Date: Fri 20-Aug-1999

Publication: Bee

Author: JEFF

Quick Words:

technology-school

Full Text:

School Tech Plan May Be A Model For The State

BY JEFF WHITE

The fervent dedication to technological advancement is paying off for Newtown

schools, as the district was recently named a potential state model of how to

create, maintain and implement a technology plan.

In a letter to Superintendent of Schools John Reed, State Educational

Coordinator German Bermudez announced that Newtown is one of two districts

being considered by the Department of Education as a technology model to help

kick off a new state technology initiative.

The announcement comes on the heels of a new state grant that Newtown has

received for the amount of $23,238, money to be used for further technology

upgrades and personnel salaries.

"Every time we do a grant, we have to send an approved plan to the state,"

explained Assistant Superintendent of Schools Robert Kuklis. "[Mr Bermudez]

has looked throughout the plan and basically determined that it was a model

plan."

"The plan outlines the initiative strategies for every single goal and

objective of the school district in terms of technology," Dr Kuklis continued.

"What we can do is go through these and do a status check on where we are. We

have a six-month review process, and that review process allows us to go back

and decide `what do we have to work on.' It really is a working plan."

The District Technology Plan that has drawn the praise of the state was

written during the 1994-95 school year. It laid out a bold new course for

where the district was going with technology, including comprehensive

strategies for increased Internet capabilities, inter-district communication

and curriculum integration. With a strong and flexible plan in place, Newtown

has been able to pursue state grants over the past four years.

A High School With

University Standards

The consistent grant funding that Newtown has received over the past several

years has allowed, for one part, the high school to develop an infrastructure

on a par with many universities, Technology Team member Steve Stevenson

explained.

NHS exists on both a Local Area Network (LAN) and a Virtual Private Network

(VPN). The LAN allows for communication and free flowing information across

the district, so high school teachers can share information with other

district teachers on a network that bridges the gap between schools.

The VPN creates security in the NHS network, encrypting it and preventing

users from breaking into restricted areas such as grades and personal files.

The high school gets its Internet connection via a 512K line provided by

Charter Communications, the local cable TV provider. The Internet will be

implemented further in students' curriculum as both a research resource and as

an increased means to share information.

Mr Stevenson said one innovation at the high school has been the creation of

personal files for each student, so that they can organize their work from

year to year, and all district teachers will be capable of tracking student

progress from ninth to twelfth grades.

Mr Stevenson hoped that in the near future, students would be able to submit

schoolwork electronically from home by utilizing electronic mailboxes. The

possibility of each student having an e-mail address is also being considered.

New computers have also been added to NHS' existing arsenal of standardized

Dell computers, which not only means more sophisticated computer labs in the

high school, but that more former high school computers are being passed down

to elementary schools.

A Summer For Upgrades

Both Sandy Hook Elementary and Hawley School saw major renovations to their

existing technology this summer.

Sandy Hook Principal Donna Page said that technicians were busy installing an

infrastructure in the school to allow for both intra-school and inter-district

communications.

This will bring increased Internet capabilities, Mrs Page said, where students

will be allowed to go online and consult various resources when doing author

studies or studying foreign countries.

Computers that had previously been utilized in the high school have now made

their way to the elementary schools, therefore creating more extensive

computer labs available to students, like in the library of Sandy Hook.

The prospect of Sandy Hook, Hawley and Head O' Meadow elementary schools being

fully wired will allow them to finally catch up to Middle Gate School, which

has been setting the standard for technology in Newtown elementary schools.

Middle Gate has been a technology pilot for the past several years. It was the

first elementary school to integrate Internet resources with curriculum. For

the past few years, students have been going online to study planets on NASA

Internet sites, as well as maintaining electronic correspondence with students

from different countries.

The Discover magazine program and electronic encyclopedias are constantly in

use by students at Middle Gate.

Mrs Page stressed the importance of keeping up with technology innovations,

not only in order to make communication within her school easier, but to meet

the needs of an increasingly advanced student body. "A lot of our students are

coming in with this information already, so in a lot of cases, they are

helping us out," she said.

"It is important to better prepare the students for what lies ahead in the

middle school and high school," she added.

An Incentive

Although Newtown has not been officially named the technology model for

Connecticut school districts, its candidacy alone provides incentive for

maintaining a flexible and growing technology plan.

Dr Kuklis thinks two components of the district's technology initiative have

drawn the state's recognition. Primarily, he thinks that the heavy investment

in hardware and infrastructure that has been made in both the high school and

middle school over the past three years has made state officials stand up and

take notice.

In addition, the fact that the district technology plan is flexible enough to

change with the times makes it attractive for those looking to develop plans

for other school districts.

For now, the recently received state grant will be used, for the most part, to

add to the salary of Norm McConnel, who is the K-12 Coordinator for

Instructional Technology. He will receive $20,000 of the state grant,

bolstering the ability to provide sound and consistent training to school

faculty and staff so that they can use the technology more effectively.

As for the district's technology plan, Dr Kuklis will continue to monitor its

progress. "The plan is designed to allow us to really develop and evolve in a

very systematic way," he said. "We update the plan every six months, so every

six months we give the plan careful scrutiny."