It is hard to imagine that school will start in less than two weeks.  There is always so much to do in the summer.  Our part-time network technician, Mr. Sterle (Duane) has been extremely busy all summer.  He goes to every classroom in advance of the maintenance crew.  On his first visit, he removes the computers and takes them outside to clean out the dust with an air compressor.  Then he returns them to the rooms where he unhooks any cabling or power cords so that the maintenance staff can remove the computer tables from the room to clean the floors.  After the tables have been returned to the room, he goes back in and reconnects all the cables.  Then he updates the computers with the latest anti-virus software, operating system updates, and new software.   I haven't been much help to him this year since I am still recovering from a broken leg suffered just before school closed. 

We will begin the school year with brand new computers in the High School computer lab, the Business lab, and the art room. The HS science rooms have new ENO boards.  The ENO is similar to a SmartBoard, but has a more resilient surface and blue-tooth pen technology, making it possible for multiple people to use the board simultaneously.  The science teachers spent several hours practicing on the new boards and have developed lesson plans that incorporate this technology.  Mrs. McLean has a new document camera for her math classroom.  She has taught with a document camera in the past, and she is looking forward to the added capabilities and faster response of the new document camera.

The bids for the building project have been awarded and work is expected to start in the very near future.  We will be working closely with the contractors.  Among the foreseen improvements are faster network cabling and clean power throughout the building, air conditioned server closets, teacher stations with interactive white boards and mounted projectors in many classrooms, and improved wireless capacitity in all classroom areas.

posted 8/27/2009 11:01 AM | comment | view comments (0)