Internet outage

Just to add to the chaos of the first day of summer school, our Internet connection went down for a while. Actually, it was fluttering up and down, according to WiscNet. By 8:30, we had it fixed, when Zach turned packetshaping back on. We still need to get Lightspeed's bandwidth management working the way we want it.

Summer school ready to go!

We think we have everything ready for summer school to begin on Monday. Of course, there are always a few surprises, but I'm sure Larry has everything under control. Most summer school courses start June 30. 

NKE labs getting set for summer school

Asbestos abatement is complete in the Netherwood labs, so we are putting them back together for summer school. Due to heat issues in the lab, we are replacing the CRTs with LCDs. This should save the cost of HVAC improvements. 

Brooklyn lab swap-out done

New computers should be installed in the Brooklyn labs today. The old ones had a horrible fan noise problem, which made a lab full of them too loud to hear the teacher. The new ones should be much quieter. The computers removed from the lab are being moved into classrooms, where there isn't as much problem with aggregate fan noise.

VPN up and running!

Zach got a VPN working on our PIX, which is really cool. In conjunction with a Novell login program for Windows, a user with a district notebook computer can now log in from anywhere on the net and have access to all the district servers. Local files, home directory, etc. Big advantage over Citrix is the local printing support. The downside is slower access to things, since it isn't just painting screens like Citrix, but it's still really cool.

I also got it working on Mac OS X, though not with the Novell client. (I'll try that next.)

Monthly review

IT Monthly Review

June 20, 2008

The past month in IT:

• The IT department has closed 307 helpdesk tickets.
• Received, unloaded, and began configuring 375 new computers.
• Moved NKE labs for asbestos abatement.
• Set up for summer school.
• Checked out summer use notebooks to many staff.
• Started summer maintenance cycle on hardware.
  

The past month of the Information and Technology Literacy Team:

• Revised job descriptions of Tech and Library EAs to make sure schools have adequate support next year.
  
• Finalized participant rosters for next year's Technology Integration Project.
• Had a video editing workshop.
• Attended SmartBoard training.
  

In the past month, Jon:

• Communicated with other ASUS EeePC pilot projects in Colorado and Maine.
  
• Participated in A-Team meetings regarding staffing and program changes.
• Implemented and facilitated Moodle course: NETS for Administrators.
  
• Hired summer help.
• Hired final Tech Resource Teacher position for 2008-2009.
  
• Assisted with coordination of keyboarding teaching schedule at elementary buildings.
  
• Coordinated installation of multiple projector and SmartBoards purchase with building and grant funds.