book fines

[Peggy Milam <p_milam@MVPSCHOOL.COM>]

Hello, everybody!
    This is the first time I've posted a question, but it has recently
become a big issue and I need some help. Does your school library media
center charge fines? If so, how much? Do you make any exceptions? Is so,
when?
    I am the Media Specialist in a small private school. We do not
receive any funding from  the school. Our budget is derived from
donations received through our Birthday Book Club and Christmas Book
Club (parents donate $10 to have a book purchased in honor of their
child or their child's teacher; normally we have about 400 participants
a year which amount to $4,000 or so allotted for a purchase of 400
books; the ten dollars rarely covers the cost of each title and doesn't
even come close to helping us purchase reference materials, AV items,
software, and more.) Sometimes our Parents' Association donates proceeds
from the Book Fair to help us out, but this year they did not because we
are planning a new building and all monies are being directed toward
that venture.
    I feel that fines are necessary to teach children respect for school
property and responsibility. In addition, we are using the Accelerated
Reader program and I hate to see AR titles lost or out of circulation
for long periods when we struggled to get the money to get AR up and
running. Of course, our fine money isn't much, but it helps us cover the
additional cost of processing books--mylar covers, pockets, cards, spine
labels, bar code labels, etc. and gives us a small amount of cash for
the unexpected--light bulbs, repairs, etc. We currently charge $.05 a
day for each day an item is late past the due date. We do not charge
over  weekends, holidays, etc. and we have one grace day built into our
fine system. We are automated, so it is all worked out on the computer.
    Recently, a teacher went behind my back to the school director and
said she felt that the fine system was unfair and didn't want her
children to be fined. Moreover, this same teacher regularly has over
half her class showing overdue book (most classes have very few-- 3 or 4
at the most) and doesn't want to send home the overdue notices or
cooperate with the fine system in any way even though it is stated in
the school handbook and has been an established policy even before I was
affiliated with the school over thirteen years ago.
    Please respond to me personally on this issue and I will post a hit
if responses warrant. I need some fire power to get my administration to
agree with me on this issue.
    Thanks for your help!
Peggy Milam p_milam@mvpschool.com
Media Specialist
Mt. Vernon Pres. School
Atlanta, GA

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