How San Juan Unified School District Transformed Records Management with a District-Wide Solution

Learn how San Juan Unified School District improved efficiency and implemented a district-wide solution that scales.

You could say that San Juan Unified School District was looking for a unicorn. They needed a solution that produced consistency district-wide, while maintaining some customizability at each campus.

Their search for a unicorn ended when they found Parchment.

Recognizing Challenges

San Juan Unified School District was not unlike many school districts concerning records management. Depending on which school you spoke with, you were getting a different answer on the process for requesting a transcript or verification. Tracie Locke, Lead Counselor, explained the challenges they were facing, “In our district, we have 9 comprehensive high schools. We had 9 different ways of sending transcripts! Some high schools were doing it the ‘old school’ way with manual, paper-based processes, others had a Google form. It was a very clunky system. There was no sustainability or equity in our processes district-wide.” They knew they needed to streamline the process, and uniformity was critical, but they just weren’t sure they’d be able to find what they were looking for. “I honestly had no idea what was out there and the whole idea was daunting”, Tracie said.

Selecting Parchment

Their search for a solution came at an opportune time, as Parchment was running a special offer that allowed districts to pilot Parchment before purchasing a license. This was important to SJUSD, as they wanted buy-in across the district before making a long term commitment. Tracie explained, “We took advantage of a free-trial that Parchment offered because we wanted to make sure we were making the right decision. The Registrars dove in and once we started it, I knew it was going to be really hard to go back to the ‘old way’. In fact, we talked with each school and they all agreed this was something we had to keep.”

But even though the Registrars and Counselors loved the platform, they had to make the business case. After a thorough cost-benefit analysis, it became evident that Parchment was not only a time-saver, but financially sound as well. Tracie summed up the financial benefits, “We were spending a lot of money through our manual processes. We looked at what this would cost and it was clear this would save us money. Even the savings in paper and postage was significant.”

Rolling Out Parchment

While SJUSD was seeking a solution that provided uniformity across the district, certain schools had specific needs that other schools didn’t. They wanted the same process, with the ability for sites to customize aspects that made sense for their school community. “The beautiful thing is that there is a uniform process for the entire district, but Parchment still allows for some site level control,” Tracie explained, “We have different demographics at our high schools and some are comfortable charging alumni and some aren’t. The uniformity with flexibility allowed me to get buy-in from everybody.”

“In my role, when you don’t hear about something, that means it’s working. And any feedback I have received has been very positive.”

Reaping the Benefits

The results have been nothing short of incredible. “The way that it changes the workload at the high school level is significant. It’s very easy to use and has provided us with a ton of value”, Tracie explained.

With Parchment, SJUSD has a sustainable process that students, parents, and staff understand. The district is now speaking a language that they all recognize. “Another piece that makes Parchment very beneficial is the communication element. When you’re at a large district, getting the right information to the right people is critical,” Tracie said, “We had 9 different processes before, so if someone called the district there wasn’t an easy answer for them. Now, our process is uniform, our web pages are aligned and communication is much easier. It was easy to direct students, parents and alumni to where they need to be. It really streamlined our communication process and that’s been invaluable.”

Parchment has also provided SJUSD value where they didn’t expect it, the counseling department. Since the implementation of Parchment, management of transcript and verification requests sits squarely in the hands of the Registrars, taking significant burden off the school counselors. Tracie described the benefits to Counselors by saying, “With Parchment, we’ve been able to allocate the work to our Registrars, freeing up the time of our Counselors to meet with students.”

There’s always more to learn.