Tech plan

presented

By KREMENA TODOROVA

Journal Staff Writer

NEW ULM -- The District 88 Board of Education Thursday heard a five-year proposal for technology upgrades, presented by Technology Coordinator Jim Aufderheide.

The plan calls for spending $208,000 on technology in 2002-2003; $160,000 in 2003-2004; $155,000 in 2004-2005; $138,000 in 2005-2006; and $136,000 in 2006-2007.

The plan's biggest single spending item -- one that would be budgeted for next year -- is a $160,000 network electronics upgrade.

The current network was put in place in 1996, and the explosion of new technology has rendered it obsolete, Aufderheide said. The upgrades would achieve what Aufderheide described as a greater level of "convergence" -- or a capacity to merge systems handling computer data and video (or interactive TV).

Aufderheide also pointed to the possibility of investing into an even higher "convergence level," enabling the system to potentially also handle voice (telephone) data.

"If we are ever going to consider phones in the classrooms, perhaps this is something we ought to look at," he said, adding that the "voice override" capability would push the cost up an extra 10-15 percent.

If funded, the plan would also ensure that by the fourth year of the five-year cycle, computer equipment districtwide would be no more than five years old, said Aufderheide -- who, however, noted that any technology projection is "a dream at best."

In line with this goal, the proposal calls for replacing 20 percent of the faculty's computers each year -- or 32 computers a year, at a cost of $1,000 each.

Currently, 40 percent of the staff computers are older than five years, and do not support the software teachers would like to use, Aufderheide said.

Another recurring spending item is a $16,000 annual appropriation for "mini-grants." Mini-grants are intended to help teachers select software that fits their curriculum needs, said Aufderheide, who stressed this item is a high priority for him.

Starting in the second year, the five-year plan also calls for replacing two computer labs a year (three labs in 2005-2006, the fourth year of the plan), to ensure a capability to run current technology.

"The goal is to keep at least one lab with current technology in each building," Aufderheide said. "This model includes rotating labs in order to remove the oldest each year."

Five of the current 11 labs are older than five years, and three are seven years old, with no CD ROMs, Aufderheide said.

Each new lab is projected to cost $30,000.

Other elements of the plan are: replacing computers and lasers in each office on a four-year cycle (for a combined cost of $14,000 in 2003-2004 and $19,000 in 2004-2005); purchasing new circulation and catalog machines and new servers for the media center ($24,000 in 2003-2004); replacing district servers used for administrative and staff data sharing and storage and serving e-mail and web pages ($14,000 in 2003-2004); replacing building servers used for administrative and staff data sharing and storage and student information storage ($14,000 in 2004-2005); and replacing network servers and management stations used to provide and manage network operations such as Internet proxy services, DNS provision and traffic monitoring ($14,000 in 2004-2005).

In other developments, the board:

-- Approved budget revisions to reflect changes in enrollment data and higher than anticipated funding from the state;

-- Held the first reading of a staff development policy;

-- Approved a part-time Spanish interpreter position.