Re: teacher overdues

["Steve K. Grant" <sgrant@EIS.CALSTATE.EDU>]

Linda,
   Without support from Administration and a consensus from the faculty,
I don't think there's much more you can do than what you already are.
How do you think this would work?...
   Sit down with the Principal.  Explain that the _school's_ (as opposed
to the _LMC's_...or _"my"_ money) is being lost due to faculty lack of
responsibility--either assumed or assigned.  This is money which _would_
have gone for buying new materials for students or staff, but which is
instead being spent to replace materials not returned (whether "lost",
"stolen", or just "kept" for years--the effect is the same) by individual
faculty who checked them out--and thus _borrowed_ them.  Are students
expected to pay for items they have not returned by the end of the year?
Why should adult staff members not be expected to be as responsible--and
be held accountable in the same way--as students?  Or is it the desire of
faculty and/or administration to be funding the purchase of books and
other materials for the private or departmental collections of faculty
out of moneys you understood were for the purchase of materials to be a
part of a shared, centralized collection in the LMC?
   Perhaps the faculty would be open to discussing this as a group, in a
faculty meeting.  You could make it clear that you're willing to spend
the LMC materials funds however Administration and the faculty decide is
appropriate for the school as a whole, but that you need direction in
just what it is the group wants, and an agreement as to what the group
feels is appropriate as to what will happen to individuals who don't
comply with the consensus.
   These are just my ideas.  Hope they help.

        Steve Grant, Library Media Teacher
        La Jolla High School (619) 454-3081 x228
        sgrant@ctp.org

On Mon, 14 Mar 1994, Tottenville HS wrote:

> Does anyone have any good suggestions (preferably ones that work) to deal
> with teachers who have long overdue materials, or who borrow things from the
> library and then claim to have lost them?  Do you charge teachers at all?
>         We have never charged our teachers overdue fines.  We do send
> overdue notices every month and with real scafflaws we try not to allow them
> to borrow any new materials until they return the long overdue stuff.  In
> spite of that, with over 200 on staff and almost 4,000 students, our teacher
> overdue list is often longer than our student overdue list.  HELP!
> Linda Strauss
> Tottenville H.S. Library
> 100 Luten Ave.
> Staten Island, NY 10312
> SL05561@llwnet.ll.pbs.org
>