Apr 16, 2016 3 min read

With the task of finalizing the Ringgold School District budget approaching, I feel it necessary to discuss the topic of whether or not to fund the Monongahela Area Library.

Although the Washington County Library System recommends that 85 percent of support for libraries should come from communities, with the biggest contribution coming from the local school district, that should not imply that the Ringgold School District must give a significant contribution to the Monongahela library annually. In fact, there are multiple reasons why the school district should not distribute funds to the Monongahela library.

Not only is the Monongahela library rarely used by the overwhelming majority of Ringgold students, but it is also not the only library located in the school district. As a recent graduate of Ringgold High School and a resident of Nottingham Township, I have never once set foot in Monongahela’s library. In actuality, it is because of the fact that it is much farther away than the Peters Township Public Library, which is much larger and nicer.

In addition to the Peters Township Public Library, there are also libraries in both South Park and Donora, both of which frequently serve students of the Ringgold School District. Therefore, if the school district was to fund the Monongahela library, I would recommend that it also fund the Peters Township, South Park, and Donora libraries as well, all of which also currently receive zero funding from the district. Not only is the Monongahela library rarely used because of its inconvenient location, but also, as Karen Pokabla, the superintendent of the Ringgold School District mentions, each school within the district has its own library and the district has shifted toward using more technology by distributing ChromeBooks to many students, which are now used for most textbooks, research and assignments, and make the role of a public library even more minimal.

While I understand that it must be frustrating to have to reduce staff hours because of funding cuts, it is imperative to be realistic. The school district, like the library, has also been affected by the lack of state funding. As a result, the district is in no position to consider donating to community organizations, such as the library, when they have their own district programs, teachers’ salaries and construction projects to fund.

When one closely examines this issue, it is fairly easy to come to the realization that the district should not Monongahela’s library since it is rarely used and it would in turn have to fund the other libraries that serve students of the district. Therefore, in order for the Monongahela library to keep its doors open and refrain from doing things such as reducing staff hours, the members of the community must be the ones to show interest and get involved, not the Ringgold School District.

Emma Ott

Eighty Four