Natick Public Schools
Technology Update
January 26, 2009
Dennis Roche, CISA
Director of Technology
Technology Agenda
Topics
• Project Updates
• Replacement Funds Summary
• Community Awareness & Fund Raising
• Challenges for 2009 - 2010 School Year
Project Updates
• Library Circulation System
• First Class System Replacement
– New Teacher Web Page Solution
– New Email and Archiving Solution
• Network Improvements
• Laptop Refresh
Library Circulation System
Upgrade
• Worked with district librarians to research and
select best available option.
• Selected system based on best fit for Natick Public
Schools in terms of cost, functionality, customer
support, conversion of data and reputation within
K12 market place.
• Follett Software’s Destiny product was the handsdown choice.
Library Circulation System
Upgrade
• Upgrade is scheduled to occurred over
February break (2/16 - 2/20).
• Solution is web based and will allow
students, parents and faculty and staff
access to all school book collections from
home.
• Intuitive User Interface.
First Class System Replacement
• A system that tries to be all things for all
people.
• Currently used as our web hosting platform
for teacher web pages and our district email
system.
• Poor support from the vendor and very
limited options.
First Class System Replacement
• New Solution for Teacher Web Pages
– Piloted School World Product
– 27 Teachers across the district participated
– Vendor welcomed our feedback and made
numerous adjustments.
– Now offering various training sessions to
teachers so we can retire First Class by end of
this School Year.
First Class System Replacement
• New Email and Archiving System
– Currently building new MS Exchange backend as our
new email platform.
– All email addresses will be changing to use the new
domain: natickps.org
– Old email addresses will forward for a period of time.
– Cutover to new system will occur during Summer of
2009 to minimize disruption.
– Archiving solutions are being evaluated and will be
implemented when the cutover occurs.
Network Improvements
• Transforming our backend network infrastructure to utilize various
virtualization technologies:
– VMware for Windows platform
– Parallels for MAC platform
• Benefits include:
– Server consolidation; able to provide same level of service with
fewer physical boxes.
– Added redundancy without incurring additional hardware costs.
– Quicker provisioning of new requests when not waiting for new
hardware.
– Less demand for electricity and cooling within main data center.
• Deployment scheduled for Summer 2009.
Laptop Refresh
• New Software Image - Scheduled for
Summer 2009
– New email client
– New network domain settings
– Software updates to operating system and
browser plug-ins
– Retraining of staff on all new features
Replacement Funds Summary
2008 -2009
Objective
Results Achieved
Provided teachers and elementary students updated
laptops and software now is use throughout the district.
1.
Laptop Roll out
2.
3.
4.
Memory Upgrades Project deferred due to priority and avail able funds.
Printer Upgrades
Project deferred due to priority and avail able funds.
Wiring Closet
Replaced all wiring closet equipment at Ben-Hem
Switches
Elementary School.
Computer Room
Replaced old switching hardware in main district
Devices
computer room.
New Initiatives Adde d due to Priority and Available Funds:
Email and
Will provide a robust and reli able email system for
Archiving
school district and achieve archiving compli ance.
Solution
(* Estimated cost not included in original budg et)
(** Does not include cost of archiving solution.)
Library
Web based system offering students, parents, faculty
Circulation
and staff remote access to all book coll ections within
Systems
the Natick Public School Libraries.
(* Estimated cost not included in original budg et)
Fundin g Summary
5.
6.
7.
Sub Totals
Unall ocated Funds
Funds from Spring 2008 Override
Balance of Funds
Cost
Estimate
287,826
Actua l
Cost
245,559
20,000
15,000
65,000
0
3,429
67,772
12,000
5,972
40,000*
23,429**
25,000*
25,587
399,826
174
$400,000
371,748
371,748
$28,252
Community Awareness &
Fundraising
• Taste for Technology - February 7th
• A big THANK YOU! to all party hosts and
organizations that have volunteered to help with
this initiative!!!
• Any individuals or organizations still interested in
getting involved may contact one of the co-chairs
of the Parent Coordinating Council:
– Amy Mistrot at mamistrot@rcn.com
– Chris McLarnon at bearhill8@aol.com
Challenges for 2009 - 2010
School Year
• How do we continue to move
technology forward during
challenging economic times?
Challenges for 2009 - 2010
School Year
• Technology is a moving target and requires
regular annual investment. It will not wait
for us to catch up.
• Staying where we are is simply not an
option because it means falling behind and
repeating a costly and vicious cycle.
Challenges for 2009 - 2010
School Year
• Funding replacement of equipment on an
annual basis is a good step forward but we
need to advance the conversation.
• To fund a sustainable technology program
will require a new way of thinking and a
new model.
Challenges for 2009 - 2010
School Year
• The new model should allow us to share the cost
of ownership.
• Trends in the marketplace continue to evolve and
more mobile devices than ever are being
introduced every day.
• School Districts need to be aware of these trends
and prepare the network infrastructures to support
them. Doing so may put districts in a position to
share the cost of the ever changing client devices.
Plan for 2009 - 2010
School Year
Year 2 of Laptop Lease
203,000
Pilot Managed Wireless Infrastructure
70,000
Pilot Mobile Devices
30,000
Wiring Closet Upgrades
69,000
Fund Raising and Community Awareness
(LCD Projectors and Interactive Whiteboards)
Private
Funding
Totals
$372,000
New Requests
2009 - 2010 School Year
Middle School Multi-Media
Computers
Minimum level to
ensure each Middle
School has effective
computers for today’s
multi-media demands
75,000
Network Storage
Device currently out of
warranty.
15,000
IStaff Module
Needed to consolidate
multiple data bases.
11,000
Total
$101,000
Technology
Operating Budget History
Year
Budget
Inc/(Dec)
FY06
143,578
0
FY07
139,432
(4,146)
FY08
139,432
0
FY09
543,578
404,146
FY10
597,624
54,046
Additional Costs in FY10
Technology
Operating Budget
ConnectED
17,000
IPass Annual Support
25,000
Eutactics - Expanded Use
5,000
Atomic Learning
6,000
NetTrekker
2,000
Library Circulation Systems
8,000
United Streaming
11,000
Total
74,000
Technology Staffing
Help Desk
Support Team
Technology Training
First Line of Defense
Hardware & Software Repair
AV & Computer Technologies
Faculty Training Programs
Classroom Technologies
Technology Training & Integration
Technology
Director
Help Desk Support Team
Network Administration
Data Base &
Development
Network Infrastructure
Data Protection & Security
Performance Monitoring
Projects
Data Base Administration
State and Internal Reporting
Web Development
Network Administration Team
Data Base & Development Team
Technology Staffing
Help Desk
Manager
Technology
Trainer
Hardware
Technician 1
Administrative
Support
Hardware
Technician 2
Technology Training
Technology
Director
Help Desk Support Team
Data Base
Administrator
Network
Administrator 1
Web Master
Network
Administrator 2
Data Entry
Clerk
Network Administration Team
Data Base & Development Team