School Eliminates Printing Paper Report Cards

The change has been made to go completely online this year for report cards.

Vince Gittins, Reporter|December 18, 2019

Senior Winter Cunningham logs into skyward to check report card grades.

Many Dallastown students are aware of the elimination of printed report cards this year, but what decided the new change?

After several years of discussion, DHS moved to online report cards to save time and money, and to eliminate a process that has become almost outdated in a digital world.

In the past after each trimester students would receive a physical report card. For Trimesters 1 and 2, students received them in Wildcat period, and for Trimester 3, one was mailed home at the end of the year.

Early this year students heard rumors of report cards not being distributed. The school followed up with informational emails to parents and students to explain the process of how to access trimester grades.

Workforce and Career Planning Counselor Mr. Probert explains, “We didn’t get rid of report cards they still exist we just aren’t printing them for students, due to the large cost involved.”

Probert added that with programs such as Skyward, current DHS students actually have more access to their grades than at any time in the past.

Dallastown’s administration was open to completely switching to online as it can save both time and money without compromising student access to grades. An estimated $1,800 is spent each year on report card paper, envelopes and postage for final report cards alone besides the cost of paying the staff.

“

As a parent, I love it. I can login anytime and print off a report card, but I usually don’t because I can go on and see it anytime I want.

— Probert

Dallastown Senior Ryleigh Sowers says she thinks the new online method is much for efficient “because now they aren’t wasting paper on those who don’t care about the report card.”

So how do students get report cards? Each student’s report card is available on his/her Skyward access account, where they are able to view and print report cards at any time and in the future will be able to print past report cards as well. While some worried that the only way to get a physical copy was to get one from the guidance office, that wasn’t true.

In fact, printing report cards is very simple. Students just download it to their computer via the download button and click print to any black/white printer in the school. The whole process is available to parents as well.

Digital reports are also helpful to the large number of DHS students who are enrolled in various programs outside the school.

“I participate in dual enrollment so I only come in to the high school for one period. The report cards being online are very beneficial for me because I do not have to go out of my way to go to my homeroom to get my report card or disrupt my homeroom teacher’s classes,” senior McKenna Brodbeck said.

According to Probert there is lots of support into going all online. Our middle school went digital last year and other schools such as York Suburban have also eliminated the printed report card.