Partners I’m meeting with: Katie Porteus – intermediate and high school librarian, Lea Ann Maceyko – leader of the Friends of Cardington community group and financial advisor, Sherrie Dunn and Carol Bebout – the principal and guidance counselor of Tri-Rivers Career Center in a neighboring county.
This month I was only able to talk to one of the potential partners on my list. I have a meeting set up with two others April 12. I have also briefly talked to Lea Ann Maceyko and she is very excited to contribute to this project, but I’m not sure if she’ll be a full partner because of her other obligations. The partner I talked to this month is Katie Porteus, the partner I picked when I started the application process for this project. She is the intermediate and high school librarian and a member of my library’s board. She most definitely seems to be a promising partner with her deep connections to other staff at the school and the fact that she sees the students on an everyday basis. Katie has been in this community for far longer than I have and will continue to be a part of it after I leave. I know that she has a strong desire in preparing these students for college and future careers. I’m not sure what her expectations she has for me.
This is a new task that we’re trying to accomplish, so I think her expectations are just that we can get the ball rolling and try out a few different things to see what sticks. I would like my partnership with Katie to be strong and really help the library get into the school and have more visibility with the children. The only challenge on Katie’s part for meeting with me, was that she had to ask permission to leave the school. The office never responded to her request – negatively or positively – so she just left to meet with me. My staff also had no input on my meeting with Katie. I told my director that I had a meeting with her, and that was that.
I think we have some good ideas to get a plan started. We are writing a survey to send out to the middle grade teachers, asking what skills or needs the students aren’t having met. Once we get the surveys back, we will spend the summer coming up with ideas on how to reach these students when the school year begins in August.