Wednesday, November 9, 2016

Newsletter November 9, 2016 : Staff Computers Wave 2 ,Status of Building Needs, Network Timeline Update

Staff Computers Wave 2

Last year in November, we started gathering information from staff on preference between desktop and laptop for the first wave of teacher replacement computers. This covered half of the staff. This month, I will be distributing a new survey to the remaining members of the staff to order and address these replacements.

Computers will arrive likely over winter break and we will begin distributing them early next year. There is a certain amount of setup time so computers will be distributed in the same manner as last year. This will finish off our remaining staff who have been patiently waiting for new machines. The board was kind enough to shorten this 3 year cycle to a 2 year due to the need. 

Status of Building Needs

Thanks for your quick reporting of issues. In the case of printers, some of them are not owned by the district and Ed worked with the companies to gain access to get them up and running with new addresses. Most recently, the high school library and guidance office are back online. Make sure to use the trouble reporting tools for any other issues. It is helping us to make sure nothing is missed. Both Ed and Don have been working hard to follow up on all issues. Thanks for your support.


With regards to any HVAC issues, Navitus (the company that manages our energy controls) is currently working with the operations office to fix these. There is a solution in place to better organize these by building that will quickly resolve and prevent the cause of the original problem. Thanks for your patience and reporting of these issues. They have been relayed to Jim Russo to be addressed. 

Network Update

The team wiring all 4 buildings and placing the wireless access points is finishing up. There was Air Testing taking place this week so we didn't want to turn on the new wireless until that was done. Wednesday, November 16 and 17 are the dates that the company will be turning on the new wireless. You'll notice that devices are being put in every other classroom. This will increase our capacity and also correct problems in areas where we currently have limited or no wireless.

The new wireless access points will have the same passwords as the current wireless. Due to this, a number of devices may connect automatically. If not, a reboot may be needed. We will send specific information in a follow up email as we get closer. It will work the same as our current wireless in that you will enter the password and be able to move between access points without having to reconnect again. 

Also in the plans is a guest account. We will start having our students use this for phones and other BYOD. We want to separate them from our instructional devices so we can have better control over our bandwidth.