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Friday, September 30, 2005

CONTACT: Mark Fien
Co-Founder
818.728.1110
mark@schoolboard.net

 

SCHOOLBOARDNET HITS 10,000 MEMBERS

As schoolboardnet marks its second anniversary,
its online community is growing strong.
Have you gotten in on the electronic board craze?

Typically, a second anniversary is celebrated with the traditional gift of cotton but over at schoolboardnet, the team is popping open some champagne instead. They have just added the 10,000th member to the web-based community that they launched just two years ago – and that has given them something to celebrate.

“When we first envisioned a web community for state associations, school boards and districts to distribute information and communicate, we thought we might see apprehension to adjusting to the technology,” said Jim Edwards, co-founder of schoolboardnet. “But to know that we have 10,000 active members – that just tells us our ‘less-paper’ concept is one that people truly want to embrace.”

State Associations have been just as enthusiastic about the less-paper concept as Edwards. Across the country, state associations are now turning to schoolboardnet as their main communication vehicle for both internal and external use. The Illinois Association of School Boards set up accounts for their entire membership base and according to James Russell, Director of Publications for IASB, “schoolboardnet has created a whole new dynamic in the way our association communicates with our members and how our member boards can communicate with their public.” Part of this improvement in communication is attributed to the ability of associations to set up different groups such as Policy Services, Superintendents and Board Presidents to communicate more effectively – and with the simple click of the mouse.

" schoolboardnet's web-based solution not only provides our organization with an electronic board solution but also provides a much wider level of communication with online surveys, forums, archives and message center,” said Ramona Miller, Board Development Manager for the North Carolina School Boards Association. This wide range of features creates a centralized environment for all information. Each of the Association’s members logs in with a secured user name and password to receive only the information pertinent to them. Furthermore, schoolboardnet automatically sends an e-mail notification to each member when information on their page has changed so members do not have to keep going back to the site to look for updates.

State Associations are also encouraging their member board and districts to communicate via schoolboardnet. Some, such as Illinois Association of School Boards and the South Carolina School Boards Association, have started their own programs to provide their member boards with electronic board meeting and online board policy services. This service not only saves the boards and districts money by reducing paper and distribution costs but also provides a source of revenue for the state association.

“At first, some of the board secretaries were nervous about moving their information online. They felt the learning curve might be too much for them and their board members to handle. schoolboardnet, however, provides such an extensive array of training materials such as videos and web-based demonstrations, that we have found this learning curve to be essentially nonexistent,” said Pat Kinsey, Director of Policy Services at SCSBA who has implemented a program to get board secretaries involved in schoolboardnet.

Board members love schoolboardnet too. “The best part about going online is that I can now access my board packet from anywhere. I travel a lot for work and now I don’t have to worry about carrying piles of paper with me in order to be prepared for my meeting,” said Karen Long, who used schoolboardnet as a board member from Northfield Township High School District 225, Glenview, Illinois.

These are the comments that co-founders Jim Edwards and Mark Fien were hoping for and more. “We are enthralled by the incredible acceptance of our concept,” said Fien. “As we mark the second anniversary of our launch, we are excited about the opportunity to have more associations, boards and districts join the schoolboardnet community.”

Pat Kinsey is excited too. She just brought another district online.

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About schoolboardnet

schoolboardnet, llc ( www.schoolboard.net ) provides low-cost, easy-to-use on-line services for school boards, school districts and associations designed for the non-tech-savvy. Among the features included are electronic agendas and meetings, board policy, document management, minutes, surveys, discussion forums, notifications to members and both public and secured access.

schoolboardnet, llc has offices in Encino, California and Research Triangle Park, North Carolina.