The administration was forced to cover over $15K this year in budget holes. Not because of a failing economy, but because of hundreds of textbooks which were issued to students and never returned.
With the price of each book ranging from $48 to $108, the price of losing a few adds up quickly.
“Out of the budget that is all curriculum money,” Mr. Wright said. “That is paper, pens, dry erase markers, textbooks and workbooks. It is a pretty good chunk of the budget.”
Why are so many books lost? The obvious answer would be students just not keeping up with them. The larger problem, however, lies with students that leave the school district without ever turning their books back in. Once a student has moved out of the district, it is almost impossible to find them again.
“We just try to get the money out of them. In the end we always get it from the seniors since we don’t let them graduate if they owe the school money. It’s just with students that leave the school or the district where getting the money back is very difficult,” Mr. Wright said.
If students often lose their books or move away and forget they have them, why not use more class sets? According to Mr. Wright the school actually loses more books with class sets than with individually issued books. Students are more likely to forget about them, and there is no way to connect a student to a particular lost book.
“I’m not a big fan of class sets. Typically when we use class sets we actually end up losing more books unless the teacher is greatly diligent,” Mr. Wright said.
AP Mrs. Murphree, who is in charge of the books this year, believes both systems have pros and cons.
“I think it’s kind of a catch 22 either way you go,” Murphree said. “Obviously a class set is less to keep up with, but you have to balance that with is that good for the student.”
Instead of suffering another huge loss this year, administration has been taking extra steps to avoid lost textbooks. Books are now registered electronically, and students now turn them in between semesters instead of just at the end of the year.
“I think we have a much better handle on it this year. We’re putting some things in motion to make sure that we’re able to track and keep up with the books better,” Mr. Wright said.
