Some Newark Students Forced To Learn Without Textbooks

NEWARK, CA — Fifth grade students at Newark Unified School District's Lincoln Elementary have been without their math textbooks since the beginning of the year, but district officials say that the plan they have in place to combat the issue is working to keep students learning.

According to Ariel Dolowich, NUSD's director of Teaching and Learning, the lack of textbooks, due to a national paper shortage, is affecting not just the students at Lincoln Elementary, but students throughout the state.

"This is due entirely to issues experienced by the publisher and a national paper supply shortage," Dolowich said, adding that all math instructional materials were ordered on June 13, the earliest the district has ever ordered the consumable, or one time use, math books.

"Unfortunately, other districts in the Bay Area and throughout the state have experienced this challenge as well," he said. "It's not unique to Lincoln but it impacts teachers and students directly.

"It's not due to lack of due diligence on our part," he said.

Dolowich said, while the paper shortage continues to affect numerous districts, at NUSD every other grade level's textbooks have arrived with the exception of fifth grade math books.

As soon as the district found out that the math textbooks would not arrive before the start of the school year — the books were expected to arrive by Aug. 1 — the district put a policy in place to ensure that students would be able to keep learning.

The district decided to utilize its graphics department to make copies of all instructional materials for all students at no charge to the teachers, Dolowich said.

"NUSD’s Educational Services department met with Alameda County Office of Education and received verification that copies may be provided to students until the instructional materials arrive," he said.

Dolowich said his department made sure all teachers affected knew that Educational Services would pay for all copies of the missing textbooks for both students and teachers.

"We fund all of the copies for the teachers and for all the students until those consumables arrive," he said.

Dolowich said the teachers issue a request to the district's Graphic Arts Department for copies of the chapters they need for instruction. Once the copies are made, they are delivered to the school before the date instruction is scheduled to begin.

"They simply need to communicate with us the chapters they want," he said.

"This was to ensure that teachers would be supported with the necessary instructional materials from day one," Dolowich continued. "The Educational Services Department will continue to do everything possible to ensure that all students and teachers have their instructional materials in a timely manner."

Dolowich said that he felt "terrible" that the books did not arrive when they were supposed to but that the good news is that the missing textbooks are scheduled to be delivered to the district Friday, Oct. 21.