Students gained access to textbooks yesterday for the first time since asbestos exposure forced the Mira Costa administration to close the library. However, the inconvenience that the asbestos has caused has drastically affected teacher and student efficiency and has been disadvantaging students all year.
In an email to Mira Costa families on Nov. 6, Principal Ben Dale detailed the current situation of textbooks in classrooms, noting the adaptability of Costa teachers in the situation. While it is commendable that the teachers have been able to adapt, they shouldn’t have been in this situation in the first place and should have had the correct resources at the beginning of the school year to ensure the success of their students. In a survey to teachers about textbook usage, out of the 41 who responded saying their usage was heavy, 13 said they have found online substitutes. It seems the urgency to mediate the library situation has slowed.
The library was supposedly clear of asbestos earlier on in the year, however the library remains closed, and the clean up process has taken much more time than should have been allowed. Now faculty and students are feeling the long term effects of not having access to the various advantages that the library provides. The call for an open school library has been amplified as students have been deprived of the resources they have become accustomed to having. The extended time of remediation has caused a great inconvenience to teachers as many have had to alter their class curriculum around this complication. Although the issue of the lack of available books has now been addressed, the damage has already been done as students are only now receiving these books with only one month left in the first semester.
According to Mira Costa history teacher Steve Singiser, the loss of the library has been particularly problematic for his Advanced Placement Government class. None of his students checked out textbooks before administration closed off the library. It is difficult to replace the reliability of having a textbook in one’s hands, especially when the curriculum is built around students supplementing classroom activities and discussions with readings from the textbook, Singiser said.
Several of the teachers create their class syllabus prior to the school year with curriculums that heavily revolve around textbooks for most classes. Textbooks are often a central resource and a supplemental source of content, according to Singiser. The lack of available textbooks can have long term consequences for students as they struggle to study for exams. As students and teachers are forced to find alternative resources, the courses are not only harder to teach, but they are also harder to learn. Teachers are rushed into finding new sources for their students, and students are more likely to miss out on valuable information.
In the past, students have actively sought out using the library as a place to get work done. However, as the library remains closed, students who need a place to work find themselves in an inconvenient situation with no appropriate place to work.
The computers offered in the library were a tool for students who did not have their own devices to use during class or office hours. Costa librarian Bridget Sullivan also held yearly presentations to teach freshman English classes how to research valuable information available in the library and online. Without this opportunity for new Costa students, they are left in the dark about crucial resources for research and writing in high school.
While there is a great inconvenience from the closure of the library, steps have been taken by teachers to decrease the impact. Tutoring services are offered in room 18 after school, and English department co-chair Alan Zeoli has also offered his room for students to finish homework and projects after school.
The closure of the library has been detrimental to both students and staff. Although administration has taken some steps to fix the impact of the library’s closure, the remediation to the library should have been completed already, and students should be enjoying all the advantages that the library offers.
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