More schools turn to Web to communicate with parents

Crystal Bozek and Suzanne Laurent

October 07, 2007 01:32 am

— Charissa Rigano used to pull as many as 10 announcements from her daughter’s backpack every week. At that rate, she said, she’d have built up a stack of paper thicker than an epic novel by year’s end.
“It was absolutely overwhelming, the amount that came home,” Rigano said. “Seventy percent of it was going right into the recycle bin or junk drawer, because it was stuff we already knew about.”
Now at Shawsheen School, where Rigano’s daughter attends second grade, the paper trail is ending. In an effort to “go green,” the school is offering all announcements via e-mail. So far about 90 percent of Shawsheen parents have signed on to the optional program, lightening up their children’s backpacks and school recycling bins.
“It’s so nice not to have all the notices come home,” said Marya Lundgren, who along with Rigano helped organize the program. “It’s worse when you have two kids in school and receive duplicates.”
Like Shawsheen, other Andover schools also are working to phase out paper by using the e-mail software application Listserv. The effort is in line with a national trend, as hundreds of schools across the country take the paperless plunge — some even conducting tests and classroom exercises online.
Here in Southern New Hampshire and the Merrimack Valley, Andover is ahead of the curve. While most schools post things like handbooks, directories and sports schedules on their Web sites, few have the software necessary to mass distribute routine memos via e-mail.
Haverhill, North Andover, Methuen and Lawrence do not have Listserv or an equivalent program. Neither do towns across the border in Salem, Londonderry, Derry, Pelham, Windham and the Sanborn and Timberlane school districts.
Edie Farrah, whose three children attend Atkinson Academy and bring home a “shuttle” packet of schoolwork and notices on Fridays, says that’s just fine.
“I like it,” Farrah said of the elementary school system of bundling notices and sending them home once a week.
Even so, school administrators realize the potential financial and environmental benefits, and all are trending toward increased online communication.
Atkinson Academy Principal Heidi Webster said she gave parents of her 480 students the option to read the student handbook online last fall.
“Only a dozen asked for a hard copy,” she said.
This school year, no one requested paper.
Web of advancements
Before acquiring Listserv in 2005, the Andover School District, with about 6,100 students, was spending $72,623 a year sending notices and newsletters home to parents, producing 2.1 tons of paper and eating up about 50 trees.
They’ve saved some money, although they weren’t able to produce any hard figures yet. And with schools like Shawsheen and Bancroft reducing paper even more, this year’s savings should be higher.
“We’re getting there,” Andover’s Bancroft School Principal Scott Morrison said. “Hundreds of families have signed up for e-mail. Not every family has access to computers. But now it’s sending out 30 copies instead of 400. It’s a huge cost savings.”
At Lancaster Elementary School in Salem, N.H., Principal Adam Pagliarulo said he has been sending out the monthly eight-page newsletters by e-mail since last spring. Of 260 students, 170 families and some personnel signed up to receive the electronic version.
“It is a more effective way of delivery,” he said. “The byproduct is, of course, reducing paper costs.”
Other schools are looking at ways to achieve similar savings.
“We are certainly moving in that direction (toward paperless communication),” said Sue Ballard, director of library media and technology services for the Londonderry School District.
“Our newly hired information technology director, Shawn Coe, is looking into e-mail notification to parents,” Ballard said, adding that they plan to approach administrators with figures in November.
“The more we can reduce the use of paper is a good thing,” she said.
Haverhill also is researching e-mail communication.
“We’re in the process of doing something like that,” Haverhill Superintendent Raleigh Buchanan said. “It will take a while, but we’re making progress.”
In the Derry School District, Technology Director Dot Wiley said they want to post attendance records and progress reports of the districts’ 3,805 students online.
Timberlane Regional High School is testing a parent access link, called the Power School Parent Portal, for posting attendance and progress reports, Director of Technology John Holland said. The Portal assigns parents a password to log on to the site to access their child’s information.
“It hasn’t replaced the paper progress reports yet,” he said. “Not all parents have access to the Internet.”
Other Southern New Hampshire School Districts are using the Parent Portal, too.
Last week, Windham Middle School parents gained online access to their children’s midterm reports. Pelham School District has been using the Parent Portal in the middle and high schools and a Student Portal in the high school for two years.
“We also have e-mail newsletters to parents in the elementary school,” said Adam Steel, technology director for the district.
Pelham students even have access to an online homework system that is compatible with both PCs and Macs.
“(Students) can do their homework online, send it to their teacher and have it corrected and sent back to them,” Steel said.
Superintendent Jim Marini in North Andover realizes his school is behind the curve, and says it’s time to take action.
“We need to put in place a plan for e-mail,” Marini said. “Most schools are moving forward to it. It makes sense.”
What parents think
While all school superintendents say they would like to beef up the e-mail alternative, they realize it must stay just that — an alternative. Some families do not own computers.
And parents, with or without computers, have mixed opinions about using e-mail over hard copies.
Mary Broussard of Methuen said she likes getting the announcements in hand.
“I’d probably pay more attention to it if it’s in my hands than in my e-mail box with all my junk mail,” Broussard said.
Farrah, the Atkinson mom who likes the shuttle packet her children bring home from elementary school, said she misses that communication now that her older child is in middle school. Timberlane School District middle schools post information on the Web.
“I think there’s a little disconnect when you don’t have all the papers in front of you,” Farrah said. “I need to check maybe once a week (online) to see what’s going on.”
But Tina Meyers of North Andover said e-mail is a great idea.
“My kid used to bring home four or five reminders about something, and it’s like, if I wasn’t interested the first time, I’m still not,” Meyers said. “The schools shouldn’t waste all the money.”
Rigano said the only drawback in her home is a lack of scrap paper, but it’s a negligible drawback.
In Londonderry, Matthew Thornton Principal Carol Mack surveyed parents this fall by sending home a notice in the first-day-of-school packets to the school’s 552 families asking if they would prefer to read the school’s 50-page handbook online or receive a hard copy.
Of the 522 families, 75 said they would prefer a paper copy.
Ola Lessard, who has a second-grader at Matthew Thornton, said she likes to read the school manual online.
“It’s a great thing to reduce the amount of paper,” Lessard said. “But it’s good to have the option to receive the paper copy. Some parents aren’t online or aren’t comfortable with PDF files.”
Next for Rigano and Lundgren in their quest for “green” Andover schools is getting cars to stop idling while waiting for children after school, along with a push for wasteless lunches — meaning all food and drinks must be served in reusable plastic containers.
“It’s amazing what this teaches kids. They pick up on it and they tell their parents,” Rigano said. “My son won’t let me bring bottled water in the house anymore.”


What goes into those announcements?
8,350 sheets of paper = 16.7 reams of paper = one tree
*Source: Conservatree

What can you find online?
Here’s what school districts do and do not offer through their Web sites:
School district Sports schedules Calendar Announcements Progress reports School handbook
Derry Yes Yes Yes No No
Hampstead Yes Yes Yes No Yes
Londonderry Yes Yes Yes No Some
Pelham Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Salem Yes Yes Yes Some Yes
Sanborn Yes Yes Yes No No
Timberlane Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Windham Yes Yes Yes Some Yes

MASSACHUSETTS
School Sports schedules Handbooks Announcements Calendar Lunch menu Newsletters
North Andover yes yes some yes yes some
Andover yes no yes yes yes yes
Methuen yes no some yes yes some
Lawrence no no no yes yes no
Haverhill yes no some yes some some

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