Publication Date: Friday, March 12, 2004
Waste not, want not
Waste not, want not
(March 12, 2004) Going paperless saves trees, dollars on school campuses
by Rachel Metz
Some people take to the Internet to espouse fringe opinions or sell pirate DVDs, but for Palo Alto and Gunn high schools the Web is a way to save money during tough times.
The environmentally-conscious schools began putting assignments and announcements online to save paper, but it's now become a good way to save dollars.
"If everybody downloaded from the Net it would save us a bunch of money," Gunn High School Secretary Zee Ward said.
As both schools face budget cuts that could mean the loss of several copy machines, officials are pushing the Internet as a means for distributing information.
Last year, 3 million copies were made at Paly.
"That is a lot. It's kind of scary," Chuck Merritt, a Paly assistant principal, said.
This year about 25 Paly teachers were trained in a computer program that allows them to post assignments and worksheets on the Web, Merritt said.
Recently the school has also been looking into putting its student handbook online, and bulky back-to-school packets. Merritt thinks hard copies need to be available for some families.
"If a significant number of people opt into the online version it could save several thousand dollars," he said.
Over at Gunn, Ward said the school's daily bulletin and certain meeting minutes are now available via e-mail.
Like Paly, the school has been working on putting other documents traditionally printed on paper -- fliers and school packets -- on the Internet, Ward said. They want to put together a list of people who will access the packets online and those who won't, she said.
"There's a few people who don't use e-mail at all. It's like a learning phase we have to put everybody through to show them this is better and that hard copy paper isn't necessary," she said.
But if the school could convince families to view its course catalogs online instead of leafing through paper copies, it could save Gunn about $5,000 a year, Merritt said. They may print fewer of them next year, he said.
Suzanne Antink, a math teacher at Paly, said teachers in her department are putting assignments on the Web and asking students to download them, saving the school in paper.
When teachers do resort to using paper they're trying to be more conservative.
"I think people will keep doing every little thing they can," she said.
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