Schools going paperless across the nation

More grade schools are embracing paperless options with conversion services and electronic imaging. These efforts help reduce spending, but also improve the quality of education in a variety of subjects.

According to The Leader-Herald, the Hamilton-Fulton-Montgomery Board of Cooperative Educational Services Board of Education in Johnstown, N.Y., is considering introducing document conversion services to take administrative efforts paperless and provide the public with easy access to relevant records. The HFM BOCES school board, currently uses a costly binder system, which offers no document visibility to the public and also requires significant time to keep updated.

"We believe we will save money because the software will significantly reduce duplication and mailing costs," school Superintendent Patrick Michel told the news source. "Time is also money and this program will free up time for our board clerk/health insurance clerk to do other work and reduce the amount of time our communication service will have to devote to the website. We have not sat down and crunched those numbers yet. We will as part of our next presentation to the board."

The NY school isn't the only one embracing paperless solutions. However, other efforts have a different focus on benefits. St. Joseph Academy of St. Augustine, Fla., recently launched a pilot program to bring Chromebooks into its classrooms, which are intended to make education in the school more interactive. The idea is, according to Tom McGlinn, head of the academy, that modern students are native computer users, so they should be taught on a medium that comes more naturally to them.

"Our teachers are using the Chromebooks in professional development meetings. Students get to use them when teachers request them for specific lesson plans," noted Douglas Peacock, the school's IT expert.

Regardless of the method a school uses to implement digital efforts and do without paperwork in its day-to-day operations, it has to have adequate document management software to back that use up. Aligning workflow with document conversion and management will make such efforts more efficient and effective, while easing adoption for users to ensure the adapt swiftly. This will optimize the elimination of paper and ensure that a school, or any other organization, maximizes the benefits available to it from such efforts. Schools should consider their own potential for going paperless and invest in the solutions that will help them get there and start saving time and money in ever​yday processes.

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