By Michelle Han
Second in a series
Ask the students at PS 54 in Richmond Hill if they have a library at their elementary school and they nod their heads in an emphatic yes.
But the room at the top of the stairs in the three-story, 77-year-old building at 86-02 127th St., with its modest book collection and no librarian, is a far cry from a real school library.
What used to be the library is now used for several classes and tutoring in the heart of Queens, where overcrowding has forced educators to turn every available space into makeshift classrooms.
“That library has been nonexistent since my first year here as a teacher in 1972,” said Diane Jones, the interim acting principal.
As a new teacher at PS 54, Jones said she displaced the school library by teaching a daily class there because there was no other space.
The elementary school's former library – cheerful and bright even on the cloudiest of days – is a small, square room that was converted into classroom space long before the students who now attend the school were even born.
When administrators decided to eliminate the library nearly 30 years ago, the effects would be felt by students for years to come. It meant that eventually PS 54 students, now faced with tougher reading and writing standards, would have no librarian to walk them through the process of learning how to find the right books and no complete collection from which to choose.
“It makes no sense,” said Neil Shanahan, the United Federation of Teachers representative for District 28, which includes PS 54. He said it was significant that the library remained closed “while we're focusing on literacy and reading.”
Over the years, much of the library's book collection has been scattered to the bookshelves of classrooms throughout the school. Students can request permission to use the former library, where some books still are stored, but they may have to do so while a class or small group is in session there. And the selection is so limited they often leave disappointed.
Leonard Chodosh, a sixth-grade teacher at PS 54, said the failure to give students a library of their own deprives them of an important component to their education.
“The library experience is a very special experience,” said Chodosh, who has been at PS 54 for eight years. “You should be able to just go in and browse and just look at things. We just don't have that availability here.”
“We do tell the kids that they can go in there to look for a book,” he added. “But you don't really get the chance to browse.”
Most parents interviewed, like the students, had no idea the school lacked a real library. Many said they regularly brought their children to the public library on Lefferts Boulevard but still believed children should have a school library.
When asked if their school had a library, students, for the most part, simply nodded their heads and with a finger pointed above their heads, said “It's upstairs.”
“It's hard,” Jones said. “It hurts that we can't have a fully functional library so they can get in there and get what they need.”
Only within the past three years, she added, has crowding at the school eased to the point that the library no longer serves as a full-time classroom but as instruction space for the school's three reading teachers.
“It's basically used by the reading teachers or by anyone who needs the space,” Jones said.
Many Queens schools have been forced to deal with the effects of crowding in the last decade as the borough's school-aged population grew at a faster rate than the city's ability to build new schools. Queens now leads the city with the most overcrowded schools.
But PS 54 was familiar with overcrowding long before the 1990s, when the city's school population began to soar. Even during the 1970s, when the city's overall school population was on a steady decline, PS 54's enrollment grew so fast it squeezed out ancillary features.
Citywide, only six out of 43 schools surveyed for a report on school crowding had no libraries. The report, released this summer by the public advocate's office, said of the schools that did have a library only six met the Board of Education's standards for adequate library space.
There were periods in the past 30 years when every room at PS 54 was used for a class throughout the day – including the library and corners of the basement – because there were simply too many students and not enough places to put them, said Jones, who was assistant principal for nine years before taking her acting interim post this fall.
The decision to eliminate the school library and its full-time librarian was a result of both the fiscal crisis that struck the city during the 1970s and the swelling of PS 54's population, Jones said.
In October, she said, enrollment fell to below 800 students, which she described as the “holding point” – just enough space for the basic functions of elementary school life.
But the actual capacity of the school, even with a new annex and two transportable classrooms jutting into the school yard, is well under 700 students, according to a survey conducted by the public advocate's office this summer.
During the 1998-1999 school year, some 919 students – or 260 students more than the allowable capacity – were enrolled at PS 54, according to the report. In administrative jargon that translates to a utilization rate of 139 percent.
In everyday language, that means educators are constantly juggling for space.
On a recent visit to the school, where the cushioned chairs for visitors are relegated to the open hallway for lack of space, the reality of the school's cramped quarters was visible everywhere.
The cafeteria served as both storage space for gym equipment and the place where staffers take their break.
Children could be heard learning the words to “My Country Tis of Thee” from the auditorium, where a music class was being held.
And standing in a huddle in the cramped quarters of the main office, a school administrator explained to the parents of a child that in a “crowded classroom” a student's disruptions are only amplified.
But in spite of these images, PS 54, like most elementary schools, is an optimistic place.
Elias Maguez, who was picking up his daughter from first grade on a recent afternoon, said he was pleased with the school even though it had no library.
“As long as the high school definitely has one,” he said. “I mean, as long as they have something, not necessarily a big library but something, I think they can handle it.”
As a means of compensating for the lack of a library, teachers like Chodosh plan trips to the public library to familiarize students with a true library system and to make sure they have library cards.
The school also relies on regular visits from authors, said Shanahan, the United Federation of Teachers rep, to stimulate a love of books in students.
The restoration of a library and a new computer lab would be the first features added to PS 54 if space ever permits, Jones said. Asked if the school would ever have a librarian again, she replied, “I hope so.”
But for now, and for a while it seems, the teachers and students at PS 54 continue to make do with what they have.
“Everyone just finds ways to share space,” Jones said. “We've learned this is what we have to do to get things done and everyone is wonderful about it.”
Next in the series: crowding out the arts.
