Questions,+Comments+and+Concerns+Since+10-1-08+Meeting

=Please add any questions, concerns or comments that you may have thought of since our last meeting. = = Place new comments at the top of the page. =   10-27-08   (Sue Yee) The responses to the questions raised at the last meeting also raised some more questions for me.
 * A number of items (PD, software, hardware upgrades, licensing) that were asked about have to come from the operational budget and not the bond money - we knew this. I think what was being asked is - is there going to be a commitment and a plan to allocate future funds from the operational budget for these items? This question was not really answered.
 * Re the COWS - " These will be taken into individual classrooms" - but by who, the teacher, a para? " Once the COWs are brought back to the media center, someone in the technology department will ensure they stay operational." - this isn't what happens now - there isn't a member of the tech dept in each building to do this on a daily basis. At the HS currently, the IMC para receives an extra hour to move the cart to the classrooms (since it takes time from her IMC duties to do this) and put it back in the room where it is housed at the end of the day. She checks daily that all laptops are plugged in and batteries lights are on (to indicate they are charging). Any problems with the laptops are turned over to the Tech dept. to resolve. I'm not sure what the procedure is for the cart at Anderson.
 * "We will repurpose or reuse current equipment whenever possible." I think an inventory should be taken of teacher computers and anyone who has had their computer replaced in the last 2-3 years should not get a new computer. This could save some money to spend on student computers at the elementaries.
 * Re doing a survey to see what type of equipment teachers might want - I agree with Diana that it would be good to do this. If nothing else, some teachers with desktop units might prefer laptops and vice versa.
 * I also agree that a decision on Taylor is crucial. Depending on what will be done in that building - there may be extra funding available. This needs to be known before a comprehensive plan can be developed. Otherwise we will be making decisions without a vital piece of information.

10-27-08 (Diana K.) I was rereading the responses to our questions that Dr. Savel sent out from our first meeting. I had some questions and concerns. Ideally a second bond will be passed to continue our growth in technology. However, will a set amount be placed in next year's budget, and subsequent years, to maintain/enhance our technology?

In terms of the COWS... are these replacing the labs? How will I leave 26 first graders to ensure that the next teacher has the COWS for his/her time slot?

When considering how technology will be implemented into the curriculum we need to consider that we have not trained staff in current technology. It has been almost 10 years. We will need to plan on training all staff members for the specific aspects of technology that we will want incorporated into the curriculm.

Although I do agree that our curriculum director and technology staff are extremely well educated, I do not think they can speak on behalf of 200 staff members. I think a survey should go out to staff to gather needs as well as ideas for technology use.

Right now anything I place on the sever can be viewed by all Taylor staff members. I am sure it can also be viewed by students who have the know-how. Currently we all have the same log-in/password. That includes the labs. Will we be given individual log-ins?

Finally, when will a decision be made about Taylor? This is crucial in the next phase of planning.

= = 10-15-08 Stating the obvious - when talking about our technology needs, we need to keep in mind what teachers need to teach - it isn't just about computers. Case in point, we've had a couple of new teachers start in the district recently and one came from a district in which every teacher who needed one, had a data projector to use for instruction. When he found out that he didn't have a projector here - he decided to go buy his own. Data projectors are what overhead projectors used to be. (Sue Yee)

10-6-08 Carol Wierzba - a few comments as well


 * Power School ($$$) versus Zangle (free). That move would probably take our tech department out of the student database loop, freeing them up for other duties but how much time do they actually spend on Zangle? Bob, Pat and Dean would be better qualified to answer that question but I know that for myself, I only contact Tech Support when the upgrade is made every year. At that point, they need about 5-10 minutes on each desktop and that is administrators, counselors and administrative assistants only. After that, it appears that they are basically "done" with Zangle. I do use Zangle and it has improved immensely since we started using it. Our support staff at RESA is great. Jeff Randolph responds very quickly. From my observation (phone calls and emails), it seems like about 80-85% of our staff (could be higher) use Zangle with no problems.
 * Question re power school - can we import our students from Zangle or would we have to supply the manpower to input them all? (Sue Y. 10-08-08)) 
 *  I worked at Southgate for over 7 years. During that time, I started with a Windows based machine, changed to a Mac, and went back to Windows. I know nothing of the costs involved but I will say that Macs seemed to be much more user friendly. When I was learning, my partner kept telling me to stop making it harder than it was.

Sue Yee - Just a few things I thought of after the fact (10/3/08)
 * The $55,000 listed for Computer Labs - Student use. If this only funds 32 computers, that's an average cost of $1,718.75 it seems a little on the high side but maybe the cost reflects something that I am not aware of - warranty, software loaded, etc.
 * **//I was thinking the same thing except regarding the teacher laptops.//** //**I wondered if the teachers were polled to determine how they use their computers? Do they all need/use DVD burners, etc.? I know it is much easier for the Tech department to keep the computers uniform but it would seem to me that needs at each building level would be different, changing those costs as well.**// (Carol W. 10-06-08)
 * **It is wise to keep the devices as common as possible to reduce the operating cost (cost of training the technical people, cost of teaching endusers how to use them, cost of parts to support them after warranties expire). Depending on what type of curriculum delivery expectations come from administration, Computers should be pretty much the same for each buy. Also, there is a teacher minigrant program for small projects at the following website. (Bill Jasman 10-08-08) [|http://www.dteenergy.com/community/foundation/miniGrantTeachers.html* *]**
 * I have heard from teachers that the elementary labs are in bad shape - so much so that they have stopped doing projects they were able to do in the past, like power point productions. If this is the case, shouldn't there be a plan to get these upgraded sooner rather than later. If not through the bond money, maybe through another source.
 * There are teachers at the high school who have had their computers replaced in the last 1-3 years. This may be true at other levels as well. Is the plan to do a review of the situation before we buy new computers for all teachers?
 * The example of "dumb" terminals used at the meeting was for Linux - can we use that same idea with Mac or Windows based machines?
 * If you check the website **[|**www.wyse.com**]** and look at the wireless laptop style devices, they run as linux or windows xp based machines, are wireless and have usb ports. They would be much more affordable and only useable within the school environment where they could connect to the Citrix Servers. There is a local distributor for these devices. That way, you only buy and install the software once, you limit access for viruses and photo's and mp3's that young people like to populate servers and share. (Bill Jasman 10-08-08)**