Re: Hit: Check out over holiday

[Joni J Rathbun <jrathbun@OREDNET.ORG>]

During my initial interview for my current position, my future principal
asked me if I routinely allowed children to borrow books over holidays.
I said yes. I said I served a highly transient population but that I
believed the children needed books and that it was worth the risk. She
sighed -- a sigh of relief -- and said yes, yes, thank you; she said
she fully expects to see some loss if we are doing everything we can
to get books into the hands of the children, especially those who need
them most (this school also serves a transient population -- as well
as many who make that once or twice a year trek back home to Mexico).

That said, we didn't really lose many books last year. I think the
number was 18 or so. Yes, most those went with movers. A couple were
left in Mexico while visiting. And three were left behind when a mother
and children were kicked out of a boyfriend's house in the middle of
the night. All in all, I considered it a very low loss rate and feel
not a tinge of guilt.

The biggest problem *I* have is damaged books -- books colored in or on
or cut up by little brothers, sisters, and cousins....



==========================================================================
"Obscenity and hate speech alike only become free speech issues when their
foes turn from censure to censorship. When we decided to let a thousand
flowers bloom, we always knew that some of them would be weeds."
                -- Henry Louis Gates Jr., educator, c. 1990
=========================================================================
J. Rathbun, Library Teacher
Lincoln E.S., North Las Vegas
Email: jrathbun@orednet.org



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