Online with the school board

By Deb Gau

MARSHALL - There are a couple of things you don't see much anymore at Marshall School Board meetings. Printed documents are one. Traditional roll call votes are another.

Except in certain situations, "Everyone just punches in their vote" on a laptop computer, said Marshall School Board Chairman Jeff Chapman. A few seconds later, overhead projector screens light up with the breakdown of the votes. Colored boxes mark each member's choice - green for yes, red for no.

For the past year, the Marshall board has been using a computer program called Electronic School Board to help streamline meetings, record agendas and minutes, and share information with the public.

"It's doing away with a lot of paperwork," said board member Matt Coleman.

In the Internet age it's becoming more common for school boards to have "paperless" meetings, often with the help of specialized computer software and laptops. There are programs similar to ESB being used around the country, but Marshall Superintendent Klint Willert said it was ESB's versatility that caught his eye at a national conference for school administrators last year.

"I happened across it at the vendor floor," Willert said. At the time he had been looking for a school board software program, and ESB had extra applications that looked helpful. Instead of having the superintendent's assistant collect monthly reports from district staff, each staff member now submits a report through ESB and it goes straight to the superintendent for approval. At meetings, the school board chairman uses the program to record the outcome of each vote, as well as the board members making each motion. The minutes are completed by the time the meeting is over.

It took a full day's worth of training to learn the basics of ESB, and more time during the course of the school year to practice. But it was worth it, board members and staff said.

"It took awhile to get used to," Chapman said of the new system. The bugs are gradually being worked out, although he joked that the "bugs" were mostly in the learning process. At Monday's school board meeting, it took a couple of tries to get a latecoming board member logged into the system.

"For me, it was just getting used to reading and following the meeting off of the computer, instead of paper," Chapman said.

Although they started with different experiences, board members said they felt comfortable using ESB. Board member Mike Booke said he didn't have much trouble adjusting to the system.

"For me, I think it was pretty easy after the first couple of times," he said.

The board has only been using ESB for a year, but board member Deann Reese said, "It seems like we've been doing it forever."

When it was first introduced to the board, Chapman said his concern was over whether ESB was being used the right way, and would prove to be a good investment for the district. So far it seems like a good choice, he said.

"The information is updated and it comes to us a lot quicker," Chapman said. "In the long run, it saves money by far on printing and paper."

Board members and district staff can access meeting information and even make notes on the material from their home or work computers.

"I can click through the meeting, and I can look at things from my computer," Reese said. "We can see revisions right away, too."

Full agenda packets and an archive of meeting minutes are also posted on the school's ESB Web site, esb.swmn.org. Booke said he especially liked how ESB lets the board keep an online archive.

"The beauty of it is all the information is in one place. If I need to look something back up, it's easy to find," he said.

ESB's Web connections are a valuable resource for the public, board members said. People can read full meeting agendas, minutes, and the same documents that are included in board member packets.

"When people call the district office and ask for a copy of the minutes, we can tell them it's all on the Web," Chapman said.

"We want to make sure the public knows what's going on in the meetings," Willert said. "People need to be aware that they can go online and see this. It's a great community tool."