Unification of Services - How to Do More with Less

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

Unification of Services - How to Do More with Less

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