Board approves multi‑year Madison‑Oneida BOCES lease for large multifunction printers; staff outline centralized printing plan

The Hamilton Central School District board approved a multi‑year lease for the district’s large multifunction printers through Madison‑Oneida BOCES as part of the consent agenda on May 21.

The item (4.7) was introduced and explained by Matt (S10) as a renewal of a four‑year lease for the building’s large multifunction machines, with fiscal benefits from doing the lease through BOCES. Matt emphasized that this lease concerns the big devices in the building and is separate from any plans to reduce smaller classroom printers.

Staff described an accompanying move toward a centralized, cloud‑based print server: when a person hits print their job would be sent to a print server in the cloud and released at any district printer with ID authentication rather than printed directly to a nearby DeskJet. As one presenter explained, "when a person hits print... you sent it to the cloud," allowing users to release their job at any enabled device. The district plans to strategically place approximately eight to nine large printers (with two additional full‑size devices added) so each hall or wing has convenient access.

Board members and teachers raised practical concerns about workflow and transitions (for example, teachers printing large runs and having to walk to another printer). Administrators acknowledged "some trepidation" among faculty and committed to supporting staff through the change, noting that many small DeskJet printers are at the end of their useful life and that centralized printing offers lower per‑page costs and reduced waste.

The lease and consent agenda were approved by motion; implementation details, placement of printers and transition support were described as next steps.

The board did not change policy at the meeting; staff will continue internal planning and communicate the rollout to faculty and other stakeholders.