Dear Dr.

Ford and Huntley Hills Leadership Team:

It has been another exciting school year in the library at Huntley Hills Elementary School. Our
teachers are consistently collaborating with me with class visits to the library and as well as
sending small groups and individual students to utilize book and digital resources. As of
February, 2017, there have been almost 15,000 book circulations with our Destiny library
system. Our average monthly book circulation for each patron ranges from 1.24 up to a high of
7.55 from Ms. Walkers homeroom. Our AR book reading celebrations every nine weeks and the
reading promotions such as Cat and the Hat visits by our teachers and other support staff have
created a dynamic reading culture at Huntley Hills Elementary School.
After my review of the library using the Judy Serritella Library Media Program Self-Evaluation
Rubric, I am pleased to report we are an Exemplary School Library in all categories except for two
proficient ratings in Category 9b Support Staff and Category 12 Whiteboard Equipment.
Since we do not have county monies to fund a support staff member who is not shared in other
areas of the school, I recommend we request our PTA to establish a volunteer schedule. This will
assist in the Library providing support staff who is always available throughout the instructional
day to assist teachers and students to move Category 9b closer to an exemplary rating.
I wish to focus on the following action step for Category 12 since we could use local PTA
monetary resources to purchase a whiteboard to be located in the library. To become Exemplary,
we will need to meet this State Guideline: The Library Media Center has a whiteboard and it is
used on a regular basis.
While our large screen television does permit some digital presentations to small groups at the
library tables, it does not allow for the high degree of interactivity which can occur with students
utilizing digital information with whiteboard equipment. I can envision better digital interaction
with students with the addition of a whiteboard in our Media Center.
In addition, the visual enhancement of viewing information in the large format for groups would
permit the ability to offer presentations to our teachers for professional development as well as
parental education in a secondary language allowing improved communication with our families
who speak a language other than English.
It is imperative we continue to stay on the forefront of digital information so we can better
prepare our students for life with the technologies of the 21 st century. I request your approval of
the monies raised by our PTA Fun with Fitness fundraiser to be allocated to the purchase of a
whiteboard for our library. I am attaching the Library Media Program Self-Evaluation Rubric for
use in your evaluation of this purchase request.
Thank you for the leadership you provide at Huntley Hills Elementary School and the role you
play in creating an outstanding learning environment.
Sincerely,

Paula Kuniansky
School Librarian
Huntley Hills Elementary School