Brooklyn School Tosses Perfectly Good Books

P.S. 261 in Boerum Hill recently tossed 200 books, amongst other things, in the trash—a move that has outraged many. The books were in good condition, and included titles like Curious George and The Mouse and the Motorcycle. One father, whose children attend the school, salvaged a stack of the books, along with two computer printers. He told the Daily News, "This is not the first time they've done this. I have a TV I picked up last year over here—a good TV, it still works."

A mom, and member of the PTA there, added that the school library is often seeking donations; she said, "To find out they're throwing away books when our library needs the books—I'm in shock." A spokeswoman for the Department of Education says that "schools should make every effort to donate these materials to other schools or charities. However, schools may need to dispose of textbooks that are still usable because the material they contain is outdated."

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By Jen Carlson in News on September 7, 2010 5:51 PM

Comments [rss]

rdayk

Jails and hospitals will often accept books for their libraries. Thrift stores will usually take them, too. The NYPL or Brooklyn PL don't want them, in my experience. You could also send them overseas, although that will probably cost you money for shipping http://www.ehow.com/how_2189057_donate-textbooks-developing-countries.html Last resort, at least recycle them.

Steven

At least you could RECYCLE the books or as much of the book as possible.

Cannibal

NOT THE MOUSE AND THE MOTORCYCLE!!! NOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!

Stevennnn

How are the books outdated? Most of the stuff doesn't change much at all if not any.

John L

Curious George is never outdated!

Books are not garbage!

I hate to see a book in the trash.

But I once tried to donate books and it became the biggest hassle ever.

Seems everyone ASKS for donation of books but when you're ready to deliver them its a problem. I finally had to leave them in a box in front of the library before they opened. If they threw them out that's on them, I can't throw out a book (unless its something like MS-DOS for Dummies).

Such a shame.

I'm sure if they would've waited for school to start and offered them to the kids they would've took most of them.

militza

so that as YOU huh? I'm a children's librarian and often have people coming to our library trying to drop off what they consider "good condition" books. however upon closer examination they smell like a basement, may have mold on them and sometimes I suspect may have been read on the can!

we try to buy new books and often if some books are in "excellent" condition I do give them away to teachers and kids.

so just a little public service announcement...DO NOT leave books for the library, cause it actually COSTS us money to send away to be recycled.

thanks!

PS- John L

I still like your posts...despite their length :)

John L

Thank you Militza,

I appreciate that and I'm trying to make my posts shorter but honestly its hard. I don't think in soundbites, I wish I did. I'm just not clever enough to breakdown these complex issues into one or two sentences and make it humorous, like everyone else. But I'm going to try to keep them down to a paragraph or two.

And about not leaving the books in front of the library, I promise not to do that anymore. The last thing I want to do is cost the library anymore money.

Thanks :-)

militza

don't worry. humans are complex creatures and therefore have complex thoughts. often ideas cannot be captured in one or two sentences, let alone in a clever format.

also, thanks for refraining from donation drop-offs.

night :)

kromelizard

Everybody hates people like you. Take care of your own garbage, you dirtbag.

bucephalus

Yeah, screw that jerk and his desire to keep a perfectly good book out of the trash.

loratliff

School of the Future on E. 22nd Street did the exact thing the other day. Picked up a bunch of good classics for my collection!

jt10000

Eric - can you give us some info on these programs. Do they pick up books? And how does the school deal with storage until pickup?

Eric

Even if the books are "outdated", there are children in other countries that would love them. There are programs that will ship them for free. Absolutely no reason to throw books away. We have turned into such a disposable society.

Tower18

"Outdated" = sixth edition, when the publisher has released a seventh addition.

Exactly how much of grade school algebra changes from year to year in the 21st century?

dogbraincatscan

This is more of a college phenomenon in the hopes that students will buy the more "up to date" edition because it costs more.

For many of the city's public schools, however, outdated means the history books still list Bill Clinton as our current president.