Stow-Munroe Falls City Schools “recycling” unwanted library books

Anchor Tag: In today’s digital age, books are quickly becoming outdated. Stow-Munroe Falls City Schools are updating their libraries accordingly.

At the Stow-Munroe Falls Board of Education meeting on October 13, the issue of discarding unwanted library books was brought to the table.

The schools in the district have discarded about 4,000 library items in the past few months by simply placing them in recycling dumpsters to be shredded. However, the books were discarded before the action was approved by the Board of Education.

Board member, Gerry Bettio, said she was troubled by high volume of disposed items along with the way the schools were discarding the books.

“We could’ve gotten the books to be more productive to another country, to another school system,” said Bettio. “There’s a lot of them that are in need.”

The books disposed of included everything from reference books, to children’s story books, ranging from about $5-$30 in price.

Along with getting rid of library books, the schools have decided to lay-off six library aides throughout the schools.

Bettio says she hopes to see the issue resolved and the school’s books put to use rather than put in the trash.