Schools nationwide continue paperless data management push
The trend toward school districts across the country moving to paperless document and information management continues unabated. The push continues to build momentum largely because of how effective these systems are at helping administrators, teachers, parents and students get on the same page when it comes to various aspects of education.
The Leetonia, Ohio, school district is now on the path to become a nearly paperless operation thanks to the school board approving a deal that would allow it to start using a document management system, according to the Salem News. For instance, school district staff will now use the programs provided to fill out forms, and through workflows, all those forms will be organized and sent to executives such as the treasurer or superintendent. In addition, this platform will sync automatically with the state's accounting software.
Furthermore, schools and staffers will be able to create forms for everything from field trip request forms to student records, easily melding all aspects of document management and searching. The district will pay less than $7,000 per year to use the platform and is expected to be extremely cost-effective.
In the Golden State
Along similar lines, the Oakdale, California, school district recently put a new document management system in place that will allow all parents to avoid filling out large amounts of enrollment paperwork, according to the Oakdale Leader. Previously, the platform was only used for junior high and high school kids. In addition to filling out all the necessary documents, parents will also be able to check in to see if there's any old information that needs to be updated, and most of these processes will take no more than five minutes.
The added convenience also comes for school administrators and teachers, who now have a one-stop shop for student data when they need it.
"The more parents we can get through the on-line process, makes things more efficient for everybody," Oakdale Assistant Superintendent of Pupil Services Larry Mendonca told the newspaper.
Along with the ability to modernize their document management efforts, school districts would also be wise to invest in bulk scanning so they can ensure all older, paper records are stored securely as well.
