Schools benefit from adopting paperless initiatives

More schools are realizing considerable advantages to adopting an electronic document management system, including a reduction in costs and wasted supplies and faster process automation.

According to The Sun News, The Beachwood school board in Cleveland, Ohio, has transitioned to an entirely electronic system for posting agendas, meeting re-caps and other educational information for access online. The school district reported that going paperless has saved time printing, administering and organizing mass volumes of paper agendas while also saving trees and citizens’ tax money. David Ostro, of the Beachwood school board, explained that the main priority in utilizing conversion services for digital documents was to make information more publicly available.

An increase in electronic document conversion in schools has not only benefited board members, but also parents. The West Side Index reported that a school in Newman, California, recently implemented a paperless solution that will allow parents to fill out and submit all required school forms online, making applications more convenient. The system is slated to launch at the upcoming kindergarten registration, and parents will be able to enroll students as well as fill out emergency contact forms, health forms and permission slips by the start of the next school year. Superintendent Ed Felt told the news source he is optimistic about the amount of time it will save staff and parents alike.

“There is a lot of redundancy. It is annoying [for parents] who have multiple students and have to fill out form after form after form for each,” he explained.

Once the new document management system has received forms and applications electronically, those files are permanently saved so that parents don’t have to repeat the registration process. Parents are able to update forms at any time online, and all changes are immediately reflected. 

School districts implementing digital solutions for submitting forms can improve communication between educational staff members and parents, while speeding up processes for student registration.

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