Unification  of  Services  How  to  Do  More  with  Less  

Accountability    -­‐  the  New  Reality    In  New  York,  as  in  many  states,  the  government  has  imposed  a  real  property  tax  cap  on  all  school  districts.  School  districts  can  increase  property  taxes  to  the  lower  of  either  a  2%  annual  increase  or  the  rate  of  inflation.  The  voters  in  a  school  district  can  override  the  cap  with  a  60%  or  greater  vote  for  the  budget.  During  this  same  period  of  time,  there  has  been  an  increase  in  unfunded  federal  mandates  and  a  decrease  in  state/federal  aid  to  school  districts.    With  such  government-­‐imposed  constraints,  school  boards  and  administrators  are  scrambling  for  ways  to  do  more  with  less  expenditure  of  funds.  While  many  of  the  costs  that  go  into  a  yearly  budget  proposal  are  outside  of  the  district’s  control  –  retirement  system  contributions,  utilities,  insurance,  negotiated  salary  increases  and  others  -­‐  there  are  areas  of  the  budget  that  could  be  examined  for  savings.  School  boards  and  administrators  therefore,  must  look  outside  of  the  box  for  creative  ways  to  save  money  while  still  maintaining  a  quality  educational  system.  

Looking  for  a  Way  to  Save      One  area  that  bears  close  examining  for  cost  savings  is  the  infrastructure  used  to  operate  the  school  district.  As  is  the  case  in  the  business  world,  school  districts  have  to  buy  and  maintain  many  different  computer  systems  for  their  day-­‐to-­‐day  operations.  There  are  hardware/software  systems  in  place  that  are  used  for  managing:  Student  Information,  Financial  Information,  Security,  Door  Access,  Cafeteria  purchases,  Student  ID  cards,  Libraries  and  much  more.      Unfortunately,  most  if  not  all  of  these  systems  require  separate,  centrally  located,  File  Servers,  proprietary  software  and  a  specific  database  in  order  to  function.    Every  time  a  person  (  staff  or  student)  enters  or  leaves  the  district,  each  system  has  to  be  updated  with  the  newest  information.    All  these  stand-­‐alone  systems  require  backing  up,  yearly  subscription  fees  and  technicians  that  can  perform  maintenance  and  repair  on  the  various  hardware  platforms.      Furthermore,  school  districts  must  extract  data  from  these  systems,  share  the  data  between  systems  and  send  accurate  information,  via  the  local  BOCES,  to  the  state  and  federal  governments  in  order  to  be  in  compliance  with  their  educational  guidelines  and  mandates  –  APPR,  NCLB,  “Race  to  the  Top”,  etc.  Accurate  data  reporting  is  essential  so  that  districts  receive  their  fair  share  of  aid  from  the  government.  With  so  many  different  systems  and  proprietary  databases  in  use,  the  

risk  of  erroneous  reporting  is  greatly  increased.  Poor  or  inaccurate  reporting  can  lead  to  the  loss  of  aid,  governmental  auditing  and/or  penalties.      

One  Solution,  One  Cost,  One  Database  

Economies  of  Scale    ScholarChip’s  One  Card  Solution  offers  districts  a  way  to  collapse  many  of  the  previously  mentioned  proprietary  data  systems  into  a  single  unified  program.  This  complete  solution  can  manage,  work  with  and  replace  many  of  those  stand-­‐alone  systems,  which  will  result  in  a  cost  reduction  on  many  levels.  By  utilizing  a  single  encrypted  cloud  based,  data  base  system,  the  district  substantially  lowers  the  risk  of  submitting  erroneous  data  while  eliminating  many  of  the  file  servers,  proprietary  software  and  databases.  The  district  thus  realizes  a  substantial  cost  saving  on  the  hardware  and  software  as  well  as  on  the  maintenance  and  licensing  fees.  

What  Does  the  ONE  Card  System  consist  of?      

1.  Attendance  Kiosks      These  portable  dual  screen,  dual  sensor  units  can  be  placed  at  the  entrances  to  a  school  building  in  the  morning  prior  to  students  arrival.  Students  would  be  required  to  tap  their  cards  or  enter  their  ID  number  upon  entering  the  building.  This  process  automatically  generates  a  list  of  late/absent  children.  The  parents  of  those  children  can  then  be  called  by  any  number  of  automated  telephone  systems  used  by  districts  in  order  to  alert  them  that  their  child  was  late  or  absent.      Schools  could  also  use  their  Kiosks  for  events  that  take  place  in  the  buildings  afterschool  and/or  at  night.  Students  tap  in  to  attend  a  sporting  event,  dance,  concert  or  any  other  school  sponsored  program.  This  adds  accountability  and  control  to  the  event-­‐administrators  and  lets  them  know  who  is  in  the  venue  for  that  event.  

2.  Classroom  Readers  With  card  readers  installed  in  every  classroom,  office,  gym  and  auditorium,  you  now  have  the  ability  to  track  seat  time  for  subject  classes.    Students  tap  their  cards  upon  entering  the  classroom  and  the  teacher’s  computer  screen  -­‐which  displays  pictures  of  all  the  students  in  that  class  -­‐  indicates  their  presence  by  turning  their  framed  picture  from  red  to  green.  Children  tap  out  

if  they  leave  the  class  early  and  tap  into  the  main  office/  nurse/guidance  etc.  By  instituting  this  attendance  automation  using  the  ID  cards:  

• You  transfer  the  responsibility  for  student  attendance  to  the  students.  

• The  system  returns  3-­‐4  minutes  of  instruction  time  per  period    • Accurately  tracks  student  seat  time  and  location    • Through  the  E-­‐Class  software,  teachers  can  monitor  and  

review  accumulated  seat  time  for  their  students    

3.  Library,  Cafeteria,  Hall  Monitors  Since  all  students  have  their  smart  ID  cards,  they  can  be  used  throughout  district  facilities  for  food  purchases  –  tapping  them  at  the  cafeteria  checkout  registers  and  checking  books  out  of  the  library  .The  student  cards  also  carry  their  schedule  information  and  can  be  checked  by  hall  monitors  using  a  mobile  device  to  verify  that  they  are  going  to  the  correct  class  for  the  proper  period.  

4.  Door  and  Elevator  Access    Staff  members  can  use  their  ID  cards  to  open  locked  doors  to  enter  the  school  buildings  or  classrooms  or  to  exit  the  main  building  and  enter  a  portable  classroom  located  on  the  school  grounds.  Students  with  disabilities  or  injuries  can  use  their  cards  to  access  the  building  elevators.    

5.  Enhanced  Safety  and  Security  With  school  intrusions,  abductions  and  shootings  on  the  rise,  this  is  a  very  cost  effective  way  to  lock  down  all  the  buildings  in  a  district.  Door  sensors  can  be  placed  on  doors  throughout  the  district  and  only  valid  ID  cards  could  open  them  from  the  outside.  The  front  doors  of  each  building,  while  open  for  arrival  and  dismissal  of  students  are  now  locked  for  the  rest  of  the  day  and  only  accessible  from  the  outside  to  a  person  with  a  valid  ID  card.  In  the  case  of  an  emergency  –  all  the  doors  in  a  building  or  across  the  district  can  be  locked  down  with  a  single  command.  The  command  can  be  issued  from  any  wireless  device  or  any  computer.    

Why  the    ScholarChip  One  Card  Solution  ?    

Cloud  Based  Storage  –  eliminates  the  need/cost  for  on-­‐site  servers,  while  insuring  that  your  data  is  accessible  from  any  location.  Scalable  Integrated  Solutions  that  can  grow  with  the  District’s  needs.  

Passive  RFID  fits  with  both  Students  &  Parents    -­‐  while  we  know  where  students  last  tapped  in,  we  are  not  “tracking”  their  movement  throughout  the  building.  The  affordability  of  MIFARE  Card  Issuance    -­‐  the  cards  are  fairly  inexpensive  to  issue  .  Furthermore,  ScholarChip,    is  on  a  state  agency  (BOCES)  contract  ensuring  the  lowest  pricing  available  and  aid  on  the  purchase..  The  speed  of  the  read  –  with  the  two  kiosk  units  at  the  main  door  of  a  high  school,  you  can  process  over  1000  students  in  under  7  minutes.  MIFARE’s  non-­proprietary  nature  –  you  can  utilize  the  same  ID  cards  for  other  applications.  ScholarChip  ID  cards  have  been  successfully  tested  for  controlling  Xerox  printer  access..    

From  Attendance  to  Safety,  ScholarChip  offers  a  graduated  solution  that  can  operate  throughout  the  district  lessening  concerns  over  

day-­to-­day  operations.    

www.scholarchip.com