Last year, lost textbooks accounted for $10,000 of school debt, and the school is still not finished paying for the problem.

“We lost a lot of books last year,” assistant principal Peter Braveboy said. “Before, many seniors failed to turn in their books.”

Now, the school has a new policy. The school will not provide students with their transcripts if they have book fines, and many teachers have regular book checks.

“Book checks reduce the number of lost books, and with the budget strain, we cannot afford to take the money away from the general fund to pay for these lost books,” Braveboy said. “If you think you lost your book, you can pay for it, and if you find the book within 60 days, you can get all your money back. We can do payment plans if the student needs to; they will just have to pay monthly, instead of in one lump sum.”

This new plan, Braveboy said, should greatly lower the “number of lost books.”

“I advise all student who have a one semester class to turn in their books after the first semester,” Braveboy said. “We don’t want to make students pay for these books, but we have to.”