Saving paper saves money

BY CHARLEE BEASOR

BROWNSBURG January 07, 2009 02:07 pm

— The school system here will now be saving over a million and a half sheets of paper, which translates into more than $100,000 worth of savings for the school.
Instead of using paper to send home newsletters and reminders, the school has gone paperless and is using other modes of communication from now on.
Donna Petraits, director of communications for the Brownsburg Community School Corporation, said the corporation will be using e-mail, a phone parent messaging system and a hotline parents can call for updates.
“Really from the information that we have gathered, about 95 percent of our students have computers and Internet access, which is a high number,” she said. “With the five that don’t, obviously that is a concern for us and for members of the community that don’t (have access). What we’re trying to do is increase the potential for their access to computers.”
Petraits said that, aside from going to the local libraries to get online, parents are able to come to the schools and get on the parent computer kiosks and check their child’s grades, as well as get updated information through newsletters and e-mails.
She said the school is also looking into placing computer kiosks in grocery stores for parents and community members to check while they shop. Those computers wouldn’t have access to the Internet, but would be connected to the Brownsburg school’s website.
Petraits said one of the main reasons the school has pursued the paperless initiative is purely from a fiscal standpoint.
“It dovetails right into the whole fiscal issue, it saves us a significant amount of money and as stewards of people’s tax dollars, though some may be unhappy with us, what we’re trying to do is use their money more wisely,” she said.
While the savings would help the school’s budget, there are other reasons for going paperless, like reducing waste and helping the local environment.
“We’re launching a conservation task force that is comprised of staff and students and community members to look at all the ways that we can use our resources more responsibly,” Petraits said. “We are hoping to set the stage to be role models for our students.”
While Petraits said the school system cannot go completely paperless right now, they do plan to put an emphasis on recycling the paper they still use.
“The high school still has a student newspaper and a lot more teachers are looking at the possibility of using the Internet and computers for submission of student work...in the meantime, we’re ramping up recycling efforts for the paper we are recycling, but eliminating (paper) in it’s entirety is just not feasible right now.”
Petraits said the overall response to the initiative has been positive, though a portion of the complaints have come from older members of the community.
“Some of the older members of the community have no interest in computers, but would still like to read (the newsletters), but I would hope someone they know would just print it out for them. We’re trying to branch out in creative ways so people can still get the information they need without having to hold a piece of paper in their hands.”
Petraits said parents and community members can subscribe to any and all of the newsletters and are able to unsubscribe whenever they like. To sign up for the newsletters and other online material, go to enews.brownsburg.k12.in.us.
charlee.beasor@flyergroup.com