SOMERSET COUNTY, MD - Teachers in Somerset County are rallying around their school librarians after the Chairman of the Board of Education (BOE) proposed removing all media specialists from next year's budget during a work session on Tuesday, April 29.
Somerset County Public Schools (SCPS) told WBOC that the balanced budget presented by Superintendent Dr. Ava Tasker-Mitchell at the last work session included a proposed request for the county to make up the remaining $1 million deficit. Somerset County Commissioners are already committed to providing the public school system with a Maintenance of Effort fund each year.
Randi Merritt, the president of the Somerset Education Association and a teacher at Crisfield High School, attended the meeting on Tuesday.
"We had no idea that they were going to talk about media specialists," Merritt said. "They said they were nonessential personnel, which they aren't, they are essential personnel."
SCPS is set to present the FY26 budget to county commissioners for approval on June 15. The Board of Education has final approval over the draft that goes before the county.
Phaedra Spencer is one of six media specialists in SCPS. Spencer was also at the meeting when the BOE proposed cutting her role.
"I think that a lot of people think that librarians and media specialists are just sitting at their desk reading books," Spencer said. "It's really so much more than that."
As a certified media specialist, her responsibilities include evaluating new materials, organizing the shelves, balancing the breadth of genres and assisting students in the library. Additionally, Spencer said she teaches art and career readiness courses.
"People don't understand the implications of what losing a librarian really means," Spencer said. "It just doesn't really make sense in the context of what we're trying to do."
In response, the Somerset Education Association and SCPS staff have been sharing their support for media specialists through outreach to the community and a "Red for Ed" initiative, encouraging teachers to wear red every Friday in May.
Merritt would like teachers to be more involved in the budget conversations moving forward, in a greater capacity than the emailed public comment open to any community member.
"We hope they will give us the chance to sit down and talk to them and find the best places to make those budget cuts that don't affect our students, that don't affect our staff," Merritt said.
BOE Chairman Matthew Lankford declined WBOC's request for comment on this story.