K–12 Records Management Without the Paper Cuts at Columbus City Schools

As Ohio’s largest school district, Columbus City Schools (CCS) serves over 45,000 students across 113 schools and manages a mountain of student records. But because every building had its own approach to fulfillment, secretaries juggled a messy mix of faxes, emails, physical mail, and sometimes even driving records back and forth between locations. 

“It quickly became obvious that everybody was keeping the documents required by law,” says Supervisor of Central Enrollment and Division of the Registrar Tonya Freeman. “But, everyone was doing it a little bit differently.” This scattered system created confusion and put financial and operational burdens on the district's resources.

District leaders realized that consistency was the only path to compliance and sanity. To eliminate confusion, CCS looked for a solution that could unify all 113 schools under a single digital roof and ensure that every record request from every school met the same standard of security and speed. 

The district began by digitizing alumni records to reduce dependence on physical documents. But because Ohio law requires a three-business-day response for records requests, CCS also needed a system that offered real-time tracking and a digital workflow to replace the risk of FERPA violations that come with faxes and emails. The district wanted a partner that could offer transparent logs and training to ensure staff felt confident and compliant from day one.

The era of faxes and spreadsheets came to a close when Columbus City Schools transitioned to Parchment by Instructure. The district put a hard stop on the old processes, refusing to accept any further record requests via fax or mail, and moved to a fully digital process. 

CCS equipped secretaries with the knowledge to take the digital jump by partnering with the Parchment team for comprehensive training. Leaders prioritized high-quality professional development that allowed staff to see every transaction in the logs, learn how to submit requests, explore the platform to troubleshoot, and identify exactly where requests stand in real-time. The Parchment team even tailored the system to CCS's specific needs, including a downloadable PDF feature for withdrawal requests and custom reporting tools to track performance metrics.

Digital record transfers via Parchment have made compliance tracking seamless and more transparent than ever. "Everyone is doing it the same way, so that's easy to keep up with," noted Tonya Freeman. Because leadership can see every transaction in the logs, they can easily identify trends and counsel staff on those operational insights that were impossible to capture in the past.

Community feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. Graduates enjoy instant access to their credentials, and other districts requesting transfers of student records find the verified onboarding process secure and easy to use. “Parchment handles the entire verification process. It's very secure once [other schools] create their account. And it's very easy to do,” Freeman adds.

The financial results were welcomed bonuses. “The switch also saved us over $16,000 in postage, plus maybe $12,000 in printing and copying fees. There was also a significant increase in employee productivity, along with no more lost records or duplicate requests,” Freeman explained. 

With fewer lost records and a single workflow, the district’s employees can now spend less time on paperwork and more time supporting their students and the broader educational community.