Earlier this year, District 58 sold its Longfellow Center and will vacate the building by the end of 2021. Longfellow is a large 93-year-old building. It has amassed a great deal of instructional materials, furniture and other items over the years. For the past several months, District 58 has taken many steps to ensure that all items are moved out of Longfellow in the most sustainable manner possible. Here are some of the many steps we’ve taken.
- Most furniture (including shelving units) will be moved to the District Service Center on 63rd Street or to a District 58 school. All principals had an opportunity to claim furniture for their schools.
- Remaining furniture and any other unneeded items were placed on a public surplus website for sale (www.publicsurplus.com) and were sold to the highest bidder. The District has been using this online auction site for the past several months and has experienced great success in selling surplus items. The District is also investigating alternative opportunities to donate or recycle surplus furniture. If any particular item is not sold or donated, then it will be disposed of in a manner that is as economically and environmentally friendly as possible.
- Some workbooks and other non-textbooks are being donated to SCARCE, an environmental education nonprofit. District 58 also contacted several other nonprofits, including Bernie’s Book Bank, Open Books and Better World Books. All of these other groups are unable to accept workbook donations at this time.
- Outdated textbooks are more challenging to donate or recycle. Textbooks do not have a good resale value, and their covers are not recyclable. It is a time-consuming and expensive process to correctly recycle these materials, which is why they are not accepted at many places. District 58 contacted several organizations to inquire about recycling textbooks. At the time of this publication, SCARCE is considering accepting some textbooks. All other organizations will not accept textbooks for recycling, donation or reuse.
- District 58 will continue to investigate options to donate furniture, textbooks and any other outdated instructional materials. If you have a suggestion, please contact Megan Hewitt at mhewitt@dg58.org. If we cannot find an organization or individuals to recycle or reuse our surplus inventory, we will need to throw them away.