BOE Looks to Go Cheaper with Electronic Agenda

Looking to shave time and money from the district’s ledger, members of the Moorestown Board of Education may soon go paperless for meetings.

Business administrator Lynn Shugars gave a brief presentation Tuesday night, explaining how board members will soon be able to access meeting agendas and other documents through the district website—during meetings—via recycled iPads.

Shugars laid out all the benefits of going paperless: board members will have earlier and easier access to documents prior to meetings; addendums can be added more easily to the agenda; and, not least of all, electronic documentation cuts down significantly on the amount of time and money spent on processing the agendas.

“It’s a savings in terms of the paper and binders, wear and tear on the printers,” said Shugars. “It’s more time for our secretarial staff (to prepare a paper agenda).”

The board’s meeting documents—including agendas, exhibits, minutes, etc.—are usually dozens of pages long.

Ultimately, Shugars said, it’s a matter of efficiency. Though she didn’t have exact figures, she said there will most certainly be a savings by going paperless.

The exercise was not without some glitches, as a couple board members grappled with the technology and ran into minor technical issues. Shugars said the goal is to be completely paperless by the board’s October meeting.

She added, “If you’re not OK with that, we can certainly provide paper agendas.”

She and Superintendent Brian Betze also stressed that the iPads provided to the board are not new; they’re old iPads, that will go back into classroom rotation after each meeting.

In other business, Shugars said the district received eight applications for former board member Linda Alexandroff’s vacated seat, .

Shugars said the applicants include .

A special committee, comprised of certain board members, will conduct interviews with the applicants during the first week of September, Shugars said, and the full board will appoint the new member at its next regular meeting on Sept. 10.