School bd. going paperless to cut energy costs

BRICK TOWNSHIP — If you plan on heading out to the Board of Education meeting next Thursday, don't forget your agenda.

That's because the school district will no longer print out copies of its agendas for public distribution at its meetings. The agendas will instead be posted on the Web site the day before its monthly meetings.

"The district is moving forward, thinking green, cutting down on the wasting of paper and energy for the copiers, as well as excessive use of the copier," district Business Administrator James Edwards.

A typical public meeting agenda is approximately 40 to 50 pages in length and 100 copies of the document are made for the public.

Instead, summary information from the agenda will be projected onto a big screen during the meeting for the public to see.

Board members will have laptops on their desks during the meeting to review the agenda items up for vote.

While the agenda is being developed, board members will have electronic access to it on the district's Web site and will be able to review and comment on it before it goes "live." Board members had previously received multiple copies of an agenda that reflected numerous revisions prior to the meetings.

All agendas will be archived on the district's Web site and all the information on them will be searchable, Edwards has said.

The Board of Education's next public meeting is currently scheduled for 7:30 p.m. on Jan. 22 in Lake Riviera Middle School's multipurpose room.

The agendas can be found on the district's Web site at: www.brickschools.org. Click on "meeting agendas" under the Board of Education tab.

— By Danielle Medina