St. Charles Parish Schools went paperless last week in time for the Feb. 23 School Board meeting, and will now run all accounts payable and other information online.
Throughout February, board members and administrators were trained to use the new BoardDocs system, which will allow employees and the public to access meeting agendas and other documents electronically from any computer with an internet connection.
“Since we are a technology-driven district, it makes sense for the board to be the leaders of that,” said Rochelle Cancienne-Touchard, director of public information for the school district.
Cancienne-Touchard said that the new system will both increase the transparency and flow of information to the district’s constituents as well as save the district about $20,000 on printing and material costs. Because everything will now be available online, the schools will no longer print monthly accounts payable in the St. Charles Herald-Guide.
The schools were printing the accounts payable information in the paper as a convenience even though they were not legally obligated to do so.
Residents who may not benefit from the accounts payable being online include the elderly and those without internet access, according to a spokesman for the Louisiana Press Association.
Pam Mitchell, executive director of the LPA, said that the change may come as a hardship to the aging community who do not have access to the internet or a vehicle, or who do not know how to use the internet.
“When it’s in the newspaper, that information is brought to you – you don’t have to go dig it out and find it,” Mitchell said.
She also noted that online information can be hacked into or corrupted.
“The more transparent that boards are, the better it is for the public that they serve and the taxpayers that pay the bills, but newspapers are the best way of getting information out there – it’s permanent, it’s protected and the information can’t be monkeyed with once it’s printed,” Mitchell said.
The new system not only allows the public to view meeting agendas and supporting documents, but also to search through documents from past meetings. Internally, School Board members and administrators will be able to use the system to search the documents of more than 10,000 schools nationwide for new ideas and information.
In addition to putting documents online, voting during meetings will also be recorded electronically now so that the public can see who proposed, seconded and voted on each item.
For those who do not have internet access at home, Cancienne-Touchard said that the library is a good option for free computer access and that the school district plans to set up a kiosk at the central office in Luling to access the documents with minimal charges for printing.
The program will cost the district about $9,000 per year in addition to a one-time $1,000 set-up fee.
Board president Ellis Alexander said that he is all for the change.
“I’m so happy that all the board members had no problems with it – there was no resistance or opposition at all,” Alexander said. “Can’t you see how the trees are smiling?”
To access the BoardDocs system online, visit www.stcharles.k12.la.us, select “About our district,” choose “School Board” and select “Board Meetings.”
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