board removing school librarians
several school librarians are all being “reassigned” or essentially laid off and have asked me, our community engagement librarian, to speak at the school board meeting.
my supervisor says it’s prohibited because it “looks bad” because we still need to work with the district even without the librarians and it’s considered “political” which goes against union guidelines even if i’m speaking on behalf of myself and not a library employee. i’ve pushed back saying that i feel like it’s not right to say that and am wanting to go over here to speak to the union representative, but i wanted to check in so see if folks have experienced something similar.
it feels wrong to not say anything, especially with how long we’ve worked together and how their jobs impact how we foster community engagement. i’m literally also seeing them for school visits all next month, so not speaking especially feels awkward when they’ve asked our department specifically to speak.