7%

Students receive 6 hours of Library/Media instruction vs. the state average of 20

Grade and CMT Subject Area Testing Results:

Grade and CMT
Subject Area

School

District

State

Grade 3

66.1
69.5
62.7
60.7
65.6
69.4
64.6
58.3
68.8
64.6

53.6
64.0
58.6
60.7
63.0
63.7
63.7
69.5
72.0
58.6

56.9
60.0
61.4
62.6
63.0
65.1
66.9
65.6
69.2
62.3

Grade 4
Grade 5

Reading
Writing
Mathematics
Reading
Writing
Mathematics
Reading
Writing
Mathematics
Science

% of schools in State with

Equal or Lower Percent
Meeting Goal
63.4
64.8
49.5
45.0
51.7
55.1
46.9
37.3
47.1
53.0

Site visit
Because of Middletowns large size there are eight elementary schools located throughout
the district. Lawrence is located off a busy road, Route 3, which connects RT 66 with Cromwell.
The side street that Lawrence is located on is quieter with a small neighborhood of houses.
Many of the houses appear to need work and are unkempt; however, the school grounds are well
kept. Upon arriving there is a visitor parking lot I used. I viewed students coming in and out of

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the lunch room for recess when I arrived. I tried to enter through the front of the building using
the call button to the main office, as all doors are locked; however, no one answered the call
button. I had to wait their several minutes and was lucky enough that Kerry was walking by so
she could let me in. Upon signing in the office, I noticed that no one was in there, hence why I
didnt get a response from the call button outside.

Built in the 1970s as an open concept school, Lawrence is showing its age. Originally
there were pods that were made of four classrooms that were all open to one another. The above
aerial photograph shows how the school is sectioned into pods. Eventually the classrooms were
enclosed to create a more ideal learning environment. I found the school to be very dark and this
is probably because the classroom had been enclosed so now little day light filters into the
hallways. There was school work and art work hanging up in the hallway that the students
produced.
The Library

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Upon entering the library I noticed that Kerry had a sign up asking for student volunteers.
Due to budget constraints none of the elementary schools have an assistant, nor do any of the
elementary schools have a full time librarian. Kerry relies on parent and student volunteers to
help her maintain the library and shelving. As you can see in the picture above, the library has
an octagon layout; this is because it was originally opened to all the classrooms. Kerry said that
the space had always been a library, but it seemed like a strange layout to me.

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Behind the shelving are lockers that Kerry described as a nightmare for having in the
library. These are actual student lockers that students use and go into during the day creating a
lot of noise. Because the space is not conducive to conducting lessons Kerry uses a classroom
down the hallway for her formal library lesson and then brings the students back to the library
for book check out.

As seen above the space is a classroom that Kerry uses for library instruction. There are
two more computers for students to use, as well as another computer that Kerry can use. There is
a board, in which Kerry can write on and conduct her lessons. There are also some books pulled
out from the main library that students can browse through. Kerry finds this room more ideal for
teaching; however, if another classroom was needed for a grade she would have to move back
into the library. Also the set up of this room leaves little room for collaboration as it is more
teacher centered, then student centered.
The circulation desk was neat and organized; however on the other side of the desk there
were boxes of books that were for the teachers. These boxes were piled up and looked unkempt.

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There was no clear signage at the circulation desk. There were also no students or teachers in the
library at that time; however, a few students walked through the library to get to the main part of
the school.
Kerry considers herself lucky because she is one of the few schools that has an automated
card catalog system. Most of the elementary schools have paper card catalog systems still and
one school has neither. Only the high school has been upgraded to Destiny, which is more of an
ideal OPAC system in school libraries. There are three student computers located in the library
that students can use the OPAC as well as one printer. There is also another computer at the
circulation desk that Kerry uses for book check in and check out. The school has no access to
updated technologies, such as I-pads. Located at the front of the library is a projector and lap top
for Kerry to project lessons onto a pull down screen. I also noticed a portable Smartboard off to
the side. There is no access to Electronic Books.
The district has access to two online databases: PebbleGo and Gales Site. Kerry has
found PebbleGo very useful for the age group she works with and has taken them to the
computer lab to explore and find information on this database. She has not; however, found
Gales Site to be useful, mainly because she has found it is for older students.
Kerry is doing her best to make updates to this library. She started the position in January
of 2014 and before that there was no certified Library/Media Specialist (LMS) in the position for
the past ten years. Her position, as well as others in the district, is part of a district wide plan to
bring back the LMS position. Even though the district is bringing back this position it is
providing little support or funding to bring it back properly. Since starting, Kerry first began
updating the outdated collection using Scholastic dollars the school had saved up.

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Kerry works on a fixed schedule; but would love to see the district move to a flexible
schedule in the future. She does have time to collaborate with teachers once a month on a
professional development day; however, she has found the teachers unreceptive to her. Teachers
view library as a special, which allows them time to do their planning. Because of this thought
teachers never stay with their class because of it being their planning time.
Collection Analysis
Here is the collection analysis done by Kerry while I was visiting the school:
The Hundred Division

Average Age

Items

% of Collection

000 Generalities

1998

51

0.61%

100 Philosophy and Psychology

1999

32

0.38%

200 Religion

1997

19

0.23%

300 Social Sciences

1992

379

4.52%

400 Language

1994

45

0.54%

500 Natural Sciences/Math

1996

679

8.09%

600 Technology

1995

303

3.61%

700 Arts

1994

302

3.60%

800 Literature and Rhetoric

1992

130

1.55%

900 Geography and History

1995

500

5.96%

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Hundred Divisions Totals:

1995

2440

29.07%

General Fiction

1997

2100

25.02%

Reference

2000

0.11%

Biography

1992

449

5.35%

Professional

n/a

Story Collection

1997

18

0.21%

Paperback

1992

12

0.14%

Easy

1995

3226

38.43%

Beginning Reader

1983

92

1.10%

Read First

1995

12

0.14%

Step Up

1990

36

0.43%

Additional Category Total:

1995

5954

70.93%

Totals

1995

8394

Additional Category Listings

This report was shocking to me. The fact the average age of Beginning Reader books is
1983 is appalling. In fact, the entire average of the collection is nearly 20 years old. This shows
what happens when a certified Library/Media Specialist is not in a library for ten years. Kerry
has the daunting job of updating this collection on a very small budget.

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Lawrence Elementary School Website

One of the projects Kerry completed last Spring was setting up a website for the library.
It can be easily accessed through the homepage of the school. On her webpage, Kerry has links
to the different projects that her students worked on last fall. She is excellent at incorporating
technology into her lessons. Last Spring students worked on podcasts, book trailers and a litter
survey for Earth Day. Unfortunately the website hasnt been updated since last Spring, in fact
there is still the May Newsletter up. It would be nice to see an updated newsletter in place by
this time. Also there is no links to the online OPAC or other databases
Conclusion
The Lawrence Elementary School library has a long way to go in regards to matching
what other districts offer for their Library/Media Programs. There are many problems that need
to be addressed for this program to become successful. This is mainly due to the fact that the
library hasnt had a certified LMS in ten years. Kerry has a long road ahead of her, trying to
update and maintain a library with little to no funding. Also she will need to try and convince the
district that the Library/Media Program should be on a flexible schedule to allow for teacher
collaboration to take place. Unfortunately since teachers view library as a special so they can
have planning time this will be a hard battle to win.
This district is doing the right thing by bringing the Library/Media Program back to the
elementary schools; however, the planning is not well thought out. There needs to be a plan in
place to bring the program back correctly as well as the proper funding. There also needs to be
time for the LMSs to meet and collaborate on what is going on in their libraries. Currently there
are only four dates set aside for the entire school year for this type of meeting to take place. In

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my opinion the LMSs that were hired should have been given time to get the program up and
running again before seeing students, but this would have been an ideal situation. The LMSs
also should also be given time to look at and visit successful Library/Media Programs in the
state.
Another aspect that needs to be considered is hiring a librarian assistant. This way the
LMS can focus on the lessons and the students. During book check out it is impossible to be
assisting students and doing book check out at the same time. Students are left not being able to
find the books they are looking for, which is a frustration of Kerrys. Also, she feels, she could
be using her time more productively if she wasnt also re-shelving the hundreds of books that
come back each week.
Lastly, the students need more access to technology. Without this how can the school
align with the Common Core and prepare students for the global economy? In fact, many of
these students have trouble using computers and navigating them, which makes this a nightmare
at testing time. One additional duty, Kerry and the other elementary LMS of the district will take
on, is doing Type to Learn lessons for the a month this Fall to better prepare students for testing
time. Additionally these students would greatly benefits from I-pads, a greater number of online
databases and Ebooks.
I do plan on collaborating with Kerry because we are in the same situation, experiencing
the same problems as I am in the same district as her. Because she has already been there since
last year she has a lot of information to offer and ideas to overcome some of the many obstacles.
I would not want to work in her library. The layout alone leads to a very unappealing library
environment.

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After viewing Kerrys library and experiences the two library environments that I work in
at this district it is my fear that this program is going to go away as quickly as theyve tried to
bring it back. Without the proper funding and foresight this program has been set up to fail from
the start. The district needs to relook at what it is doing and put a proper plan in place if they
truly want to bring back this important program to their district.

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Work Cited
(A) Amatos Toy and Hobby Store, Middletown, CT. Amatos Toy and Hobby Store. N.P., n.d.
Web. 20 Sept 2014. http://www.amatostoyandhobby.com
(B) "City of Middletown, CT." Official Site of Middletown, CT. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Sept. 2014.
http://www.cityofmiddletown.com
(C) Middlesex Community College, Middletown, CT. Middlesex Community College. N.p.,
n.d. Web. 20 Sept. 2014. www.mxcc.edu
(D) "Middletown Public Schools Lawrence School." Official Site of Middletown Public
Schools. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Sept. 2014. http://www.middletownschools.org/page.cfm?p=8449
(E) Middletown Public Schools Lawrence School Library Media Program. Official Site of
Middletown Public Schools. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Sept 2014.
http://www.middletownschools.org/page.cfm?p=8460
(F) State Department of Education CEDaR. SDE Portal. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Sept. 2-14.
http://sdeportal.ct.gov/Cedar/WEB/ResearchandReports/SSPReports.aspx
(G) "Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut." Wesleyan University - Middletown,
Connecticut. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Sept. 2014. www.wesleyan.edu