Levittown Schools Discard More Than 1,000 Books

LEVITTOWN, NY. — While December is often called the season for giving, it’s the season for giving away in the Levittown School District this year, as the district declared the obsolescence of over 1,100 titles in its libraries on Dec. 10.

The obsolete titles will be discarded or, where possible, donated, or sold at the highest possible salvage value, district documents said. The motion to discard the books passed without opposition at the meeting.

Leading the line in book discards is Division Avenue High School, from which 525 books will be disposed across two separate obsolete excess book lists. Included in the list of books discarded from Division Ave. are topics from Tai Chi to Thomas Edison, with books across the district being discarded for concerns including broken bindings, outdated material and pages ripped beyond repair.

Not far behind Division Ave. is Salk Middle School, which is discarding 445 titles including three titles from the “Artemis Fowl” series, six “ From The Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler” books and 76 copies of Gordon Korman’s “Restart,” each described as having broken bindings. That 76-copy tally makes “Restart” the most-discarded book in the district.

Salk was also the only school with an obsolete book form that listed the price of the discarded books. The most expensive? A four-volume set of Barry Max Brandenberger’s “Mathematics,” with a listed value of $459.96. After the math textbook, the next-highest prices were “Real-Life Math,” volumes 1 and 2, discarded with a cost of $184.96, and “Environment: An Illustrated Guide To Science,” which cost $49.50.”

Bringing up the rear are Levittown’s elementary schools, with 77 books declared obsolete at East Broadway, 37 at Lee Road and 22 at Summit Lane.

The oldest title being discarded this December is Elizabeth George Speare’s “The witch of Blackbird Pond,” published in 1958. That title is followed closely by P.D. Eastman’s 1960 book “Are You My Mother?” The newest title being discarded? That honor goes to Dav Pilkey’s 2024 title, “Dog Man. The Scarlet Shredder,” one copy of which has pages damaged beyond repair while another has a broken binding. Pilkey’s books are followed by Martin Hanford’s 2023 edition of “Where’s Waldo?” which also has irreparably damaged pages, district officials said.

The full, itemized list of discarded books can be found under item 6.16 on the agenda for the board of education’s Dec. 10 meeting.