District Administration - April 2007 - (Page 100)

OverheardOnThePulse • Pete Reilly Extreme Makeover: School Technology We must ensure that technology in our schools gets priority equal to the rest of the district infrastructure. t what point do we as educational leaders begin to take technology as seriously as the other components of our school infrastructure? A Are You Wincing? Wince every time you hear of untrained custodians or well-meaning students wiring buildings on the cheap. Would a superintendent of schools or board of education ever allow students and community volunteers to install the heating system of the school? How about the electrical system? Alarms and Security? Keep your eyes closed tight if you know of schools that have substantial numbers of six- or seven-year-old computers running Windows 95 or Windows 98. Cringe when you hear of corporations dumping old and obsolete computers on schools, computers that computer since the Apple IIe. Shake your head when you see a school district with more than 100 infrastructure support people: custodians, drivers, electricians, carpenters, plumbers, etc.; and a handful of network technicians to maintain thousands of computers in a number of buildings. Pray when you hear of a school district that has no security budget, hasn’t audited its greatest vulnerabilities, hasn’t updated the antispyware on its workstations, and hasn’t had time to apply the latest antivirus signatures or the latest Microsoft patches. Pray harder if technicians aren’t making daily, rotating backups (even in the summer when some staff are on vacation) and keeping them offsite, and if they haven’t a plan on how or where to restore them in case of a ﬂood, ﬁ re, catastrophic hardware failure, or Katrina-like disaster. Many high schools resemble technological archeological sites—if you dig deep enough you are bound to ﬁnd every model of computer since the Apple IIe. will cost the school more in maintenance than if the school had bought new machines. Many high schools resemble technological archeological sites—if you dig deep enough you are bound to ﬁ nd every model of 100 April 2007 same footing as the rest of the school infrastructure. Technology should be current, ubiquitous, and well maintained. Of course this will take money and leadership. Where we spend our money is merely a reﬂection of what we value. I know we value our children. At the very least our job as leaders is to ensure that the 21st-century classroom in America is competitive with the 21st-century living rooms of our students. At best, we could rethink our school structures and embark on an Extreme Makeover: School Technology Edition. DA Pete Reilly is a contributing editor of The Pulse: Education’s Place for Debate (www.districtadministration.com/pulse). Rethink School Structures It’s time to stop wincing, cringing, praying, and closing our eyes to the sorry state of much of the educational technology in this country. It’s time to put technology on the The Pulse offers up-to-the-minute expert opinions on topics that affect school districts, and opportunities to participate in the discussions. District Administration http://www.districtadministration.com/pulse

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of District Administration - April 2007

Editor's Letter
Update
Inside the Law
Curriculum Update
District Profile
Administrator Profile
“See You in Court!"
Lost in Translation
Bonding Agents
Certifying AP Courses
Hunting for Talent - Part 2
Buying Power
The Musty Bookshelf
New Products
Leadership
Speaking Out
The Online Edge
Problem/Solution
Calendar of Events
Overheard On The Pulse

District Administration - April 2007