Alvarado Middle School Receives $30,000 Donation for Library

From the New Haven Unified School District:

For the second time in less than a month, generous donors have written sizable checks to help restore library hours in the New Haven Unified School District.

Two retired Alvarado Middle School staff members this week donated a total of $30,000 to enable the school to re-open its media center on a full-time basis. The District in its 2012-13 budget was forced to reduce funding for high school and middle school librarians to the equivalent of one period per day, one the many consequences of continuing state cuts to public education.

Former counselor Don Del Pilar and former teacher Barbara Scheifler each wrote a $15,000 check to the school, AMS Principal Jesus Varela said. The money will pay for a teacher to take over classes currently being taught by media specialist/teacher Cindy Woll, allowing her to return full-time to the Media Center.

Mr. Del Pilar and Ms. Scheifler “expressed the impact of libraries in their own lives,” Mr. Varela said, adding that “Barbara Scheifler helped organize the original AMS Media Center when it was first developed.”

In late September, after articles about the library cuts appeared in The (Fremont) Argus and San Francisco Chronicle, an anonymous donor gave $60,000 to James Logan High to restore funding for its media specialist.