Red Bay city council questions timeliness in delivery of school books
RED BAY – At Tuesday’s Red Bay City Council meeting, several members of the council discussed the issue of textbooks for Red Bay’s elementary children and said they don’t believe the textbooks these children are using are adequate.
Councilman Brad Bolton said Red Bay’s third grade class started the school year with a larger number than usual so the class was split into four “pods” or classes instead of the usual three.
Bolton said the extra pod contained 21 students and those students didn’t have math, science or English books when school started Aug. 15.
“These 21 students started off the school year without books,” Bolton said. “The school board knew this was going to be a big class because they had to hire an extra teacher, so they should have prepared for this before the first day of school and before the city council got involved.”
Franklin County Superintendent Gary Williams said they tried to rectify the situation as soon as they found out about it.
“We have an inventory of textbooks at each school,” Williams said. “Some schools have more of a particular book than they need while other schools don’t have enough, so each year at the beginning of school our textbook coordinator takes requests for books from teachers and administrators. Then he takes the surplus textbooks from one school and fills the needs of a school or grade that has too few.
“That was the case this year across the county. This is not an isolated case just at Red Bay. We have moved books all across the county and it is something we have to do every year.
“Our textbook supervisor said they were able to get books to the kids at Red Bay within one or two days when they became aware the kids needed books,” Williams said.
But Bolton said the lack of textbooks for the first few days of school wasn’t the only problem.
“Once they finally rounded up some textbooks for these kids, parents and teachers who spoke with council members said the books were old and worn out, which frustrated the council members who were prepared to purchase new books,” Bolton said.
Williams said the books in question were older editions due to a lack of funding.
“We haven’t received money from the state for textbooks in the last three years,” Williams said. “It is our responsibility to provide the students with textbooks, but we just can’t always provide them with new ones. I’m sure if you check across this state you will find all of the rural systems are using older books because of the lack of state funds.”
Councilman Mike Stockton said he would like to see a quarterly meeting between the superintendent, the school principal, the school board member who represents Red Bay and the city council’s education committee. Bolton agreed.
“The council believes as a group that if we had not gotten involved, those 21 students may still be without books,” Bolton said. “What we want is accountability. We feel it is the school board’s responsibility to supply children with basic learning tools such as books. Our education money is supposed to be spent on capital improvements alone, but we are always happy to assist with other areas that benefit the school.”
“We’re just passionate about our children and our school,” Councilwoman Charlene Fancher added. “We want what’s best for them.”
Williams said the financial situation at the state level makes it hard to provide the most up-to-date materials all the time but they were doing all they could to make sure the students in Franklin County schools received what they need.
“Every elementary student in the county has the exact same textbooks, so no school has anything that another school doesn’t have,” Williams said. “We regret that we can’t furnish a new textbook for every subject to every student but it is just not possible. It never has been. We’re just doing the best we can do right now.”
Bolton said the council understands the situation the school system is in financially and the issues going on with storm damage, but they still want a certain level of accountability.
“It is ultimately our responsibility to hold school officials responsible for the condition and curriculum of RBHS because the school system will determine what current and future industry does in our town,” Bolton said.
