An Educational Enterprise

detailing how their child is performing in school.

In many cases, the schools included other information in these mailings about upcoming school events or news, like open houses or concerts. Hughes says parent volunteers were hand inserting these reports and other documents.

When talking with its customers, the in-plant learned they were frustrated with this hand-inserting process, so the shop stepped in to free up these volunteers to spend more time with students. Using secure FlexStream document processing software and the department's automated inserting equipment, Hughes says this issue has become much less of a headache for the district.

"We've taken all of that work out of the building so those folks can focus on student achievement...and we take care of that support piece," he explains. "We've been doing that for about a year and a half now."

Another instance of Auxiliary Services stepping in to provide a large volume of educational material came when the district implemented the Common Core math curriculum at the elementary school level this past school year. This allowed the district to use materials from EngageNY, a freely available source of materials and resources. By printing these materials for the district, the in-plant is directly supporting the new curriculum, while increasing its impressions. Over the last six months, it has produced approximately 85,000 booklets. What's more, there have been conversations about having Auxiliary Services provide these materials to districts that don't have the capability of producing them, Hughes says.

But Auxiliary Services doesn't just provide educational support for the district between the months of September and June. Hughes says that many students taking on a summer program are provided with kits of printed material, pencils, erasers and other supplies to help keep them on task during the break. Because the district's Central Storage Warehouse is part of Auxiliary Services, it can provide these materials for the kits and for the classrooms during the school year.

"We really want to serve [our customers]," Hughes says. "We have a heart for the kids like they do. We just aren't in the building."

Impressions on the Rise

As the economy has improved and Auxiliary Services has implemented these changes, impression numbers are up and momentum is building for the future. Hughes says that during the 2013-14 school year, the department realized a 22.5 percent increase from the year before. As of press time, there had been a 32.3 percent increase year to date, he says.

While part of the improvement has been a departure from the lean budget issues of the past, Hughes says as word spreads around the district about Auxiliary Services' capabilities, approachability and fast turnaround, the in-plant will continue this positive trend. Hughes says the in-plant typically meets its next-day delivery goal on at least 95 percent of digitally submitted copy orders that come in by noon.

"We don't want them waiting," he says. "If they need it, they need it—and they need it now."

And although insourcing is not a major part of its business, Hughes says Auxiliary Services is able to bring in work from other school districts and government agencies. This additional revenue is nice, he says, but more importantly, it allows the department to help more students with their education.

"We're about educating kids," Hughes says. "Not just Salem-Keizer kids. If we can support another school district using our capabilities and knowledge, and that helps those students, then so much the better."