As many of our readers know, I was a volunteer at Dunning for
the compost pilot program for most of the last school year. My job was to ensure
that foreign items that are not compostable were not thrown in the compost bin.
Items like plastic ware, labels, plastic of any kind, etc. Only food items went
into the bin that was collected twice a week from Dunning via Black Earth.
While at the school I would check the recycle bins to see
what if any non-recyclable items were in there and notify anyone, I could find
to let them know. On my last day of the school year, I happened upon two
recycle carts that were full to the top with hard cover books. I estimate there
were 100 or so books in each bin, two hundred in total. I looked at a few of
the books and found them to be in good condition.
Knowing full well that books of any kind are not to be thrown
in the recycle carts because…. They are not recyclable. The only way to recycle
them is at the recycle center in large book bins. So, I volunteered to take the
books to the recycle center. I had no idea what a hornet’s nest I disturbed. I was
told that the facilities department would take care of the books. I immediately
asked why the books are not being donated and that opened another can of worms
with the front office. Come to find out, the school has a policy for retiring
unwanted or unusable or out dated or broken items since they are assets of the
city and paid for through tax dollars somewhere. The I find out that our CFO
Ms. Pratt has a list of all the assets that were donated, given away or
trashed. I asked her for the report and wouldn’t you know, three days later I
get a 5-page report of all the assets FPS has listed as being written off over
the past 4 years. Stuck into one page with a date days after I made the inquiry
is a listing naming various books. Asking the FPS CFO what happened to the
books that I saw in the bins, his latest reply was their looking at a company that
will take them. In an email to him, I suggested asking the kids at the school
if they wanted any of the books to take home. I also suggested donating some of
the books to our two libraries’, non-profits like SMOC, Salvation Army and for-profits
like Savers.
I recently found out from former teachers that it is a common
practice to purge books from the schools at the end of the school year. I asked superintendent Bob Tremblay if he knew about this and he said in his eight years at FPS he had never
even heard of the practice. So at this point, I have no idea if this practice will
continue or not, but it seems so wasteful.I may have to wait till end of school next year to find out.
