Coming into the NYC School system three years ago when it was changing curriculum (yet again! teachers griped, and it wasn’t just because there’s resistance to change, but materials shifting and procurement is grueling and can take years), I was aghast at the materials being set out in the halls to be ‘removed.’ Removed meant being hurled by custodians into our school’s five dumpsters; and if teachers were unsuccessful in getting the weight shifted out of the building, it would be shifted into the closest unlocked closet, or grudgingly returned to their rooms - dead space to be endured yet another year.
I was overwhelmed by the prospect of cleaning out my first classroom (and every classrom since), especially once I began opening the closets and pulling things out. I found textbooks dating back to the 50s, canned food from another decade, a teacher’s change of clothes, a formaldehyde-drowned lizard in a canning jar… It wasn’t as if everything was grouped, either, so before I could do anything, I had to figure out what I had. After all, good materials shouldn’t just be thrown out, right? Well, I’ve come to find out that there’s not a whole lot of right about what goes down…to the dumps.
If those books that didn’t go the dumpsters haven’t been given out as supplements to your students (or their trash bins), your school might be taking part of the Dept. of Ed.’s new book buy back program. After making a request, someone will come around with a scanner and tell you the worth of the stacks. Problem is, four years into the curriculum change - at least for many elementary and middle school math programs - most books register that infinite number: zero. They’re not worth anything to the DoE because they can’t be sold. I don’t know who they sell them to, but I would guess their market is country-wide, so the USA has no use for them; they’re obsolete. And some of them are less than five years old.
Our school had someone come around with a scanner last week, and the few books that could be sold back were pulled out and stacked in the halls; the rejects were left in the closets. Apparently, someone would be around to box up the ones they’d buy, and then ‘remove’ the rest. The books to be boxed up are still sitting in the hall, and dwindling, as passersby grab one here and there. Where was the rest to go, I asked? Surely the DoE had a partnership with a non-profit to get these books to someplace in the world that could use them. The answer was: they’re dumped. No partnership, no recycling. What magic the act garbage is! Poof! Gone!
When I pressed the rep. about getting this books into someone’s hands who could use them, he said he might know of some organization doing something like that and he’d try and figure out and let me know. After all, he said, that would be better for them because it’s expensive to have someone come in and ‘remove’ texts to dumpsters. I was hoping he was going to say: it’s better for the world if we can find someone who wants them instead of just adding to PA’s landfills. I’m still waiting on his contact. If anyone knows of such an organization, please pass it on.
According to a letter from the Office of the State Comptroller, the DoE is allocated $57.30 in State aid for textbooks for each enrolled student; a total of $74.9 million for the 2005-06 school year. The DoE expended about $145 million
for textbooks during this same period. That’s a lot of dinero being cycled out to dumpsters. Then there’s the cost of garbage, which is immeasurable.
