It was my school that I said was close to 70% AR. And the collection is fine. We
are a K-4 school. We started the program about seven years ago. I order award
winning books, books from a wide range of genres, and I back them with positive
reviews. Not all of my purchases are AR, of course. But you can obtain tests for
most of the books, whether newly purchased with a test or previously purchased by
creating a custom disk. I have gone back and bought as many tests as I can and my
circulation has gone up tremendously with those books.
Previous to AR, our students read two to three stories from an old basel book.
They were, yes, grouped even then by ability. The students at that time checked out
one or two books during their library time once a week. Now, some of these same
students are reading anywhere from 5-15 books a week of their choice and visiting
the library as often as needed during the week. We have an open library schedule. I
now try to provide as wide a range possible for them to have as much of a choice as
possible in their level. Then they ALWAYS have the option to choose a "free choice"
book from anywhere in the library as well. Our library is extremely busy, and we
have seen tests results go up. Your welcome to visit and maybe then you won't be so
"alarmed" at my collection.
Theresa Bonk
Media Specialist
Grant Elementary
Grant, MI
tbonk@grantps.net
---------- Original Message ----------------------------------
From: Kathy Geronzin <kathy_geronzin@PO-1.NORTHEAST.K12.IA.US>
Reply-To: Kathy Geronzin <kathy_geronzin@po-1.northeast.k12.ia.us>
Date: Wed, 30 Oct 2002 11:47:09 -0600
>I'm getting ready to host my second Scholastic Book Fair next week and I =
>have some comments I would like to make concerning the profit structure =
>and Scholastic programs in general. Scholastic has us sell the books at =
>book fairs at retail prices, there is no discount and we don't get the =
>books at wholesale price. According to my Profit Option sheet from them =
>if the book fair sales are between 1200 and 2999 the only way you can get =
>50% is to take all your profit in books. If you want both books and cash (=
>like I do) the best deal is possibly 20% in books and 15% in cash. This =
>means Scholastic is making a tremendous profit. I have always felt that =
>if a fund raiser was worth your time that the profit should be 50%. It is =
>also a benefit to your school and community to get at least 50% profit =
>because they are the ones using their money to pay for the items they =
>purchase. =20
>
>When my children were in school I was constantly being asked to buy =
>something for numerous fund raisers at their school. Many times as a =
>parent I would have preferred to give them money instead of having to =
>purchase something and have the school make so little profit. Last year o=
>ur sale grossed about $2,300 and I had to remit over $1,800 to Scholastic. =
> Now I know we owe them for the merchandise we sold, but that is not a =
>very good rate of return. =20
>
>My other concern involves both Scholastic Book Fairs and the programs like =
>Accelerated Reader. If Scholastic is now nationally the biggest company =
>for book fairs and AR and/or Reading Counts isn't this almost a monopoly? =
> They certainly have more than their share of the market. What effect =
>will this have on authors? What if their books are not picked up by =
>Scholastic? Does that mean few sales of the book and less earning for the =
>author? Does this mean our students ideas about reading are determined by =
>the selections offered through Scholastic? =20
>
>The other day someone on LM_NET posted a message and said their collection =
>was 70% AR books. If it is, does the collection still have balance? =
>Honestly, I found that statistic very alarming because I think we are =
>losing sight of what a school library should look like and replacing it =
>with Scholastic reading programs. If you add into this mix the Scholastic =
>book clubs they really have cornered a big share of the market and in my =
>opinion because of this they have too much power over the materials that =
>are available to schools. =20
>--=20
>Kathy Geronzin
>District Librarian=20
>Northeast Community Schools
>369 Hwy #136
>Goose Lake, IA 52750
>319-577-2249
>FAX 319-577-2248
>FAX 319-577-2248
>kathy_geronzin@po-1.northeast.k12.ia.us
>
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