Overview
Over the years, technology has taken on an integral role in providing both administrative and instructional support within the school district. As we move forward, the demand and need for technology increases, and the applications become more intensive. Therefore, Information Technology Services (ITS) has been evaluating the current state of technology in USD#497 and attempting to project future needs.The ultimate purpose of technology in our district is to help enable the transformation of teaching and learning. With the demands of No Child Left Behind, on-line assessments, data analysis, and greater achievement accountability, technology is being viewed as a necessary tool to help meet the needs of administration, staff, and students. The ITS department continues to receive requests for additional technology to be installed to meet these legitimate needs.
In our examination of our current status, we found that, though we have the start of a good overall system, we are lagging behind neighboring school districts. Due to limitations of technical support, the District has put a moratorium on additional equipment as our building technician to computer ratio is currently 1 to 500+ devices. We have developed some efficiency with network management software and protocols, but these have reached their limits and need to be reviewed in order to continue to gain additional efficiencies.
There were a number of improvements recommended in the 2005 plan. Many of those were funded through the April, 2005 Technology Bond. For description and status of those improvements see the following links: