Hello all!
With the 4th of July holiday in the books, I know what that means. There's a ticking clock running for all things start-of-school! In that vein, I wanted to give you an update & some reminders as I know people look to you for answers - & I know you're juggling many things at present.
Though we began shipping math, reading, ELA, & science consumable resources in January, we are still getting the rest of those out across the state, along with your new social studies books. We didn't have every publishers' resources in January, so some publications got a later start than others.
The same is true with your new social studies resources. The delay in state board approval from Nov to March was costly, in the sense that publishing companies will only print what they know they are going to sell. That's particularly true of history books focused around Alabama's unique standards. As I told a district friend the other day, Georgia & Tennessee aren't real interested in purchasing Alabama history books! So district decisions that we hoped would be made January through March were more often decided April through June. Regarding the lack of action by the State Board....What we know is that Dr. Mackey continues to encourage us at Publishers' Warehouse to move forward with the textbook caravan season. This is in acknowledgement of the fact this is an important window of time for local districts to examine samples and conduct local reviews - in order to ultimately make a decision & have new resource by the start of school. So...the "not falling in love" season continues...you'll have to date a little a longer! Seriously, as your districts begins to reach consensus, I recommend that you internally begin to rank order your preferences, as we wait on the State Board for approval.
As districts collectively made decisions, we were able to order from the different publishing companies to our warehouse. A reminder that we are working with 5 elementary publishers & 10 secondary publishers - & there was more variety than usual in what districts chose across the state - which is a good thing! In nearly every case, we made multiple orders throughout the spring & early summer, as we had better data from you as to what you were planning to order.
We DID get a couple of publishers' first rounds of product in the spring - but most have come in different waves throughout the summer. For some publishers, we have just this last week received their first shipment. For other companies, we have completed their first shipment to us in deliveries to you....but we're awaiting their NEXT shipment to complete other orders that came to us later. So as these products have been delivered to us, we have processed your shipments, generally in the order in which they were received to us, depending on factors related to logistics. That's why some of you ordered in April - & may have received product in May - & others may still not have received product. It depends on when we get it in from the publishing company.ly, please remind your committee that they represent their entire district - NOT just the subject they currently teach. At caravan they should attend all sessions with the schedule provided to them that morning.
I say all of this so that YOU have some specific information you can report to principals, superintendents, & others when they ask you about your books.
Know that our warehouse staff has long been working 7 days a week in this heat - & that included over the 4th of July holiday weekend - to get books out to you as fast & efficiently as possible. Most of you have received at least some of your social studies books from us thus far, particularly if your order came to us in the spring. As we move through July, we can offer closer estimates to you on deliveries. Feel free to contact Tiara (All A through E districts), Wendi (County districts, F through Z), or Yvonne (City districts, F through Z - & private /charter schools) with questions, & they will do their best to help you. If you have any issues with your shipments, they can help you as well.
A few of you are still preparing orders for us, either for social studies or for "fill-in" books that you may need in other subjects. A reminder that we DO offer delayed billing, allowing you to use your FY 27 funds to pay off your FY 26 balance, if needed. Remember, no shipping charges on your orders. And don't forget those supplemental state appropriations that we uniquely had these last 2 years (fund code #1772). All state textbook funds are to be spent by Sept. 30th - & these funds should only be spent on resources recommended by your local committees & adopted by your local boards. Contact Wendi, who oversees all-things billing, for questions about this.
When you receive shipments, please ask your warehouse or school folks to verify the count in their shipment against the packing slip as soon as possible, BEFORE distributing any books to schools/teachers If there are discrepancies with the packing slip, they should contact the textbook coordinator for the district for you to look into. The textbook coordinator would want to determine all shortages & overages within a district (one school may have another school's shortage, for example). For damaged books, pictures & ISBN #s are helpful to include. We'll replace it, of course, but we need to know whether it was damaged en route to you in shipping vs being damaged in a box when it came to us from the publishing company. The district textbook coordinator would ultimately contact Yvonne, Wendi, or Tiara for help with shortages & damaged products.
There may be some back-orders on a few shipments (Gallopade TE s will follow the student books, for example). The packing slips will note that - so technically, that is not a shortage, in that we KNOW we owe you some books! Please always include ISBN #s when asking questions about books.
Finally, if you know of upcoming changes in your district with textbook coordinators & curriculum directors (that's who's receiving this email), please let me know. In August & Sept after school starts, I like to visit & meet with new folks. On that note, if you're going to be at MEGA , Dr. Jones (to whom you email your state adoptions - she's over textbooks at the ALSDE) & I will present on the adoptions & ordering of textbooks - & it will be slightly different from past years. Our session will be on Thursday, July 23 at 8:30 in room #201-D in the Mobile Convention Center. Come see us!
With gratitude for you....& the inventor of air conditioning...
Patrick