Date: Fri 20-Feb-1998

Publication: Bee

Author: MICHEL

Quick Words:

schools-technology-budget

Full Text:

Schools Look Forward To A Major Technological Upgrade

BY MICHELE HOGAN

Newtown's school system is poised to embark on a major technological upgrade.

The bottom line this year on the technology shopping list for the schools is

$431,242.

This total includes technology intended for instructional purposes ($402,792),

computer equipment for the technology services office ($22,450), and $6,000

for a computer to monitor bus transportation and to replace the printer used

for administrative purposes.

Other costs associated with technology are five full-time salaries (the three

people in technology services and the two yet to be hired), instructional

materials/supplies software ($94,855), staff training ($20,850), and staff and

program development ($23,580).

The schools will be hiring someone to oversee software selection and teacher

training, as well as a technical support person.

In the meantime, each school has put in its budgetary request for hardware.

All 128 computers requested for student use are Apple products.

Hardware selection automatically limits the software selection because many

software programs will run only on a Mac (Apple) or a PC, but not both.

Eighty-six of the requested computers are Macintosh desktop computers, and the

remaining 42 are Apple laptops, with some schools requesting primarily

desktops and other schools primarily laptops.

Within the next year or so, the district would like to have computers within

each school connected to a local area network (LAN) to share programs. Then

they would like to connect each school's LAN together, so all the schools and

administration share a common "backbone."

John Torok, business director for Newtown schools, is working on two major

financing deals to help with the schools' technology improvements.

A national organization of schools and libraries is offering major grants for

computer infrastructure within schools.

Because Newtown got an early start on the infrastructure when the renovations

were being done at the high school, unlike many school districts, Newtown is

in an excellent position to apply for grant money now, Mr Torok said.

He is also considering arrangements for a lease or low-interest loan.

Newtown Middle School received a grant of $108,000 to create a LAN in the

school last year. Controlled Internet access would be available through a Unix

server available to the networked computers.

Software

The district is looking at spending approximately $95,000 in software and

other instructional materials related to technology.

A new person will be hired to work with teaching staff in software selection

and training.

The Board of Education gets better prices in licensing software, and software

support is simplified, if the same software programs are used throughout many

schools in the district.

Microsoft Office Suite will be the standard production program used by school

administration and high school students on both Mac and PC platforms.

The expected cost is $15,600 to license for 300 computers, which is $52 per

software installation. But Henryk Michnowicz, director of information

technology for the district, said that they may be able to get a slightly

lower price.

In the elementary schools, ClarisWorks is a popular curricular production

program (especially in grades three-five) and Kidpix is a popular drawing

program used frequently by students in Kindergarten through second grade.

Reference programs such as Grolier, Grolier 98 and Encarta are used by Middle

Gate and Newtown Middle School.

Computer assisted design (CAD) programs (for architecture, etc) and Pagemaker

publishing programs are both professional-level software programs used on

personal computers (PC) at the Newtown High School.

Mac or PC?

Even though most software is written for PCs, and Apple products have only 5

percent of market share, Mr Torok defended the school system's decision to

purchase Apple products.

He said that "Microsoft is not going to let Apple go under," noting that Apple

has $1.2 billion in cash and Microsoft has invested $150 million to start a

new venture with Apple. (In exchange for the $150 million from Microsoft,

Apple has agreed to have Microsoft Internet Explorer as the default browser on

new Apples.)

Tom Swetts, a Newtown High School teacher, said that Macs are best for the

arts, and the PC is best for business applications, so both have their place.

Robert Kuklis, assistant superintendent of schools, said that he uses a PC but

understands that many Apple users within the school system prefer Apple. He

said that "Mac came out with good educational software early, and a lot of

people became married to Mac."

In Newtown schools, elementary students use Macs almost exclusively.

Middle school and high school students use both platforms, depending on the

applications needed.

Mr Michnowicz said that the schools have made a commitment to support both Mac

and PC platforms.

From a technical point of view, Steve Stevenson, technology operations manager

for the district, said that when something goes wrong with a PC, it is more

time consuming to solve than problems with a Mac, so he is pleased that the

schools are requesting Macs.

How Many Computers?

Mr Michnowicz said that the emerging standard is six students for every

computer. He said that the technology plans for Newtown district calls for 830

computers, which is an appropriate number of computers to meet an enrollment

of 4,262 students.

He also said that every teacher and administrator should have a computer.

A technical support position, paying $27,000 a year, is in the budget "to

provide direct operational assistance to all employees of the school system in

their use of technology," wrote Superintendent of Schools John Reed. Much of

the assistance, it is hoped, can be done over the telephone.

In-service teacher training on specific computer applications will also be

provided.

Gail Seymour, teacher at Newtown Middle School, offers teacher training

programs in the Mac programs of ClarisWorks and Hyperstudio and in PC programs

of Windows and Pagemaker. She also provides training for teachers on Excel, a

spreadsheet program.

Ms Seymour is also bringing in two science teachers from Brookfield, Ken Royal

and Tim Laughlin, to demonstrate ways of integrating the Internet with

curriculum.

These teachers provide their own students with a web page listing homework

assignments with relevant Internet links, and names of subject experts that

students can e-mail.

Dr Kuklis expects to provide other teacher training once the person who will

be responsible for software support is hired.

Internet

Currently each of the elementary schools has at least three Internet

connections, although in most elementary schools, the students are not yet

allowed to access the Internet.

The middle school can handle up to 20 Internet connections at a time.

The high school has five connections available now, but by next month,

Internet access should be available on all networked computers. That means

most classrooms will have Internet access.

Mr Stevenson said that there will be a filter installed on the proxy server

for the purpose of screening inappropriate material from the Internet. He said

he would also like teachers to supervise their students' Internet

explorations. Also, before minors are allowed Internet access, schools must

receive parental consent.

Mr Stevenson said that Newtown High School will get the first high speed cable

Internet hook-up in Newtown, probably sometime next month. (A fiber optic line

already existing between Newtown High School and Charter Communications makes

this early hook-up possible.)

Middle Gate School has two computers on the Internet in the library and one in

the computer lab. The students are allowed Internet access and actually

contribute to the content of the school web site.

The address of the Newtown schools website is

http://k12.wcsu.ctstateu.edu/~Ãnhslmc/NHSHomePage.html

Middle Gate School's Internet site is at the address,

www.nthamg@k12.wcsu.ctstateu.edu

Mr Michnowicz said that a simpler address, such as www.newtown.ct.edu might be

coming in the future.

Laptops or Desktops?

The technology equipment list for the district includes both laptop and

desktop computers.

Hawley has requested 12 desktop computers, two of which are portable computers

on carts at a total cost of $23,120.

Head O' Meadow wants 30 Powerbooks to allow every child in the class to have

their fingers on the keyboard. These Powerbooks would cost $67,170.

While laptops are more expensive and often more fragile than comparable

desktops and are harder to upgrade as needs and technology change, Apple

provides schools with a major discount, according to Mr Torok.

Mr Torok said that laptops can be used in classrooms during the day, and at

home with teachers in the evenings, maximizing their usefulness.

Pilot Technology

Mr Torok said that Middle Gate Elementary is technologically ahead of the

other three elementary schools, which are pretty much on par with each other.

Middle Gate Elementary School was the first elementary school to get set up

with a local area network (LAN) enabling many of the school's computers to

share reference materials.

Donna McGough, media resource specialist at Middle Gate School's library, said

that the Discover magazine program is in constant use by students, and Grolier

'98 is also an exceptionally useful program, especially for maps.

Middle Gate is also the first elementary school to integrate Internet

resources with curriculum.

For example, kindergartners have been using NASA Internet sites to study the

planets, and fourth graders have been learning about life in Israel first-hand

via e-mail correspondence.

Mr Torok is pleased with the pilot study at Middle Gate School.

He said that "our goal is for computers to be transparent, to be fully and

seamlessly integrated into the classroom as a learning tool."

"Middle Gate has done extremely well with that. The challenge is to get the

other three buildings up," he said.

LAN Infrastructure

Newtown High School has 120 computers connected to an LAN, and the remaining

80 can get on the network, to enable them to share programs and resources

including those available at the resource center.

Mr Michnowicz projected that by June, over 300 computers at the high school

would be on the LAN.

Newtown Middle School received a $108,000 grant to build an infrastructure for

a school wide LAN, and will be adding eight more computer systems to give some

classrooms access to the system.

Middle Gate School is totally networked.

The other elementary schools have networked computers in computer labs, which

allow many computers to share the same printer.

Language Lab

At the Newtown High School, the proposal is to spend $99,000 on equipment to

be used primarily for students studying foreign languages. In the

superintendent's budget, Dr Reed describes the equipment: "The language lab

would enable teachers to use several software programs [audio cassettes, audio

CD's, video tape, video disc or slide film] instructionally in one location at

the same time.

"The lab would provide students with the best auditory components for

practicing and using the language they are studying and allow teachers to

monitor and assess individual student performance under ideal conditions."

Although the Board of Education seemed generally supportive of this budget

item, Elaine McClure, secretary, said, "It sounds good, and a nice thing to

have, but is it necessary? I don't know."