Bill MacKenty

Is 250 sheets of paper a year enough?

After some data gathering last year, we realized we were using a case of paper every 2 weeks in one computer lab (we have 4 in our school). That is 5000 sheets of paper every 2 weeks, or 500 sheets of paper per day in ONE LAB.  My informal observation was kids would print out a webpage (10 or 15 sheets) and call that “doing research”. Blech.

We instituted much stricter print quotas this year - each student only has 250 sheet for the entire year. Now as we enter into our second semester, we are starting to get visitors into the IT office asking for an increase. We oblige them, but ask them to be careful about their printing needs.

I’m honestly surprised. Many of our teachers accept emailed assignments, and many students use turnitin for papers.

I’m keeping a careful watch on our heaviest users, and targeting those teachers with professional development for electronically submitted assignments.