Natick Public SchoolsTechnology Update

January 26, 2009

Dennis Roche, CISA

Director of Technology

Technology AgendaTopics

• 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 hands-down 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 Summary2008 -2009

Objective Results Achieved Cost Estimate

Actual Cost

1. Laptop Rollout Provided teachers and elementary students updated laptops and software now is use throughout the district.

287,826 245,559

2. Memory Upgrades Project deferred due to priority and available funds. 20,000 0 3. Printer Upgrades Project deferred due to priority and available funds. 15,000 3,429 4. Wiring Closet

Switches Replaced all wiring closet equipment at Ben-Hem Elementary School.

65,000 67,772

5. Computer Room Devices

Replaced old switching hardware in main district computer room.

12,000 5,972

New Initiatives Added due to Priority and Available Funds: 6. Email and

Archiving Solution

Will provide a robust and reliable email system for school district and achieve archiving compliance. (* Estimated cost not included in original budget) (** Does not include cost of archiving solution.)

40,000* 23,429**

7. Library Circulation Systems

Web based system off ering students, parents, faculty and staff remote access to all book collections within the Natick Public School Libraries. (* Estimated cost not included in original budget)

25,000* 25,587

399,826 371,748 174

$400,000 371,748

Funding Summary Sub Totals Unallocated Funds Funds from Spring 2008 Override Balance of Funds $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 BudgetConnectED 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

T e c h n o l o g y

D i r e c t o r

H e l p D e s k

S u p p o r t T e a m

F i r s t L i n e o f D e f e n s e

H a r d w a r e & S o f t w a r e R e p a i r

A V & C o m p u t e r T e c h n o l o g i e s

H e l p D e s k S u p p o r t T e a m

N e t w o r k A d m i n i s t r a t i o n T e a m

D a t a B a s e & D e v e l o p m e n t T e a m

T e c h n o l o g y T r a i n i n g & I n t e g r a t i o n

D a t a B a s e &

D e v e l o p m e n t

D a t a B a s e A d m i n i s t r a t i o n

S t a t e a n d I n t e r n a l R e p o r t i n g

W e b D e v e l o p m e n t

T e c h n o l o g y T r a i n i n g

F a c u l t y T r a i n i n g P r o g r a m s

C l a s s r o o m T e c h n o l o g i e s

N e t w o r k A d m i n i s t r a t i o n

N e t w o r k I n f r a s t r u c t u r e

D a t a P r o t e c t i o n & S e c u r i t y

P e r f o r m a n c e M o n i t o r i n g

P r o j e c t s

Technology Staffing

T e c h n o l o g y

D i r e c t o r

H e l p D e s k

M a n a g e r

A d m i n i s t r a t i v e

S u p p o r t

H a r d w a r e

T e c h n i c i a n 2

H a r d w a r e

T e c h n i c i a n 1

H e l p D e s k S u p p o r t T e a m

N e t w o r k A d m i n i s t r a t i o n T e a m

T e c h n o l o g y

T r a i n e r

N e t w o r k

A d m i n i s t r a t o r 1

N e t w o r k

A d m i n i s t r a t o r 2

W e b M a s t e rD a t a B a s e

A d m i n i s t r a t o r

D a t a B a s e & D e v e l o p m e n t T e a m

T e c h n o l o g y T r a i n i n g

D a t a E n t r y

C l e r k