Jennifer Gray, enrollment coordinator for student services, proposed that Madison County Schools transition progress reports and report cards from paper to digital delivery beginning with the third nine‑week period. Gray told the board the change would require at most one small wording change to district policy — adding the word "electronically" — but staff said the district could also implement the system as a new interpretation of the existing policy without an immediate revision.

Gray outlined the benefits: parents would receive report cards faster and could access absent/tardy and lunch‑balance information in near real time through the portal; teacher comments and helpful links could be included; and the portal offers progressive records for year‑long courses such as AP and dual‑enrollment classes. She estimated district printing savings "at minimum" of about $22,000 annually based on per‑copy costs but said she had not pulled the figure from finance records and presented it as an approximate estimate.

Board members pressed on access and verification. Gray said a parent‑survey indicated roughly 2–3% of families lack internet access and that those parents could request printed copies by phone, email, in person or by submitting a dated letter to the principal; staff agreed to add a formal "letter to the principal" option to the request process. On whether the district could confirm parents actually read report cards, Gray said IT would need to explore options; she said the portal can show logins but a certified "read receipt" may require a built feature or a checkbox acknowledgment.

Members indicated support for using electronic delivery as the primary method while keeping paper copies available on request. Staff said they would draft the parent notification letter and distribute it with the January report cards so families know the change ahead of the rollout. The board signaled readiness to move the plan forward to implementation steps and to bring any required policy language revisions back to a future meeting for formal approval if the board requests.