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Society in microcosm, episode #348
May. 13th, 2011 04:41 pmI had a chat with my principal about the protocols involved in getting payment for lost books. Unsurprisingly, the families with the most lost books are also the families we are most worried about in other ways. Mental illness runs unchecked in these families, we regularly have to decide if such-and-such a thing is worthy of a CAS call, and when there are a collection of characters at the office, at least half of the usual suspects also have lost library books.
The bottom line: we cannot force payment of library books before letting these families do other things with the school community. We can't force payment at all. The reasoning is that for most of them, the problem isn't something fixable by more effort or better responsibility; it's about lack of resources, in particular mental health and money. The mental health issues keep them from being able to take care of their library books to begin with, and the lack of money keeps them from being able to replace the books.
The good news is that in the entire school, there are fewer than forty lost books, and nearly half of those went missing since March Break, which suggests to me that there's a good chance they'll turn up when I send home a letter with a dollar amount in it. Considering that at this time last year, there were more than three HUNDRED books listed as lost or overdue, that's pretty good. But the fact is, I'm not going to get back most of the money for those lost books. I'll get back some of it - mostly from those families where the lost book really was an accident and they're basically responsible people.
I'm of two minds about this. On the one hand, I can see where the "it's not their fault" justification comes from, and I get the equity thing. Heaven knows I struggle enough to keep organized, and I'm a functional adult by any reasonable standard. Making sure that the kids who need the library the most get a fair shot at using it, regardless of their parents' ability to pay library fines, is a reasonable goal.
On the other hand, I understand why more functional people look at decisions like this and get angry at those they perceive to be taking advantage of the system. I especially understand when it's quite obvious that they ARE taking advantage. We've heard these kids say things like, "My mom says we don't have to pay for this trip because you'll let us go anyway, so we got pizza last night instead." In an effort to understand and account for the ways in which it is not their fault, we've set up a situation where what little responsibility they might have taken is no longer necessary. We've removed any sense of agency from them.
I've run my library on a shoestring budget. I've spent just over five hundred dollars for the entire year; I've insisted on books being returned before another book goes out, though the head librarians in my board question that decision on equity grounds, too, with the result that I have one missing book for every five students instead of two missing books for every three; I've kept the place shipshape despite my own difficulties with organization, so that if a kid says a book was returned, I can pinpoint where it should be and either track it down or be very sure of myself when I tell them they didn't return it; and at the end of the day, I have no leverage to finish the job and keep my collection from deteriorating. That's incredibly frustrating.
The bottom line: we cannot force payment of library books before letting these families do other things with the school community. We can't force payment at all. The reasoning is that for most of them, the problem isn't something fixable by more effort or better responsibility; it's about lack of resources, in particular mental health and money. The mental health issues keep them from being able to take care of their library books to begin with, and the lack of money keeps them from being able to replace the books.
The good news is that in the entire school, there are fewer than forty lost books, and nearly half of those went missing since March Break, which suggests to me that there's a good chance they'll turn up when I send home a letter with a dollar amount in it. Considering that at this time last year, there were more than three HUNDRED books listed as lost or overdue, that's pretty good. But the fact is, I'm not going to get back most of the money for those lost books. I'll get back some of it - mostly from those families where the lost book really was an accident and they're basically responsible people.
I'm of two minds about this. On the one hand, I can see where the "it's not their fault" justification comes from, and I get the equity thing. Heaven knows I struggle enough to keep organized, and I'm a functional adult by any reasonable standard. Making sure that the kids who need the library the most get a fair shot at using it, regardless of their parents' ability to pay library fines, is a reasonable goal.
On the other hand, I understand why more functional people look at decisions like this and get angry at those they perceive to be taking advantage of the system. I especially understand when it's quite obvious that they ARE taking advantage. We've heard these kids say things like, "My mom says we don't have to pay for this trip because you'll let us go anyway, so we got pizza last night instead." In an effort to understand and account for the ways in which it is not their fault, we've set up a situation where what little responsibility they might have taken is no longer necessary. We've removed any sense of agency from them.
I've run my library on a shoestring budget. I've spent just over five hundred dollars for the entire year; I've insisted on books being returned before another book goes out, though the head librarians in my board question that decision on equity grounds, too, with the result that I have one missing book for every five students instead of two missing books for every three; I've kept the place shipshape despite my own difficulties with organization, so that if a kid says a book was returned, I can pinpoint where it should be and either track it down or be very sure of myself when I tell them they didn't return it; and at the end of the day, I have no leverage to finish the job and keep my collection from deteriorating. That's incredibly frustrating.
