SAUGUS — The School Committee discussed ways to improve the district’s cost efficiency on Thursday, with a discussion about paper usage and copying costs taking center stage.
Finance Subcommittee Chair Brian Doherty created a list of questions that were discussed with Superintendent Mike Hashem at the meeting, with the second point being the paper.
“The second budget point involved the paper situation. What we did is I had Devin (Menezes), the IT director, run an analysis of the paper,” Hashem said.
He said the elementary school workbooks and consumables have been acquired for next year, providing relief on the amount of copying that will need to occur.
The district leases the copy machines in use, with a monthly rate and an annual limit on the number of copies the schools are allowed to make. Hashem said that they had gone over by almost $18,000.
“One of the things that Devin did is when he negotiated the lease, the lease that we have moving forward is the same cost per month and they added the amount of copies to match what we did this year. So right now, if we were to have this again happen next year, we would not be charged extra for the overage on copies,” Hashem said.
Chair Tom Whittredge then spoke up, saying he was confident he could speak for the entire committee, “when we’re sick of hearing about having no paper. It’s actually embarrassing to us.”
Whittredge said that if the small, simple things couldn’t be done right, then how could they get the big things right?
Hashem said principals would track paper usage so they could address discrepancies more quickly. He also brought up the idea of finding a platform to digitize files.
“It would be a cost efficiency in the long run because it wouldn’t need paper, and it would also bring us to the 20th century. I’m not even saying the 21st,” he said.
Doherty clarified that he agreed with printing consumables, but that not everything needed to be printed out.
“If a kid needs a worksheet, print it. If a kid needs to take home a flyer, print it. But printing an email, printing a printout of something that is digital, is a waste of paper,” he said.
Committee member Dennis Gould commented on the embarrassment of receiving texts asking about the paper, saying the situation reflected a breakdown in communication.
“Who has control over that?” Vice Chair Stephanie Mastrocola asked, and Hashem responded that they have to wait to be told that a school needs paper.
“Say I’m a teacher. I’m a second-grade teacher, and ‘Oh my God, I’m running out of paper.’ Who do I go to?” she said.
Executive Director of Finance and Administration Pola Andrews explained that the paper was located in the copy room and that if a teacher needed a ream of paper, they would go there. The principal, through the clerk, would notify the business office clerk to order paper.
It was also said that the paper is not monitored, and every room has access to it.
“That’s what I’m saying. To me, I think it needs to be locked up,” Mastrocola said, adding that it seems ridiculous but that the problem was “quite an embarrassment.”
Doherty said an action item could be made for Hashem to have a checkpoint with the principals, checking the paper supplies to ensure they are not running low.
“I think when we talk about this policy … it’s about having the standards. Checking once a week, once a month, and then making sure that we’re tracking to see if there’s more being printed by one teacher and having that discussion. And if we run out of paper, it’s stupid that we run out of paper, but we don’t have any oversight of the paper right now,” he said.
