West Central School Board Holds Discussion on Textbooks

West Central School Superintendent Charles Mellon told the Board that the State will no longer provide a list of textbooks for adoption for schools. He explains that decision.

“It just turned over to a local decision,” said Mr. Mellon. “They’re not going to be having teachers come together to evaluate books and what fits the core standards. You’re supposed to be doing that at the local level. It’s a transfer of responsibility and along with that, that takes away the waiver where if you wanted to use a book that wasn’t on the list, you always had to apply for a waiver and state the reasons why this was something that fit your curriculum. The only thing they left in there was the fees. You can still charge twenty-five percent of the cost of the book for each of the first six years and then it’s back to fifteen percent if you continue using that book.”

Mr. Mellon said that the corporation will continue to use the parent’s and teacher’s guidance when it comes to purchasing books for the corporation.