Bentonville Schools Could Go Paperless

Superintendent Gary Compton has a plan that could save the Bentonville School District millions of dollars a year and help the environment.

Compton wants the school district to go paperless, not just in the offices but also in the classrooms.

Instead of traditional textbooks, students would use flash drives that plug into computers and store textbooks electronically.

The district will spend $1 million of its $76.1 million budget on textbooks this year. Buying a $30 flash drive for all 10,087 students in the district would cost $302,610. That doesn’t include the cost of downloading textbooks, but one flash drive could be used for several years.

Compton thinks it would be an easy transition for the tech-savvy students.

“It is to textbooks the way that iPod has been to music,” he said.

Each student would have a flash drive with his or her own personal file. Textbooks could be downloaded onto the drive and then viewed on any computer.

But as with any technologically advanced idea, there are drawbacks.

Each student would have to have a computer. Although there are a few computers in each classroom, there aren’t enough for all students in the school district.

Students who don’t have computers might end up using the old-fashioned textbooks instead while others use the flash drives, Compton said.

Another problem might be getting publishers to offer textbooks online. Compton said some companies already offer them online, but many of the books the schools use are not currently available to download.

One device Compton is considering is called the Cruzer Freedom, made by SanDisk. The $30 256-megabyte USB flash drive can hold a year’s worth of textbooks, plus music and other personal files. The Cruzer Freedom became available this fall and is offered exclusively through Staples Inc. stores. He said he already plans to use the flash drives this year to replace math textbooks in some grades. That is where the savings will start to show.

The average biology book for a class required for all sophomores costs $130, Compton said. There are 750 sophomores, which means the total cost is about $97,500 for the biology books.

Compton said the move to paperless can also cut down on the amount of weight a student would have to carry. The flash drives can fit easily into a shirt pocket.

Board members, executive directors and all the employees at the school district’s office will also start using less paper and make more documents available to view online.

“My staff and I have to generate tons of documents and documentation for board meetings and board committee meetings,” Compton said. “My assistant will spend one entire day to assemble board information for one board meeting a month.”

Every board member will have split screens on their computers at meetings, Compton said. On one side, it will have the agenda or subject and on the other it will have the support information that goes with the agenda or subject. The conversations, minutes and a public forum will be available to view online, he said.

Compton said the budget to make the transition has not yet been discussed by the board members.