****I published this post earlier this afternoon but somehow half the post was deleted from the version that I published. I DON’T KNOW HOW THAT HAPPENED. GRRRRR. Maybe the Universe’s way of editing my word count?? Anyway, I wanted you to have the WHOLE post so I am republishing now, with the rest of the story included.
Sugar foots – sugar feet? – thank you for joining me for this month’s edition of Tell Us About 10.2024. Our October prompt comes to us from Penny at Frugal Fashion Shopper, who suggested we write about school days. Or in the UK, from where she hails, schooldays, one word. Gail, our faithful leader, is always so good to create our graphics each month. And lately, she’s had to create 2 versions – one with the European spelling of one of the words in the prompt and another version with the U.S. spelling. This time I am using the U.K. graphic because I rather like compound words and seem to be compounding words a lot lately, whether it is correct spelling or not to do so.
Tell Us About
Tell Us About (TUA) is a global writing challenge where bloggers from all around the planet respond to a different prompt on the third Thursday of each month. I joined the group early in 2023 and so appreciated the invite to do so, and the opportunities to do some creative writing on my blog.
You can find my other TUA posts here:
Tell Us About –
- Play
- Scent
- Gardens and Gardening
- Ways I’m a Curiosity
- Travel
- Imagination
- my theme choice for September, Legacy
- Hometowns
- Laughter
- Music to my Ears
- Beauty in my World
- Blah-blah-blogging
- Vacations: That Trip with the Tick
- A Few of my Favorite Things
Before we wade in, just a reminder: Once Upon a Time & Happily Ever After occasionally uses affiliate links which are usually italicized. If you click or make a purchase from an italicized link provided I may receive a very small commission at no cost to you. Thank you for your support.
Please find the places and posts where I link-up on this page.
Tell Us About 10.2024
I originally had the idea for this post from one of Kym’s Twenty-Six Lists. Each month, Kym shares a writing prompt for some kind of list, and invites others to share their own list. The lists created can be very simple or include lots of explanation; short or long; a bullet point list or essay style. And the prompt can be interpreted in anyway, depending on the amount of time bloggers have to spend, and how much background they’d like to share. I began writing this post as a look at my long but beloved career as a school librarian.
Kym published her list in September in celebration of Labor Day. I had planned to link up with her then but found writing about my career to be bittersweet. While I enjoyed reminiscing about some of the happy moments – and there were so many of those – there was quite a bit of stress over the span of that 25 years.
1984-1985
Children’s Librarian, 1984-1985, Copperas Cove Public Library, Copperas Cove, Texas:
I was hired for my first library job in 1984 when I was selected to be the Children’s Librarian at Copperas Cove Public Library in Copperas Cove, Texas. At that time, it had already been 10 years since I graduated with my Bachelor’s degree. My (ex)husband wouldn’t allow me to apply to work fulltime in Panama so it wasn’t until we returned to the states that I was able to do so. Started working this position 4 weeks after my first baby Brennyn was born.
We returned to Panama less than a year later so my career as a children’s librarian was short-lived. In 1988, we were stationed at Ft. Bliss, here in El Paso. The following fall, the girls’ father finally agreed to let me apply for a teaching position. With only his income as an E-5 in the Army, we qualified for food stamps, for heaven sake. It was about time!!
I applied to be an art teacher but the district had a shortage of librarians. With my (more than a) minor in Library Science, the man at Human Resources asked if I would consider working as a librarian. I said YES!! Best decision.
1989-1991
High School Assistant Librarian, 1989-1991, Jefferson High School, El Paso:
I was hired as an assistant librarian because of my lack of library experience and the fact that I had been out of school for 10 years before working in my first school library. The head librarian under whom I would be working suggested we meet for lunch a few days before school started. We met at Leo’s Mexican Restaurant near the Jefferson High campus. She asked me a few questions about my education and personal life and then point blank asked ‘how did you get this job?’ And before I could respond, she followed that up with a second question, ‘who did you sleep with to get this job?’
Our relationship went downhill from there. I was allowed to do very little more than checking books in and out and putting up bulletin boards. I was often banished to back corner of the library because the head librarian complained that my perfume was wafting in her face. Without my knowledge, the librarian made arrangements with the principal for my first formal observation. She selected a class to come to the library and told me to show them a video, which of course, involved no teaching. She set me up for failure. But the principal saw me in the hall the day before the scheduled lesson and asked me if I was aware what the librarian had done.
There for the Kids
The students at Jeff were THE BEST, though. At that time, community that fed into Jefferson was the second poorest zip code in the country. The school was located in the Segundo Barrio of the city, on the U.S.-Mexican border. Most of the children spoke limited English. When the 3:30 dismissal bell rang every afternoon, many of the kids went home to extreme poverty. Some of my best male library volunteers were members of the Diablos, Fatherless or Tularosa gangs. And my favorite girl volunteer worked nights and weekends dancing at the Naked Harem. It was a tough area.
After 18 months working with this woman, one afternoon she threw me the library keys and said she was transferring to a position at central office and I was on my own. I didn’t know whether to rejoice or sit down and cry. I asked to be allowed to interview for an elementary library position now that I had some experience under my belt. I interviewed and was hired.
1991-2004
Elementary School Librarian, 1991-2004, Schuster Elementary School, El Paso:
I was so thankful to get the call that I had been hired to be the Schuster Elementary librarian. Schuster was a small school in northeast El Paso where I built my first little house. About 11 teachers and I were hired that same fall at Schuster which made us an especially close-knit group. Schuster was a small school anyway, about 350 students and we all really worked well together. The student population dwindled to below 300 several years ago, so Schuster was closed along with several other small elementaries nearby and all of the children and most of the teachers were moved to a brand new campus.
TOY and Come Read With Me
My time at Schuster was wonderful. Brennyn and Lauren (and my stepdaughter) attended school there so we all went to school together everyday. I was nominated the campus teacher of the year, the first librarian in the district to ever receive that recognition. Then selected as 1 of the top 5 elementary teachers in the district. Surprisingly, I was the El Paso Independent School District Elementary Teacher of the Year in 1997-1998.
I also helped create and hosted a school district sponsored, televised reading program for children during my tenure at Schuster. “Come Read with Me” ran for over 10 years with more than 100 episodes. This was an especially successful time in my career.
I have always loved books. And kids.
Jenny
One of my favorite families at Schuster were the 8 children of the Molina family. While I was librarian there, I became especially close to all 5 of the older Molinas as well as their 3 toddler-aged siblings, and their sweet mama. When my parents visited El Paso, they would help me in the library, and they, too, became attached to some of the Schuster students. They would help me buy Christmas presents for some of the most needy. My favorite Molina was Jenny. She was in the third grade when I knew her at Schuster. Jenny was a street-smart, feisty little girl who tried so hard to speak in English.
One day I realized I hadn’t seen Jenny or her brothers and sisters in a while. It turned out their mother was arrested for trafficking drugs and the children had to move to Juarez, Mexico with their grandmother. I thought I would never see her again.
08.2004-08.2005
High School Librarian, School-Age Parent Center/Campus for Career and Computer Technology, El Paso:
I transferred from being an elementary librarian to a high school librarian in order to make more money. High school librarians worked more days in the year and I was a single mom with 2 girls in college. But in order to be hired for a high school position, I had to ‘promise’ to get my Master’s degree in Library and Information Science. Grrrr. Money in, money out. I began work on my Master’s that fall.
The librarian before me would not let students come to the library. And on my first day, the principal came into her (now my) back office and removed a TV and DVD player, telling me I would not spend my days watching movies like my predecessor. I assure you, that would never have occurred to me. And I detest that anyone would have allowed it of the former librarian. Or that she would even try such a thing.
One of the things I set up in this library was a collection of children’s picture and board books for the expectant and new mothers to read to their babies. Every chance I had, I preached the importance of parents reading to their children. So many of these very young mothers had never been read to themselves. They didn’t have books of their own or books for their children. Through the Reading is Fundamental program, I was able to gift the mommies-to-be and their babies with books several times that year.
Jenny
A few weeks into the fall semester, a pregnant 8th grade girl walked into the library. I blinked. It was the little girl I had known at Schuster when she was in the third grade. Jenny. Her family of 8 children had been one of my favorites. They had precious little but their mother always made sure they were clean and had clean clothes. I had lost touch with Jenny 5 years before when her family had just vanished from 1 day to the next. Here she was, with a round tummy, about 5 months pregnant. I have written blog posts about my darling Jenny twice, here and here.
After Jenny’s baby was born the following spring, I lost touch with her again. I don’t think she returned to the School-Age Parent Center to finish the remainder of the school year. And I transferred back to an elementary school library when I was hired at Wainwright. But as fate (God) would have it, in a few years, Jenny would walk back into my life again.
08.2005-12.2013
Elementary Librarian, 2005-December, 2013, Wainwright/H.R. Moye Elementary, El Paso:
I was hired for this job on the phone the day after my partial hysterectomy in 06.2005!! Before school started that fall, the principal who hired me had been transferred for having an affair with the secretary so I never got to work with him but was thankful for the opportunity he gave me.
Wainwright Elementary
Wainwright Elementary was due to be closed at Christmas and the whole campus was moving across the street into a brand-new facility, H.R. Moye Elementary. I was tasked with getting rid of all of the books (thousands and thousands of books) in the Wainwright library before the move. HUGE JOB.
Some of the books would be moved into the new library, and they had to be boxed up. But the district refused to give me many boxes. Grrrr. Some of the books were to be destroyed, but all marks of ownership (stamps saying WAINWRIGHT LIBRARY) had to be removed from them. And other books could be given to other libraries but their records had to be updated in the district database and the marks of ownership had to be removed.
Had to do all of that. While having regular library classes. While creating orders for $200k worth of new books, shelving, carpeting, equipment, tables, chairs for the new library. We are talking dealing with the withdrawal of thousands of books. And video tapes and puppets and dusty stuffed animals and records and filmstrips. This library had not been updated in years. I was blessed with 2 wonderful women (a mommy, Marisela and the other a grandma, Susie) who volunteered to help me with the work. Angels on earth.
Rosie Amber
Your story is amazing and you have helped so many children and families. Well done.
Leslie Roberts Clingan
Thank you, Rosie Amber, for wading through all of that!! I was so fortunate to have had a career I loved so very much.
Penny
Oh My Word! Leslie what a saga and I mean that in the very best sense. Stunning writing of your dedication to learning and to children and the desire you have to serve your community. But what a lot of bad bosses you’ve had!!! Boo to them! All I can say to you, is hats off!
Btw, you must know me by now so my question won’t come as a surprise! And I do hope you don’t mind me asking,. But we read with some trepidation about books being banned in school libraries, I mean, oh dear! I hope that doesn’t happen.
Anyway, what a fantastic read. I am so glad you rescued and published it all. Hats off again and thank you X
Leslie Roberts Clingan
My sweet friend, Penny, thank you for this kind comment. I loved my job and was so fortunate to have lucked into library science!! The children canceled out all of the horrible bosses and bad days. I would do it all again. Thank you so much.
The banned books movement has made quite a stir. I picked up books from my public library last week, and purused their banned book shelf that called attention to the many wonderful titles that are being scrutinized. “Are You There God, It’s Me Margaret” and a book I bought for several of the libraries where I worked, “The Face on the Milk Carton” about a missing little girl. I do think some books are more appropriate in a public library setting rather than a public school setting. I think in all my years, I had maybe one book questioned and the district librarian came to bat for me. She had approved the order of the book so she took the heat. In my last primary grade library, I had a book about girls starting to menstruate, and about the growth of a baby in utero. It was listed in the circulation database so if someone was looking up those subjects, they could find it, but it was shelved in a ‘reference’ section where none of the kids dared to look for books – in with atlases and encyclopedias and almanacs!! I wanted the kids to have the info if they needed it but didn’t want anyone who needed it to have to face their peers or worse, their teacher, standing at the shelves looking at the book.
Deb
Wow! What a story! You certainly found your vocation in life and how lucky all those students were to have you as their librarian x
Leslie Roberts Clingan
Thank you. I fell backwards – as Paul says – into a career that I truly loved. I remember the girl who told me she was majoring in Library Science. I had never heard of such a thing!! We worked together in the campus bookstore. As soon as she told me about her major, I went immediately to see about taking library classes. It was a real gift that I was hired as a librarian when we got to El Paso and not an art teacher.
Thank you so much.
Valerie Price
I enjoyed this walk through your library career. You have always been the best librarian ever in my eyes and I am honored that you allowed me to learn from you, love you and be like you. On days of frustration, you perked me up and taught me how to deal with the ups and downs of being a librarian. Mostly, your encouragement to start my library certification while living in Australia, has changed my life. As I work with librarians now selling them books, my determination that you are by far the best librarian I have ever met. I am a little biased, but that is not the reason, but t is your dedication. I hope you can get back into the saddle in the spring and walk back into the children’s lives sharing your passion for reading. I love you Librarian Leslie.
Leslie Roberts Clingan
You are the sweetest sister. My goodness. It is hard for me to read these words!!
I am so thankful I fell backwards into becoming a librarian and that it worked out so well for me that you decided to give it
a try. And now you continue to make a difference by connecting librarians to the right/best books for their babies. I think the two of
us sharing this career brought us so much closer. I surely love you, big little sister. Thank you for reading and thank you for
the kind comments.
Marsha Banks
Wow! Leslie, you are definitely a go-getter! I love how you didn’t let anything keep you down for long. You just adapted and rolled with it. I can’t believe some of the stuff you had to put up with. I’m also so glad for the differences you made in so many lives whether you know it or not. Glad your little friend, Jenny, is such a success!
https://marshainthemiddle.com/
Leslie Roberts Clingan
Thank you, darling friend. I am so proud of Jenny. She had every reason to get stuck in the welfare cycle and never rise above. She has done so well. Would love to see her again someday. I last saw her about 10 years ago before she moved to Colorado.
There is so much drama in this school district. It is exhausting. We have had superintendents arrested, have had to be taken over twice by the Texas Education Agency. Just awful.
Suzy Turner
WOW!!! Leslie, I’m in shock reading about some of your experiences! Have you ever thought about writing a book about all this? Honestly, I think this would make the most amazing novel (dramatized real life….kind of thing). I can see it being up by Hollywood and made into a movie! I am in compete awe of you, my friend!!
Hugs
Suzy xx
Leslie Roberts Clingan
Thank you, Suzy. What a sweet comment. I am doing something called NaNoWriMo – which is write a novel in the month of November. I have been trying to decide what to write. Maybe I have my answer.
My teaching career was so precious to me but goodness, it came with a lot of hiccups, trials and tribulation. But what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, right?
hena
What a life you have lived. I am appalled at the way that first librarian treated you. You have touched so many lives.. positively affected so my children I’m sure.
Leslie Roberts Clingan
Thank you, sweet friend. I loved being a librarian and miss it everyday. I miss children. Of course, I have my grandchildren and love them dearly. But it was wonderful working with children. Watching them get excited about something we did together.
Danielle Park
I loved reading this. This is why I love to be a part of your book club. Your love for books and reading, your love of helping people find and access books is unparalleled. You are an inspiration friend.
Leslie Roberts Clingan
Oh, my sweetest friend, thank you for taking time to come by and read this craziness. I do love books, and I do love kids (and adult readers, too). It was my absolute honor and pleasure to share books with my students, and now with the book club. Thank you for being my friend.
Cindy
You have lived an incredible life Leslie. And what a huge heart you have to support those kids and their families like you did. I loved reading this post!
Leslie Roberts Clingan
Thank you, Cindy. It has been a crazy life!! Thank you for the sweet comment. I loved being a librarian, loved my sweet babies (students) and miss it everyday.
Jill
I loved reading this and learning more about your experiences as a librarian. Your students were so lucky to have you! So cool that you created and hosted the televised reading program! You are amazing!
Jill – Doused in Pink
Leslie Roberts Clingan
Oh, my gravy. Thank you, but not amazing at all. Just loved my students, hated the struggles they had in their lives. I miss being a librarian everyday. So blessed to have worked in a career that i enjoyed so much.
Debbie Harris
Hi Leslie, I thoroughly enjoyed reading your post and wow what a story! You’ve had some fabulous experiences and some not so good but seem to have made the most of them regardless. Your students were very lucky to have you as their teacher and librarian. Well done on a great career, it has been rewarding for you and your students. Another great Tell Us About prompt x