LRMS-TV

Friday, June 19. Next week is the last full week of school for this school year. As I walked in the building, I passed students helping each other remember test facts with flash cards, pouring over review sheets, and clutching final projects.


When I got to the media center, I learned it was also the last day of broadcast for LRMS-TV, a daily news show that broadcasts from the media center each morning. Sandra said she's chosen to stop broadcasting at the beginning of the final week in part because there is so little news, and in part because the students are so rambunctious. They certainly were this morning. I arrived as they were rehersing their farewell to their fans and there was much silliness. As I entered the door, I was informed that I would work the teleprompter so they all could be in the final sign off.

The teleprompter was fun. I just had to hit the space bar to start and stop it according to the pace of the reader. Throughout the school year, there are four news crews of 8 students each--two from each track. Since one track is always out, there are six students at a time working on the broadcast. After the morning news show, the day's messages appear in a scrolling PowerPoint throughout the rest of the day. Sandra says she has a stock of 100 PowerPoint backgrounds to draw from to make the scrollling announcements interesting. Each student received a certificate of appreciation from Sandra, but it was evident they got a taste of celebrity status from their peers as well.


Another sign of the school year's demise was the list of overdue library books to be distributed to each homeroom. The library's collection includes about 15,000 copies representing about 12,000 titles. They also carry 11 student periodicals and 4 professional publications for staff. I learned in studying for the praxis that the accreditation folks recommend including money in the budget to replace about 5% of the collection each year due to loss or damage. The number of missing books at Lufkin was substantially below that. They have a new ILS that does a much better job of tracking books than their previous system. And it is now integrated county-wide. Which means that lost books follow a student from school to school until the fines are resolved. Dianne told me they'd had a student at the high school who couldn't buy a prom ticket until he came and cleared his middle school library record. Bet he had fun explaining that to his date! They do give some students the option of working in the library to pay off their fines if the fines are a hardship. I liked that idea. They don't have student volunteers like Maddie does and I like the idea of students working in the library. Mostly I like the idea of students getting hands-on experiences anywhere they can as a balance to their mostly academic pursuits. But that's another post.


In addition to the new ILS, the librarians also start well before the end of the school year tracking the missing books. Sandra and I went to each home room with the missing books lists and she knew the students well enough to speak to a number of them personally. During the day, Dianne would dash out into the hallways during passing period with a cardboard box asking students for library books while they were rummaging in their lockers. Each trip netted a few.


I'll be interested to see how they've whittled the number down when I go out there next Friday. Then there's the July 4th holiday week, and a new school year begins July 7--for Tracks 1, 2, and 3, that is. Track 4 starts July 27. I'll keep you posted.