A dumpster full of old books was found outside a Minneapolis Elementary School. A neighbor discovered the dumpster outside of Bryn Mawr while on a walk. According to Bring Me the News, the school went through it’s books to get rid of ones that were damaged or “the inclusion of content that isn’t culturally or historically accurate.”
Julie Schultz Brown, executive director of marketing and communications for Minneapolis Public Schools said about the incident, “We know our kids deserve the best quality books … and these books did not meet the guidelines for highest-quality books for our students.” Brown reportedly said that the books at Bryn Mawr are some of the oldest in the district.
Because of COVID, many places are not accepting donations of used books, which was an explanation that the district offered for the dumpster full of books. The same thing happened in a White Bear Lake school in July of 2020. The principal of that school explained their reasoning as well saying, “The weeding procedure is important to help us find a new home for books 10 years and older to ensure that materials are keeping up-to-date with the needs of ever-changing curriculum, school goals and student needs.”
When the news spread about Bryn Mawr, neighbors came to empty the dumpster of the books and distribute them to local Little Free Libraries and other organizations and nonprofits that could benefit from the reading materials.
A statement from Bryn Mawr in response to the outrage from the public over the books said, “We need to establish a better process for offering public access to partially damaged books or books that don’t meet our standards rather than just removing and recycling them.”
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Hayley Tschetter is a reporter with The Minnesota Sun and The Star News Network. She graduated with a degree in Communications from the University of Northwestern-St. Paul. Send news tips to [email protected].
Photo “Books in the Dumpster” by brewbooks CC2.0
