Due to the closure of the library during freshman registration on Aug. 16, textbooks are still not available to many students for their classes.
Additionally, English teachers Quincy Howerton, William Brown and Maddie Hutchinson, whose classrooms are directly across from the library, had to relocate to alternate classrooms and buildings beginning on the first day of school due to potential of asbestos contamination.
“Because I was relocated and I was not in my own space, I felt like my students were not able to get an idea of how I run things in my classroom and were not able to get to know me on the first day of school,” English teacher Maddie Hutchinson said.
Manhattan Beach Unified School District administrators sent out an email to students and parents on Aug. 17 warning student not to use their books during the first week of school.
The email noted that if students brought books home, they should put them in two plastic bags in case of contamination. Due to this many students could not access needed books in class and while doing homework.
“In almost all of my classes I needed to use my books to be able to do my homework and work in class,” junior Kaylee Unser said. “Because of the possible contamination of my books, I was scared to use them, which made it a lot harder to do my homework.”
Costa Principal Dr. Ben Dale organized the relocation of teachers, finding temporary spaces for classrooms in the computer lab, the small theatre and the auditorium. Until Sept. 4 when inspectors deemed rooms 14, 16, and 20 safe.
“Teachers in the classrooms near the library moved for a few days, and the environmental consultants were hired to make sure everything was safe,” Dale said.
“As for the books, sophomore students who have concerns about their books may not be using them right now until further direction.”
Although some teachers and students did not have to relocate, the library closure has affected the whole campus, as nearly all teachers had students without access to textbooks.
“The asbestos has not personally affected me, but it does cause some uneasiness among staff members as to trusting everything’s being done to make sure our campus is safe to work in,” English teacher Lindsay Valbuena said.
Teachers are struggling to teach their course curriculum without textbooks, Social Science teacher, Aaron Kofahl said. Without access to textbooks, teachers are forced to find new, alternative methods of teaching the course material usually found in their textbooks.
“I have had to rework the class to teach thematically and to not rely on students to support their learning of the content at home by reading the texts and taking notes,” Kofahl said. “This also means there has been no homework in this Advanced Placement History course.”
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