Features
Back-office business: How Schools GET IT DONE, August 2011
8/1/2011 By:
Oklahoma District Chooses a
New Student Data System
Challenge: The
17,000-student Broken
Arrow (OK) Public
Schools needed to ease
the heavy burden of state reporting and give educators
access to key student data.
Solution: School leaders in the Tulsa suburb went with
the Mizuni District Solution for several reasons, not the least
of which was the positive feedback they heard from other
districts using the product. State reporting is a lot easier,
thanks to Mizuni’s automated processes, says Cathy Brown,
the district’s assistant director for student management. In
addition, the district’s network is relieved from time-intensive
reporting and educators can extract and receive data
from several different platforms and applications.
Philadelphia Elementary
School Ups the Tech Ante
Challenge: When Philadelphia (PA) planned to open the
K-8 Stephen Decatur School in the fall of 2011, it wanted
to extend its already innovative instruction into new areas.
Solution: Principal Charles Connor used a $10,000
Lindback Foundation Award to beef up the curriculum with
an iPad lab, a student-run Virtual Help Desk, e-books, and
student-produced video content. Academic Tech Pack will
provide the iPads, professional development, and curricula
aligned to state standards.
Affordable Access to Virtual
Servers
Challenge: The nonprofit cloud-computing consortium
for Illinois schools, IlliniCloud, needed affordable access to
virtual servers, online storage, and high-speed connectivity
across the state.
Solution: IlliniCloud worked with CDW to share data
center resources and costs among schools across the
state. CDW sales and solution architects provide on-site
consultation and services to help the consortium plan and
implement the solution. Previously, data backup and virtual
servers were financially out of reach for the Champaign Unit
4 (IL) School District. Now the district has a comprehensive,
off-site disaster-recovery solution. “We have peace of mind
knowing that if our network goes down, our information is
saved and available,” says Roger Grinnip, director of information
technology at Champaign.
Kansas Districts Adopt Fiber
Optic WANs
Challenge: Two districts in Kansas
want to be prepared for ever-increasing
large-bandwidth applications.
Solution: Riverside USD #114 in
Elwood, Kansas and USD #431 in
Hoisington, Kansas signed long-term agreements with
Unite Private Networks (UPN) to provide high-bandwidth,
fiber-based communications networks. “Bandwidth is a very
important commodity to our school district, like power and
water,” says Bill Lowry, superintendent of USD #431. “Being
in control of our growth allows us to use this WAN as a
foundation for our future.”