DTC October 19, 2006 Minutes

Hello, this is a summary of the District Technology Committee meeting of October 19, 2006.

Submitted by Cheryl Oakes

Minutes from DTC meeting October 19, 2006

Members present: Laura Subilia-Bell(parent/community member), Marty Cryer(parent/community member), Ira Waltz (Asst. Superintendent), Bob Sprankle (Technology Integrator-WES), Cheryl Oakes (Collaborative Content Coach for Technology), Cheryl Mills (Adult Ed Director)
Members not present:
John Osterday (Computer Technician/Network-WHS), Jamie Reynolds (Computer Technician-WES),
Mike Griffin (community member), Megan Sullivan ((parent/community member)),Saul Lindauer (Technology Integrator-WJHS on Sabbatical until 12/1/06)

There are 2 other community members who may be interested in joining the group. They will be invited prior to the next meeting with is set for November 16, 2006 at 3:20 at Central Office.

Cheryl O presented the slide show that was shown to the staff prior to the start of school. The slide show will be added to the district page.

Cheryl O presented a diagram of district technology. A suggestion was made to add the names of the people who represent the targets on the diagram. After looking at the chart and identifying people who represent the job descriptions on the chart it was noted that there is not a tech integrator at WHS. This was/is a concern to the committee. Laura wanted to know how students get direction about working in the field of technology, or where they get direction about taking courses at YCCC. Does the district provide the kinds of education options for technology for the 21st Century?

Marty reported that there are limited offerings for students to use their laptops. Most of the kinds of work done is on the laptops is about word processing. Kids do not understand virus', cookies, pdf? How can this be taught without a tech integrator at WHS?

Netsmartzkids.org curriculum has been used at WES and at WJHS for students enrolled in computer classes. How can we be sure all students get the message about Internet Safety in WJHS and WHS? Cheryl  O mentioned that Nancy Cotty was in charge of a safety presentation. The members offered to help with this endeavor.

There was a discussion about Linux operating system and open source software. Cheryl O will try and arrange a speaker in the future about this new software and operating system. Is this an area the district should be looking at adopting? Linux doesn't have a lot of proprietary code so it is easier to run on  machines that we currently have. What will happen with Microsoft comes out with Vista operating system? Where will that leave the district with functioning equipment?

Laura mentioned that we should look at the community resources for training opportunities on software.


The district should look at how we manage staff development and how we can transform education. Ira Waltz has a 2 year survey of the 9th graders and what and how much they used their laptops in school. The Collaborative Content Coach position was created to help move teachers and students along using technology in more innovative and comprehensive ways K-12+.

Cheryl O reported about HomeworkNow.com has been purchased for each school as a way for teachers to have a quick way to share what is happening in their class, make the email address available and as a way to communicate with parents and the community was a discussion about Web2school as well.  It was decided that we have some good technology options which are being under utilized at the present time. Maybe we need easier ways for parents to connect with these options, more training, more information. We should be aiming for less paper going home with the students, we should be less of a clearing house for all the community agencies and make information available digitally, where we can.

The  main ideas from the meeting:

Better utilize the technology options we have in the district for parents, Web2school, HomeworkNow.com, Internet Safety information, . The comprehensive Wocsd Web site is an example of how this can be accomplished.

Better utilize staff development opportunities in order to transform the kinds of activities we expect teachers and students to be involved with at all buildings and program levels. The Collaborative Content Coach for Technology will be involved in setting this up.

Look at the equipment replacement schedule and determine how best to meet the district needs based on the Technology Plan. Set up a presentation about Linux and open source software.

Look at the personnel need at WHS for a technology integrator for 07-08. How will the gap be filled this year?




Thanks for all who were able to attend.
Meeting adjourned at 4:40 pm.

News Flash!!!
Jamie Cox, a young man who recently graduated from UMO, has been hired at the Computer Technician at WJHS. Jamie will begin work October 24, 2006. You will get to meet Jamie Cox at our next DTC meeting. Jamie C comes with much experience with networks and with ibook and mac computers. We are looking forward to welcoming Jamie C to WOCSD.

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