With students in Franklin High equipped with their own laptops, many teachers have been making students print their work in school, resulting in numerous printer problems.

Teachers have been making students print for a long time now, but now many people are questioning if printing is really a good option. Students are assigned to print anything from formal essays, to homework packets.

Many students experience printer issues. Allison Mahoney, a sophomore, said that she has encountered issues ranging from no paper, no ink, or an issue that cannot be easily fixed. Allison uses printers in project rooms and in the library; those printers are most easily accessible to students.

Unfortunately, with server issues and paper jams, printers are not always available to students. Allison believes that “if they expect us to use Chromebooks, printers should be available to us.”

Sophomore Andrew Stanwicks also prints some assignments occasionally in school. Andrew does not prefer printing, and would rather keep his documents on the computer. But because Andrew does have to print, he said he likes “how they have printers here so I don’t have to use mine at home.”

Many people, like Andrew, do not see a reason to print assignments, because it is now easier than ever to share documents over the internet. Not only would sharing documents online be easier, but it would be cheaper and greener for the school.

The library encounters many printer issues. With five printers, many people print their assignments in the library in the morning. Students forget their papers, causing paper and ink shortages.

The Student Council of the school has brought up the topic of printer problems, but have yet to come to a solution. One option Allison said that they discussed was assigning printers to students by last name. Whether that option is to be introduced to the school is up to the Student Council and school faculty.