BOBBI KEINSLEY

Technology Interview: Marty Miller

Explain your procedures for technology inventory maintenance. (How do you take inventory? When
and how often do you take inventory? With whom do you share the data? How is the data used for future
technology decisions?)

1.

Inventory is maintained by the Novell Zenworks system. We currently have two verions in use. Zenworks
7 is used for our PCs running Windows XP, and ZCM for our Windows 7 machines. Although we can
maintain an inventory that includes machine hardware and software though this system, to verify their
physical location, we have to do a physical inventory in each room.
State and federal entities have us occasionally report how many machines we have and include requests
for operating system and memory size.
Current inventory is used to help determine which machines need to be replaced. It is also use when
making decisions about software deployments, to determine whether hardware upgrades need to be
figured into the cost to roll out the new or upgraded program.
Explain the procedures and guidelines that are used in planning and purchasing technology
resources for the school.

2.

Hardware is either a planned budget item or received through grants. For programmed budget, typically
Secondary students have a 1 to 1 laptop purchase made, usually the freshman class and support services
such as cafeteria, office, maintenance are purchased as required by attrition. Grants are applied for and
are used to supplement Elementary computer and Small Device inventory.
Some software costs, such as Microsoft licensing, our Student Management Database, and Discovery
Education are programmed into our budget. Other systems are funded through grants or special
programs such as Scientific Learning for Title 1, Rosseta Stone for High Ability, or Plato learning for the
Alternative Schools.
What techniques are used to maintain your current technology? (How often do you update
software? What techniques are used to keep older computers running properly? )

3.

Windows updates are conducted when school is not in session and our DeepFreeze security software
console is used to place the machines in maintenance mode then push the windows updates out. Other
updates are conducted on an as needed basis.
To keep older machines running, we evaluate software requirements to run the newer software that we
push out. Most often we will increase RAM to keep older machines if they are found lacking in
resources. As we use DeepFreeze so lock down the local hard drives, scandisk, defrag, and other disk/file
maintenance are not required. If an older machine is not locked down for whatever reason, we use those
tools to keep machine performance at peak.
How do you manage software installation for all of the computers in the building? (Do you
manually install software on each machine? Do you have individual staff members install software? Is
software installed remotely?)

4.

We use DeepFreeze software on our PCs so non-tech staff cannot install software on those
machines. iPads are not frozen, so staff can install apps on them.. The tech department uses a mixture of
remote and on-site installations. As a general rule, if we can do it remotely, we will.

Describe some of your troubleshooting techniques when working with the technology issues in
the building? (Do you use technology forums? Do you reinstall software or reimage the computers? Do
you obtain advise from colleagues?)

5.

Our tech department uses a variety of sources for gathering information when troubleshooting. Technical
and Vendor forums are used, Locally generated How-to/tips files are maintained on our intranet, and
Google is everyones best friend. We also will contact other tech staff members within the office to see if
anyone has any experience with an issue if we need assistance.
Machine logs, diagnostic programs, and user provided information, and visual inspection are used to
figure out what the issue really is, which is sometimes different than what is reported. The fix for the
issues can be anything from synchronizing the time on the machine, replacing faulty hardware, or
reinstalling software that is corrupt to re-imaging the machine.

6.

Describe your schools network? (How does it operate?)

SCES network is primarily 100MB CAT6 ethernet with a 2gig fiber backbone running between data
centers. There are two Independent Data Facilities (one in the school office and the other in the ceiling
above the art room), and one Main Data Facility located in the adjacent high school. There is a wireless
network that links into the main network that lights up approximately of your school.
Our network uses the Novell Open Enterprise network operating system, and it uses Edirectory for its
directory services to manage user and group file rights and services. This requires users to authenticate to
the system using the novell client to receive access to files and directories and to get drive mappings to
common network folders. This client also ties into the GroupWise Email service and used as
authentication to is unless the user sets up a separate Email password.
Printing is done through a combination of either Microsoft Print sharing or Novell IPP Internet printing,
depending on the resources available in each room.
The district maintains a web content filter (currently iBoss) and it uses the client login to assign browsing
rights, unless the user is not authenticated to eDirectory, then it issues a separate login challenge to get
web access.
7.

What strategies are employed to maximize the use of technology by the teachers? (Do you offer PD? Has
the admin set technology goals for the staff? Do the teacher have access to the latest in technology?)

We have always offered PD to teachers when requested for technology. This PD has always been at the
introductory level, more of a how to use the device or technology. Now with our new administration we
are focusing more on offering differentiated PD for teachers on technology that goes beyond the basics
and more into how to use them in your classroom. We are working with Five Star to come up with our
technology goals this year as we just finished our educational audit. Through this relationship we hope
to establish our needs as a district and then move forward with purchasing new technology for both the
staff and the students.