i. executive summaryhs.shrsd.org/userfiles/servers/server_18623/file/... · 1. critical thinking...

SHRHS Technology Plan 2013-2016

SOUTH HUNTERDON REGIONAL HIGH SCHOOL DISTRICT

DISTRICT TECHNOLOGY PLAN July 1, 2013 – June 30, 2016

Hunterdon County: South Hunterdon Regional School District

School District Profile: Grades 7 – 12

Technology Director: Vincent J. Cifelli

Tech Plan Creation Date: April 19, 2013

I. Executive Summary

The South Hunterdon Regional High School District, a small, close-knit school working in partnership with our community, provides dynamic and innovative educational experiences that challenge and empower each student to strive for personal excellence and positive global citizenship. We are dedicated to offering an integrated, balanced, and creative education in a challenging, encouraging environment. Our mission is to cultivate the 21st century skills needed to compete, connect and collaborate in a global society by developing a culture where all teachers and students use emerging technologies to voluntarily and continuously improve and expand their teaching, learning and productivity in and away from school. 21st Century Skills:

1. Critical Thinking and Problem Solving 2. Collaboration and Leadership 3. Agility and Adaptability 4. Initiative and Entrepreneurialism 5. Effective Oral and Written Communication 6. Accessing and Analyzing Information 7. Curiosity and Imagination

The role of technology in our school will not only support this mission, but will continue to advance and create opportunities that do not currently exist. By continuing to provide our students and faculty with a concrete technology backbone with room for growth and the flexibility to extend current uses and capabilities, we will provide a sustained environment which promotes the infusion of technology in the classroom.

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In this plan we seek to utilize our network infrastructure for increased local and Internet throughput, develop and utilize a private/hybrid cloud environment for both back-end IT solutions and end-user functionality. We are currently piloting a BYOD program for students and seek to further develop that program to hopefully have all students utilizing a device of their own or a school provided device in special needs cases. We also seek to enhance educator communication and development with a forum for sharing their classroom technology uses with each other and promote the introduction of new learning tools and resources and to foster opportunities that will provide our students with the 21st century skills they need. We will continue to explore and utilize social networking websites and tools when appropriate, and we will also seek to provide alternative equipment and devices to aid all types of learners and promote all students to become creative thinkers and lifelong learners. To accomplish this, we will need a stronger collaboration between the Board of Education, Administration, Curriculum Personnel, Educators and the Technology Systems Manager to develop goals, plan, introduce and support the successful use of emerging technology tools, including providing ongoing training opportunities to our staff and guarantee timely support response to issues that may arise in their use.

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II. Technology Overview

A. Technology

1. Current Inventory

South Hunterdon Regional High school maintains the following equipment for instructional and non-instructional use:

248 - Desktop Computers (Mainly HP dc7700 or dc7800 and a few back of classroom Dell Optiplex GX620). Standard issue computers all run Windows XP Pro SP3 or Windows 7 Pro. Standard software includes Microsoft Office 2003 with Office Converter Tool, Open Office, FirstClass Email Client, Symantec Antivirus Corporate Ed or AVG Antivirus Business Ed, Adobe Acrobat Pro, Adobe Acrobat Reader, WinZip/7-Zip, Macromedia Fireworks, Windows Defender, Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, Google Sketchup Pro, Google Earth, Adobe Creative Suite with InDesign and Photoshop, Dreamweaver, PowerDVD, LG Burning Tools or other CD/DVD-RW software, Interwrite Software, Windows Media Player, Real Player, QuickTime, VLC Media Player, Skype, Audacity, NetOp, Flash Player, Java, Silverlight, Learning Ally ReadShare, BookShare/Read Out Loud, Geometers Sketchpad, Math Illustrations, MathType, Geogebra, TI Calc SW, StudyIsland, Rosetta Stone, ExamView, Motic Microscope software, Prezi, RosettaStone, AutoCAD, PTC Creo, Sony Vegas, more.

37 - Laptop Computers running Windows XP Pro SP3 or Windows 7 and a minimum of the standard apps mentioned above.

65 – Netbooks running Windows 7 Home/Pro and a slightly scaled down software set. Mainly used for online research, apps, and office type tasks.

15 – iPads (5 Admin, 2 Faculty, 8 classroom)

4 – iMacs (3 with Lion OS and Office 11 in Art Room, 1 for iVideo and research work in English room)

61 - B/W Classroom/Office Laser Printers

4 - Shared Network Copier/Printer/Scanner (Leased)

4 - Color Laser Printers

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7 - Inkjet Color Printers

1 - 24" Plotter (Woodshop)

1 - Auditorium Projector System with Laptop, DVD, VCR and Cable TV input sources

1 – HS Commons Projector System with wall inputs for laptop, DVD Player, audio to PA system. 2 wired mic inputs and 4 wireless mic system also tied to PA system.

32 - Ceiling/wall mounted classroom projectors with external Cetacea Astronaut 40W speaker for enhanced audio.

3 - Projectors (Shared)

6 – Scanners plus scan to email for Faculty/Staff on all leased copiers

2 – Shared Digital Cameras plus more purchased by and maintained by Faculty for specific course purposes

2 – Shared Camcorders

2 - FlipCams

2 - Document Cameras

5 - InterWrite Interactive Whiteboards

30 - InterWrite PRS Clickers

10 - InterWrite Pads

1 - TI Navigator Calculator System w/30 TI-83 Calculators

25 – Classroom VCR/DVD players with connectivity to projector

1 - Spectrophotometer

1 - pH Probe

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12 - USB Microscopes w/Motic software for PC’s

3 - Portable Classroom Audio Amplification Systems (CST)

Other teacher requested titles also installed as needed

South Hunterdon Regional's Network Infrastructure consists of the following:

20MB Ethernet Internet circuit and additional 5MB Voice circuit provided by Comcast Business

Adtran Internet Router (Data) and Cisco 2811 Router (Voice)

Cisco ASA 55xx Firewall

Cymphonix EX320 Network Composer (Packet Shaping Web Filter)

Barracuda Spam Firewall 300 SPAM filter for incoming email.

Cisco Catalyst Network Switching Infrastructure - (4507 Core plus additional 2960, 2960S PoE, 3560 PoE with a mix of 100/1000 MB ports). Fiber uplink connections from MDF location in Server Room to (5) IDF locations within building. Redundant 20GB fiber connectivity to new UCS Server environment. Redundant 4GB fiber connectivity from UCS Servers to Storage Network.

Cisco Wireless LAN including Wireless LAN Controller 5508 and 48 Wireless Access Points. Segregated Wireless Network segments for Guests, Faculty/Staff, Students, and authorized user personal devices by user type.

Cisco UCS B-Series Chassis with (2) Blade Servers, Redundant Fabric-Interconnects with dual 20GB fiber connectivity to LAN. Dual 4G fiber connections to NetApp FAS 2020 with 2TB storage volume dedicated to Virtual Server environment storage. Currently moving major server roles from 10 year old Dell servers listed below to new VMWare virtual servers. As of this writing, our new virtualized environment includes an Active Directory Domain Controller with DNS and DHCP services which is fully functioning as our primary domain controller. We have also created a vCenter server and migrated our Follett Destiny library catalog system to a new virtual server as well. Next moves are our school web server and email server. Old Dell

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servers will run less mission critical applications such as corporate antivirus, Windows Updates or server as backup systems for redundancy.

NetApp Storevault S500 Network Attached Storage server for backups and IT storage use with 3TB of storage space plus hot spare.

NetApp FAS2020 Storage server with approximately 6TB of usable storage space plus spare disks. Half of storage is setup as CIFS shares for end user file serving over copper with the other half over redundant 4GB fiber channel with backup ISCI access for UCS/VM server environment storage.

Dell PowerEdge 2450 server now serving as a Backup Domain Controller with some legacy file server roles.

Dell PowerEdge 2450 Server running FirstClass Email Server and Internet Services.

Dell Web PowerEdge 1650 hosting SHRHS Website, Teacher Weblogs, ListServ emailing system.

Dell Web PowerEdge 1650 hosting WSUS, Symantec Corporate Antivirus and Email Archiving services.

Generator power plus UPS Battery Backups for all Server Room equipment and IDF locations.

South Hunterdon Regional's Communication resources are made up of the following:

Cisco VOIP Phone System including Cisco Call Manager, Cisco Unity Services, Cisco Emergency Responder, Voice Gateway, 7911 single line classroom and office phones, 7961 multi-line office phones, polycom conference phones, 7914 secretary expansion modules.

Verizon Cell Phones for Administrator's, Custodians and Bus Driver's

AlertNOW Emergency Notification System

ListServ Emailing List

SHR Facebook Page

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SHR Guidance Twitter Feed

2. Inventory Needs

The following technology inventory is needed to improve student academic achievement through 2016. A. Technology Equipment

Upgraded PC’s as needed. Also interested in exploring virtual desktop/SaaS

environment as well which would reduce/eliminate need for some physical hardware upgrades and provide access to necessary programs to potentially any device. This could be followed by remote accessibility as well.

Explore teacher tablet or other device program. Explore student devices such as Chromebooks, tablets, Windows 8 Hybrids, etc

to BYOD or a combination if necessary to get to 1:1.

B. Networking Capacity Upgraded switches and desktop network cards for a minimum of 1000MB wired

connectivity. Mobile Device or BYOD management system to auto-enroll and provide secure

and properly profiled access to all user types if needed to keep up with mobile device demand beyond the scope of manual registration and enrollment.

Review and develop new backup and disaster recovery procedures. Research and choose a vendor for backup software and on/off-site locations for backup storage.

C. Filtering Method Cisco ASA 55xx Firewall Cymphonix EX320 Network Composer (Packet shaping web filter) Barracuda SPAM Firewall 300 (SPAM Filter)

D. Software used for curricular support and filtering

New corporate antivirus (Sophos Endpoint Protection) to replace current outdated and problematic Norton Antivirus Corporate along with Windows Defender, MalwareBytes, or AVG Antivirus

MS Office, Open Office, Google Docs Google SketchUp, AutoCAD, PTC Creo AutoDesk Maya Geometers Sketchpad, Math Illustrations, MathType, Geogebra, TI Calc SW InterWrite Workspace and PRS Software Instructional and Web 2.0 Websites (wikis, glogster, voki, prezi, etc.) Manila Weblogs, Google Sites, Macromedia Dreamweaver Adobe Acrobat Pro/Acrobat Reader

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WinZip, 7-Zip Adobe Flash and Shockwave Player, MS Silverlight Java VLC Player, PowerDVD, Windows Media Player, RealPlayer, Quicktime Roxio or other CD/DVD burning tools Macromedia Fireworks, Adobe Photoshop Adobe InDesign, MS Publisher Skype Video Streaming sites such as YouTube, TeacherTube, Netflix, etc. Rosetta Stone Follett Destiny Library System Motic USB Microscope Software ExamView with textbook test banks, other textbook titles FirstClass Email client (Fac/Staff) Web Browsers (IE, Firefox, Chrome, Safari) Dragon Naturally Speaking, Learning Ally ReadShare, BookShare

ReadOutLoud and other Assistive software titles as needed by CST/SPED Sony Vegas, Windows Movie Maker, Audacity, iMovie

E. Technology Maintenance Policy and Plans

See obsolescence plan.

F. Telecommunications Services

VOIP Phone System maintenance School cell phones repair/replace as needed AlertNOW Emergency Notification System Listserv MH Software Online Calendar Facebook Twitter

G. Technical Support

Provided by System's Manager. Outsourced as needed for specific project support. (2013-2016)

H. Facilities Infrastructure

Cisco Smartnet or NHR NetSure maintenance/support contracts (Annually) NetApp maintenance/support contracts (Annually) VMware maintenance/support (Annually) Internet circuit upgrades as needed. Current 20MB circuit could soon be a

50MB circuit by 2013-14 and easily a 100MB circuit by 2016 (Review Bandwidth Needs Annually)

Review system performance and recommend upgrades/additional equipment as needed. (Annually)

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Cooling systems for Server Room and other switch closets Battery backup and generator power for all IT Infrastructure locations and

equipment. Security Camera/Access Panel System with Network Video Recorder

I. Other Services

Cannibalize obsolete equipment, saving any decent/reusable parts. Sell, donate, or discard unusable equipment properly via outsourced agency to be determined based on quotes given and any associated removal costs if any. (2013-2016)

Assistive Technology Needs

Presently and moving forward, as students are evaluated through Special Services for initial classification or as part of the Annual Review process, the Individualized Education Plan (IEP) Team will discuss the listening, reading, writing, and/or motor skills challenges that might hamper the students’ abilities to access learning materials in the classroom. Recommendations for assistive technology devices/software to use in the school and/or home setting are then made to Administration and Technology Manager so that solutions can be purchased and installed for use.

Educator's Access to Technology

Presently and moving forward, educator's will have access to technology throughout the school. Each classroom has a teacher desk with a networked PC connected to a ceiling mounted projector with externally powered speaker. Classrooms also have a DVD/VCR connected to the projector and/or a DVD-ROM/RW drive built in to the PC. Laptops, document cameras, digital cameras, camcorders, InterWrite Pads and PRS clickers can be borrowed for use in any classroom. Heavier tech use classrooms should look into purchasing classroom sets of necessary equipment in collaboration with Administration, Curriculum Supervisors and the Technology Manager if they already have not.

Internet access is filtered minimally for teachers so that they may make use of various online resources, and a bypass password can be used for temporary access if a site is blocked. Any site that needs to be allowed or blocked under the student filtering policies can be requested to the Systems Manager for whitelisting or re-categorization as student's do not have a password option to bypass the filter like Faculty do. Faculty/Staff can also make use of the school’s WiFi network with school-owned or personal devices. Remote connectivity and/or access to server storage and school

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owned apps via VPN or private cloud is also being explored and a solution is sought to be implemented during the course of this plan.

Administrator's Access to Technology

Presently and moving forward, administrator's and non-educator's will have access to technology throughout the school on the wired/wireless LAN. Each office has a networked PC/Laptop. Projector carts, document cameras, digital cameras, camcorders, InterWrite Pads and PRS clickers can be borrowed for use. Administrators may also take an iPad course to obtain training and an iPad for school use. Remote connectivity as described in section 4 above is also being sought for administrative use. Some staff already use VPN access with Remote Desktop connectivity to their office computer. Cisco IP Phone software is also available for software access to office phone remotely.

Computer Obsolescence Plan

A. Replacement Guidelines in Order of Priority

Critical Needs – Due to breakdowns, mandates, or unanticipated needs. Usage Needs – Change in primary use of equipment. Cost - Ability to get more for less as cheaper, faster technologies emerge. Age – Ability to get productive use out of equipment due to its age and relative

power and capacity of newer models and the requirements of new software to run effectively.

B. Criteria for Obsolescence

Broken Equipment – No longer runs, and is not fixable or cost-effective to

attempt repair. Unstable – Frequently having time-consuming problems that cannot be repaired

back to a fully functional state. Incompatible – Inability to communicate with other equipment/software

packages or work securely with other equipment.

South Hunterdon Regional will not adhere to any specific timeline for replacing equipment as long as it is meeting needs and is stable. As technologies change we will consider all options to ensure that we are providing all user's with equipment that is meeting or exceeding current and foreseeable needs within the constraints of our ability to purchase and maintain it.

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C. Cyber Safety

Filtering Method Used

South Hunterdon Regional High School currently uses a CIPA approved Cymphonix EX320 Network Composer for our web filtering solution. Cymphonix is installed on a dedicated, stand-alone server appliance which is aligned with our Cisco ASA Firewall on our network to examine all outbound web traffic.

The Cymphonix appliance features deep-packet, layer 7 inspection technology that scans, identifies and controls incoming and outgoing Internet traffic and provides advanced bandwidth management, application prioritization, reporting, and spyware/virus threat protection capabilities. Furthermore, the appliance has granular control through its integration with our Microsoft Active Directory services ensuring that the access policies of individuals, computers or groups of users can be modified and/or possibly bypassed temporarily as needed. A fallback default rule utilizes the student rules and guests are even more highly filtered and given less bandwidth allocation since this is a student/educator network first and foremost.

Cymphonix checks automatically each day for software upgrades as well as new website, website category and antivirus updates. Additionally, Faculty/Staff may request sites to be blocked or allowed by emailing the URL and brief explanation to the Systems Manager, who then attends to the request by blocking/unblocking at the appropriate user level.

III. Needs Assessment

Needs are assessed and identified on various levels throughout the course of each school-year. Internal observations and assessments, State/Federal requirements, testing and curricular needs, changing/emerging technologies and as determined or requested by Board of Education, Administration, Systems Manager, Faculty, Staff, Students, Parents and other stakeholders.

Technologies are researched, priced out and often tested prior to purchasing or implementing by the Systems Manager. Additionally, curricular needs and goals need to be planned so that technology is utilized properly. If goals and technologies to support them align then that is a validated need that can be implemented and supported.

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Current Status

A. Faculty's current practice of integrating technology across curriculum

Currently all faculty members are trained on new technologies purchased by SHRHS. Training is given within the realm of the SHR Professional Development Plan during in-service training days, lunch and learn sessions and via additional private training.

Faculty members are encouraged to develop the most suitable methods of incorporating these technologies into their classroom environments and are encouraged to discover and utilize any technology resources they can find that is of benefit to their curricula. Examples are given during faculty meetings, training sessions, via email introductions, and further support is available as needed. Faculty should seek approval from their Curriculum Supervisor or appropriate Administrator and also consult with the Systems Manager to ensure that a resource is safe and able to run as expected on the school network and devices.

Moving forward, we seek to utilize our Media Center Specialist's expertise in 21st Century skills to provide more teacher training through formal and informal demonstrations to our Faculty. Anyone using new technology tools or who has found successful ways to use technology old/new may present at faculty meetings and demonstrate those tools and lead discussions with other teachers, staff and administration to further their use.

A. Current Educational Environment and Barriers

i. Faculty/Staff are assured access to technology to facilitate instruction via System's Manager who maintains the network infrastructure, servers, computers, phone system and other technology devices and programs. All classrooms have at least one teacher desk with a networked computer connected to a mounted projector, DVD and/or VCR. We strive to create more opportunities to provide educators with demonstrations and examples of instructional technology tools that are available so that we can help them to utilize and seek more of these tools in the classroom.

ii. Students have full access to technology at nearly all times in their learning environment. All classrooms are equipped with at least one networked computer, a mounted projector with connectivity to the teacher computer, VCR/DVD Player or DVD drive in the teacher PC. There are shared projectors and cameras available for use as well as other peripheral devices. Introduction of a BYOD program pilot in Spring of 2013 into the 2013-14 school year will allow students to utilize personal devices for in school use at the discretion of

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the teacher. Once analysis of this pilot can be gathered, we can better determine how many students and teachers are utilizing the program, what type of devices are being used, and how many students do not own or wish to use their own device so that the District can look into ways to provide more in class technology to all students.

iii. Faculty/Staff needs are currently evaluated via an open policy where needs are expressed to Administration who will evaluate the request and present it to the Systems Manager for review of implementation and purchasing recommendations.

iv. Student needs are evaluated by Faculty/Staff via requests made to them by students, classroom observation or project needs. Those needs are brought to Administration are expressed to System's Manager who follows steps described in section iii above.

x. The following barriers to using educational technology as a part of instruction exist at SHRHS:

1. Staff may not know how or where to look for technology tools for their classroom or how to utilize something they may think could be useful or have heard about from others.

2. There is no clear cut training procedure to ensure all faculty get help in using technology at any level other than asking someone for help. Systems Manager takes on all requests but there is no dedicated instructional technology position to provide resources and ideas to Faculty or to develop, provide and maintain ongoing training on a consistent basis.

3. There is a communication gap between Curriculum and IT that should be bridged to align goals moving forward.

Technology Integration Needs

In the last two technology plans we did a good job eliminating the fear of computers and the ability to "get by" simply doing the required tasks. A younger overall faculty is also bringing new skills and desires to utilize technology in the classroom. We now need to help our faculty use and continue to discover these tools by providing not only examples and demonstrations and open forums but with timely and reliable support when they do use them.

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Developing efforts (especially in the area of IT/Curriculum) between our administration, system's manager, media specialist and leading technology users, we seek to guide all faculty towards seeking new tools to bring into their classroom instruction by developing a regular and simple forum for bringing forth ideas, examples and demonstrations.

We have also done an excellent job in the last 5 years of not buying equipment without knowing how or who will use it and expecting it to get utilized just because it’s in the building. There are too many buzzwords and consumer devices out there today that can lead to uninformed purchasing requests within a school environment where greater security and management needs exist. With a sound plan designed in advance we can commit to making advised purchases for products that are compatible, have a clear educational value, and have a clear intended use that can ultimately be measured.

We need more open communication to determine the right tools for our school and how we will use them and then make the investment to purchase, install and maintain them. Most of this will come from the curriculum department, teachers and the systems manager. We also need to continue to enable faculty to seek and use tools and increase their ability to show each other the capabilities and share ideas so that we can increase the use of strong educational technology resources and then add equipment to support it as needed.

Additionally, we need ongoing training on instructional technology tools and in areas such as Differentiated Instruction, Blended Learning, Flipped Classrooms, etc. including concentration on finding, selecting and assessing successful use of technology based tools to implement this successfully in the classroom. Either in house personnel if possible or a newly created position should be looked at to help facilitate this ongoing need.

Priority of Needs

The priority of needs is as follows:

1. Develop and demonstrate curricula driven ideas and goals to teachers and clearly define an expectation for them regarding technology integration into their classrooms.

2. Provide onsite instructional technology training for all faculty for tools that align with CCCS and the seven 21st Century Skills mentioned in the Executive Summary at the start of this plan.

3. Provide infrastructure, equipment and support to allow faculty/staff to provide successful integration of technology in and out of the classroom.

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IV. Three Year Goals & Objectives

1. Goals for 2013-2016

A. Consider a teacher mobile device program with the goal of providing each faculty member with their own device as well as, or in addition to a Virtual Desktop or Software as a Service program that provides private cloud access to district computer hardware and software from any device in/out of the building.

The cost to outfit our faculty even over three years was not financially possible in previous plans and will continue to be a stretch. Between a wireless building project and other needs and the relatively high cost of tablets, we chose an alternate route which met our needs throughout the 2010-2013 technology plan.

We purchase refurbished computers for our classrooms and ensured each teacher had a dedicated “home” desk with a PC on it. In each classroom the teacher PC is connected to the fixed projector along with either a DVD-ROM/RW drive in the PC or a standalone DVD/VCR unit. Additionally, we purchased a number of Interwrite Pads, which via Bluetooth connectivity to the teacher computer works effectively to remotely control the teacher PC and annotate or take notes within the classroom but does not offer the on/off-campus portability of a mobile device, but makes that compromise at a much more manageable and affordable cost to the district.

Moving forward it seems the device side has almost too much to offer with no clear-cut best product and the consumerization of these devices (CoIT) gives everyone their own personal “expert” opinion on what is best. The issue is that these devices were not created for the corporate or educational environment and don’t play well with infrastructure that is in place without even more costly components added to the mix to manage and secure them. It may prove wiser to gauge the development and usefulness of Windows 8 and also consider a teacher BYOD program in union with a virtual desktop or virtual application solution or create a mixed option of some sort.

A virtual desktop or cloud based Software as a Service (SaaS) offering could allow us to utilize a full or partial BYOD program not only for Students but Faculty as well. Virtual Desktops could run on shared server space on our network and minimize the hardware requirements of computers, laptops and other devices since the compute needs and storage needs are all located on servers. The virtual desktop brings the user experience that is common to a current Windows PC to any device. Coupled with remote access to this interface and/or to hosted applications such as Office and other school owned titles, a user could essentially

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have access to district owned resources and work from anywhere they have Internet access. This environment could be pushed out to school owned devices or personal devices, the latter providing a best of both worlds scenario where a user can work on the device of their choice yet still access district resources they need and all of it can be reliably managed and secured in house.

We endeavor to sort through the many options and develop a plan to determine what our goals are in the classroom as a District, what technology needs exist to support those goals and put together a course of action to meet them.

B. Create means to discuss and evaluate faculty/staff/student technology needs, in an effort to ensure the timely implementation of tools that will effectively support the goals outlined in this plan.

Discussions took place between Administration as well as Administration and Faculty over the course of our last plan. The Systems Manager, Principal, Assistant Principal, Library/Media Specialist and many Teachers attended various off-site meetings and seminars. Pooling resources together as an organized committee should be a major goal for the next three years.

One of the best ideas was a fish-bowl style discussion at a faculty meeting where educators who had visited another district sat in the middle of a circle made up of colleagues and openly discussed what they had seen, prompting a question and answer session. Simple forums similar to this should become a fixture in Faculty meetings and/or Departmental meetings, where ideas/resources can be demonstrated, discussed and then hopefully applied by any teacher teaching any subject in a relatively short amount of time.

C. Network Infrastructure will need higher capacity switching and increased bandwidth to support classroom and other end-user needs.

The increase in Internet based learning resources is rapidly requiring more and more Internet bandwidth in schools. We have increased our bandwidth 3 times in the last few years and anticipate more upgrades before 2016. Our current fiber 20MB circuit is being pushed to the max regularly in 2012-13 and will most likely need to be increased to 50MB in the next year and could easily be 100MB by 2016. Additional needs starting with an upgrade to a 50MB circuit would be a new web filter to support the additional throughput. It would be prudent to pay for a device that handles beyond 50MB so that any future upgrades to Internet capacity are within the scope of the device.

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D. New Corporate Antivirus solution is needed.

Our Norton Corporate AV solution has served us well for about the last 8-9 years but is no longer supported on Windows 7 and newer operating systems. Even on our remaining Windows XP computers it is a resource hog and is no longer reliably stopping today’s virus and spyware/malware threats with the effectiveness required. Research and testing has been underway and a move to Sophos’ Endpoint Solution is recommended during the summer of 2013 for the next 3 years.

E. Communications

1. Email

While a number of schools are exploring such “free” systems such as Google Apps and Office365, the need to archive email comes at a cost that would actually be higher than running our own system as we do today. A bigger question than the cost differential is reliability of an offsite system. It’s traditionally more effective to immediately troubleshoot an issue than to sit on the phone with and wait for someone to help you, if you even get through in an expedient fashion. Knowing where your information is stored and who has access to it is also an important legal issue.

In the past SHR has utilized offsite email systems with little success. Since 2003 we have been using FirstClass email system with zero virus outbreaks or downtime due to email system failure. Its reliability and relative low maintenance needs compared to other in-house systems such as Microsoft Exchange with Outlook have been second to none. Its only downfall is aesthetics and mobile accessibility, not functionality. With a new release underway, it will be important to review the design changes and accessibility from mobile devices of various brands. Utilization of a service like Google Mail or Office365 would be a great option for student email which doesn’t legally need archiving and is not as mission critical as Faculty/Staff email but may not be the right system for Faculty/Staff email until cost, reliability and added value/feature benefits can be reviewed and tested in greater detail.

A student pilot would be a very good way to do live test of such as system while also getting a chance to use a modern version of our current system which has been ready for upgrade for a few years but was not able to run on our older server equipment which has recently been upgraded. One component that will almost definitely need upgrading is our Barracuda SPAM filtering system. It has taken a few too many power spikes in the last year or so and has some hard drive damage. It’s had some issues during the 2012-13 school year and if those issues persist, the device will need replacing. The subscription for updates and support is good through the November 2014 if the hardware holds up or is replaced.

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2. Phones and Voicemail

We will continue to utilize our Cisco Voice Over IP infrastructure but with our 2012-13 upgrade to Cisco UCS server platform we should strongly consider virtualizing the phone system servers and upgrading to the latest software version ASAP. 3. Parent/Community Communication

We currently use the AlertNOW system to communicate with Parents and Staff regarding upcoming events, school closings/delays, and emergency notifications. With our conversion to the Realtime Student Information System, we will almost certainly utilize their embedded notification system. We need to modify our phone lists on the parent/student side to be more effective and coordinated to our emergency records collected by the school nurse. Via web portal parents need to regularly be made aware to keep contact records up to date and regardless of system used, we should have options for phone calls, text messages and email notifications by contact and prioritize those contacts for all communications or emergency only notifications as desired. We also will continue to maintain a Community Listserv for email notifications and should consider a new version or new system that can better handle HTML emails and include attachments. 4. Teacher Webpages It is time to weed out our remaining SHR Teacher Weblogs and replace with another site. Many teachers have moved to Google Sites which are an improvement, but are not SHRHS branded. Step 1 is to move all weblogs to a Google Site. Then we need to review Learning Management Systems and determine if it makes sense to move to a new SHR Branded platform for teacher web pages and online learning moving forward.

B. Goals & Objectives for 2013-2016

a. Goal 1:

Students will attain the educational technology and information literacy skills that will assist them in achieving the Core Curriculum Content Standards and to succeed in the workplace of the 21st century.

Objectives:

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1.1 Develop department specific activities and projects that use technology

to achieve the Core Curriculum Content Standards. 1.2 Provide technology representation on curriculum committees to make

suggestions and facilitate technology integration. 1.3 Develop and implement an assessment tool to measure the level of

technology proficiency of each student upon graduation. 1.4 Provide students with opportunities to take advanced courses in

technologically related fields. 1.5 Ensure that all students have equitable and easy access to effective and

engaging software, multimedia and online resources for content delivery as an integral part of every curriculum.

b. Goal 2:

Educators will continually improve their skills and knowledge to effectively use education technology to achieve the New Jersey Core Curriculum Content Standards and effectively implement digital formative and summative assessments. Objectives

2.1 Provide comprehensive staff development classes in the use of district hardware and software.

2.2 Provide online tutorials, FAQ’s, and/or information that staff can access

through the district website or email system. 2.3 Provide access to professional development opportunities that promote

the infusion of technology into the classroom environment. 2.4 Provide personnel who offer timely support and guidance to enhance

teacher and administrator proficiency in using and managing technology-based resources.

2.5 Create means to discuss and evaluate Faculty/Staff/Student technology

needs, so that we can ensure the timely implementation of tools that will effectively support the goals outlined here.

c. Goal 3:

Students, teachers and administrators will have equitable access to education technology in order to transform classrooms into personalized digital learning environments.

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Objectives

3.1 Provide classrooms with presentation equipment necessary to deliver

instruction.

3.2 Install and maintain appropriate and updated software on computers.

3.3 Provide necessary maintenance and support staff for computers and related equipment.

3.4 Provide teachers and administrators with individual and site-wide

technology resources that will be used to enhance the learning environment.

3.5 Provide access to mobile computer technology that can be used in any

classroom.

IV. Three Year Implementation Activity Tables

A. Implementation Strategies/Activities Objectives Activities Timelines Accomplished

Goal 1: Students will attain the educational technology and information literacy skills that will assist them in achieving the Core Curriculum Content Standards and to succeed in the workplace of the 21st century. 1.1 Develop department specific

activities and projects that use technology to achieve the Core Curriculum Content Standards.

A. When revising curricula ensure that there is a technology strand written into each new curriculum guide. Power Curriculum will be used and includes state standards for ease of alignment.

July 2013 - June 2016

1.2 Provide technology representation on curriculum committees to make suggestions and facilitate technology integration.

A. Work with individual departments during the curriculum revision cycle to incorporate technology into their curriculum guides.

B. Inform staff through email and meetings about current technology infusion practices and examples.

July 2013 - June 2016

1.3 Develop and implement an assessment tool to measure the level of technology proficiency of each student upon graduation.

A. An assessment tool will be created and implemented to measure the level of technology proficiency of students. This tool should also

July 2013 - June 2016

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assess other areas of learning.

1.4 Provide students with opportunities to take advanced courses in technologically related fields.

A. As curriculum is revised, students will be provided with opportunities to take advanced courses in technology as new courses are added to the Program of Studies.

B. Research partnerships with post-secondary schools to provide advanced technology courses to students.

July 2013 - June 2016

1.5 Ensure that all students have equitable and easy access to effective and engaging software, multimedia and online resources for content delivery as an integral part of every curriculum.

A. As courses are revised and updated, new software and resources will be purchased and written into the curriculum. Web 2.0 websites and tools will be reviewed and utilized for class lessons, assignments and projects.

July 2013 - June 2016

1.6 Provide sustained training for Faculty and Staff in the areas of technology integration and differentiated instruction.

A. Provide onsite staff to support faculty/staff after in-service training.

July 2013 - June 2016

1.7 Train Faculty/Staff and Administration to be able to assess Student's technology skills.

A. Research and develop assessment materials for teachers to assess their lessons and student's learning in line with NJ CCCS Technology Skills.

July 2013 - June 2016

Goal 2: Educators will continually improve their skills and knowledge to effectively use education technology to achieve the New Jersey Core Curriculum Content Standards and effectively implement digital formative and summative assessments. 2.1 Provide comprehensive staff

development classes in the use of district hardware and software.

A. Survey staff to determine what professional development workshops should be offered.

B. Staff will attend at least one technology related workshop annually.

July 2013 - June 2016

2.2 Provide online tutorials, FAQ’s,

and/or information that staff can access through the district website or internal email system or another private shared site or cloud space.

A. Research and implement online learning programs targeted to educators.

B. Create and maintain conference areas and calendars in the email system or a shared site for faculty to collaborate ideas.

C. Research and utilize private/public cloud storage space for program and file access on and off campus.

July 2013 - June 2016

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2.3 Provide access to professional

development opportunities that promote the infusion of technology into the classroom environment.

A. Inform staff of current educational technology trends and research.

B. Share ideas and procedures from staff on how technology is being integrated into courses.

C. Provide workshops during in-service days on the use and integration of technology in the curriculum.

D. Encourage staff to attend out of district workshops on technology as well as in-district ones.

July 2013 - June 2016

2.4 Provide personnel to help educators by offering onsite guidance and train teachers and administrators to increase their proficiency in using and managing technology-based resources.

A. The Systems Manager, Media Specialist, “Techie” Teachers or independent/vendor specific trainers will provide in-service workshops on technology use for all staff.

B. Provide group and/or individual training to staff on the use of technology.

C. Explore the use of stipend onsite staff to help troubleshoot minor technical issues and provide support in addition to Systems Manager.

July 2013 - June 2016

2.5 Create means to discuss and evaluate Faculty/Staff/Student technology needs, so that we can ensure the timely implementation of tools that will effectively support the goals outlined here.

A. Schedule meetings between Dept Heads, Teachers, Curriculum Dept, Systems Manager and Administration as needed to discuss needs and develop plans to evaluate, purchase and implement new equipment and software.

July 2013 - June 2016

Goal 3: Students, teachers and administrators will have equitable access to education technology in order to transform classrooms into personalized digital learning environments.

3.1 Maintain classroom presentation

equipment necessary to deliver instruction.

A. Support and maintain classroom projectors, Interwrite boards, pads, clickers and other peripherals.

B. Research wireless connectivity options to current projector hardware in each classroom.

July 2013 - June 2016

3.2 Install and maintain appropriate and updated software on computers.

A. Determine standard software needs annually and include those software packages on all computers.

B. Determine department specific software needs regularly and include those software packages on top of standard

July 2013 - June 2016

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computer software builds as needed to support curricula.

3.3 Provide necessary maintenance and support staff for computers and related equipment.

A. Review current hardware and software inventory for obsolete equipment to be phased out and replaced.

B. Evaluate and install software updates to increase security, performance and reliability.

July 2013 - June 2016

3.4 Provide teachers and administrators with individual and site-wide technology resources that will be used to enhance the learning environment.

A. Phase out Manila Weblogs and get all teachers onto a Google Site or Wiki page.

B. Research alternative teacher web page options that will be SHR branded and which could provide e-learning opportunities such as Moodle, Blackboard, etc.

C. Review e-texts and online resources to more cost-effectively replace and maintain new textbooks.

July 2013 - June 2016

3.5 Provide access to mobile computer technology that can be used in any classroom.

A. Utilize a student BYOD program as a 1:1 Initiative

B. Provide teacher support for student personal device use and manage wireless infrastructure to support BYOD use.

C. Determine inequities amongst students and develop an action plan to purchase school-owned mobile devices for in school use such as Chromebooks, iPod Touches, Netbooks, etc. for special cases.

July 2013 - June 2016

B. Strategies to Ensure Technology Use Supports Learning

Surveys, classroom observations and discussions/forums with faculty members will be used to further develop, assess and ensure that technology use, including assistive technology, supports 21st Century Learning. Alignment of curricula with the Core Curriculum Content Standards and PARCC requirements will also be closely observed and required. Assistive technologies such as projectors, interactive tools, Study Island, recorders, Dragon Naturally Speaking, amplification systems and so forth will be utilized as well. New and emerging technologies will be reviewed, assessed and implemented if deemed valuable. Current technology already owned/in-use will also be assessed for usefulness and will be removed/replaced if no longer effective. Consideration for assessment

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software/services such as from Bright Bytes to evaluate benefits of technology being used may be in order.

C. Identify Technologies Useful to Reaching Goals

1. Telecommunications

To help reach goals, SHRHS utilizes or plans to utilize the following tele-communications equipment:

Fiber Internet Data Circuit (Currently 20MB from Comcast; upgrade as needed 2013-2016)

Onsite Web Content Filtering and Bandwidth Shaping (Currently Cymphonix; upgrade model as needed to support incoming data circuit size)

Cisco Call Manager VOIP Phone System (Current; Virtualize servers and upgrade to latest version of CCM software 2013-14)

Verizon Cell Phones (current)

Cisco Layer 3 Network Switching (currently limited in most areas at 100MB to desktop and original physical servers; upgrade to minimum of 1000MB to desktops and original servers that stay in use, 4-20MB to UCS servers and storage area network)

Cisco Managed Wireless Switching (Current; add AP’s as needed)

2. Information Technologies and Other Resources

To help reach goals, SHRHS utilizes or plans to utilize the following resources:

Cisco UCS blade servers running VMware ESXI Hosts.

VMware vCenter

VMware Virtual Servers running Windows 2008 Server R2 and pre-licensed for Windows 2012 Server

Legacy Dell Servers running Windows 2003 Server

Dell and HP PC's running standard software mentioned at beginning of this document (See page 3)

iPads and Apple TV’s

Acer Netbooks

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Toshiba and Dell Laptops

Fixed Classroom Projectors (Epson or other) and amplified speakers (Cetacea Astronaut)

Digital Cameras and Camcorders

Document Cameras

Scanners

Interwrite Boards/Pads/Clickers

TI Navigator Calculator System

Document Cameras

White Boards in Classrooms

Subject specific software titles

YouTube and other video resource sites

Educere Online Courses

Study Island

Power Curriculum

Alertnow

Cymphonix Web Filter

Manila Weblogs and Google Teacher Sites

SIRS Student Database System (moving to Realtime SIS)

Rosetta Stone

Google Docs, Glogster, Prezi, Wikis and other Web 2.0 websites and services

Corporate Managed Antivirus/Anti-Spyware

WSUS – Managed Microsoft Updates

V. Professional Development

A. Persons Responsible for Coordination of Prof. Development

Dr. Joanne Calabro, Interim Superintendent

Mark Collins, Principal

Mary Robinson Cohen, Assistant Principal

Andrea Freeman, Interim CST Coordinator

Kerry Sevilis, Business Administrator

Vince Cifelli, Systems Manager

Any local or outside personnel responsible for a system that requires training and staff development

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B. Professional Development Activity Descriptions

1. How ongoing, sustained professional development for all administrators will be provided to further the effective use of technology in the classroom or library media center.

Administrators will be given information regarding technologies being recommended to teachers and invited to teacher trainings. Administrators also have access to professional development of their choice and are encouraged to explore innovative technological solutions.

2. How ongoing, sustained professional development for all staff will be

provided to further the effective use of technology in the classroom or library media center. South Hunterdon Regional High School District provides four full staff development days, two early dismissal days, common team planning time for middle school teachers and time dedicated each day during our hour-long school lunch period for professional development opportunities. Our professional development goals and school goals are completely aligned and are based upon data from our state assessments and staff/student/parent surveys. Teachers have been surveyed for leadership and training strengths and are delivering professional development training in conjunction with the administrative team. Training and support will be sustained with follow up Lunch and Learn sessions or private sessions with another colleague, MC Specialist or Systems Manager. Monthly discussions on technology use amongst teachers at a faculty/department meetings or scheduled library time will also be available.

3. The professional development opportunities and resources that exist for technical staff.

Professional Development opportunities for technology staff include visits to other districts, vendor training session offerings, educational technology conferences such as NJ Techspo or NECC, and completion of specific training courses as needed to complete required tasks.

4. How professional development is provided to all staff on the

application of assistive technologies to support all students in their learning.

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Currently, staff can choose from among professional development opportunities offered via the state, local and private entities. The district continues to work with the Child Study Team and Special Education teachers to explore the available technologies to aid students and use trials of those technologies to evaluate their effectiveness. We do currently employ the services of StudyIsland.com to help students study and learn more effectively as well as classroom audio systems, book reader software, speech to text software and other software titles.

C. Projected Professional Development Activities through 2013

The district plans to continue to encourage staff to explore technology based professional development throughout the school year via federal, state, local and private entities. In addition, staff will be encouraged to attend conferences where new technologies are being used in an effort to explore new possibilities. Staff will be encouraged to attend professional development regarding the use of tablet PCs and a shared arrangement is being explored with a neighboring high school. Our Professional Development Plan will outline the training topics that have been scheduled.

VI. Evaluation Plan

A. Process & Accountability Measures

1. Integrating technology into curricula and instruction

Staff will be surveyed regularly about their technology use and proficiency. Staff use of technology will also be part of the observation and evaluation process. ISTE NETS Standards and 21st Century Skills initiatives and resources will be of extreme importance as will the CCCS and PARCC requirements.

2. Enabling students to meet challenging state academic standards

Through our relationship with the Business Coalition for Educational Excellence and the New Jersey Scholars program, students will be surveyed and have access to on-line resources specifically aligned to state academic standards. In addition, as teacher professional development and integration of technology increase, students will have an increased exposure to the use of a variety of technologies.

3. Developing life-long learning skills.

Through our relationship with the Business Coalition for Educational Excellence and the New Jersey Scholars Program, we will continue to identify life-long learning skills necessary for success, including the following 21st Century Skills:

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21st Century Skills:

1. Critical Thinking and Problem Solving 2. Collaboration and Leadership 3. Agility and Adaptability 4. Initiative and Entrepreneurialism 5. Effective Oral and Written Communication 6. Accessing and Analyzing Information 7. Curiosity and Imagination

B. Mid-course Corrections

1. These skills will be continually reviewed and methods to ensure they are being focused on will be reviewed as new developments/opportunities arise so that they can continually be upgraded and instilled across the curriculum.

VII. Funding Plan

A. Anticipated Costs for 2013-2014

Description Vendor/Part No Price Qty Cost

FirstClass Mail Server Maintenance Renewal FirstClass/OpenText $ 850.00 1 $ 850.00

FirstClass Archive Server Maintenance Renewal FirstClass/OpenText $ 300.00 1 $ 300.00

Misc Supplies (Toner, repairs, parts, supplies, licenses, etc) Various Vendors $ 15,000.00 1 $ 15,000.00 Cisco SmartNets/NHR Netsure (7961 Phones plus all Cisco Network Equipment and Servers) ATP/Cisco or NHR $ 10,000.00 1 $ 10,000.00

NetApp Storage Server Maintenance DynTek or NetApp $ 1,000.00 1 $ 1,000.00

Voice System Upgrade Project ATP $ 20,000.00 $ 20,000.00

New PC’s CDI $ 5,000.00 10 $ 5,000.00

Sophos Endpoint Security 3yrs Sophos/Vendor $ 9.06 300 $ 2,718.00

New Server Backup Solution TBA $ 5,000.00 1 $ 5,000.00

VMware Maintenance TBA $ 1,000.00 1 $ 1000.00

Windows Server Licensing MS Vendor $ 1,000.00 1 $ 1000.00

Cymphonix Network Composer Upgrade Cymphonix $ 10,000.00 1 $ 10,000.00

$71,868.00

Other items:

AlertNOW Service (Bldg/Technology) AlertNOW $ 3.50 360 $ 1,260.00

Follett Destiny Library System Maintenance (Library/Tech) Follett $ 2,000.00 1 $ 2,000.00

Study Island (Student Services) Study Island $ 700 1 $ 700

Educere Online Curriculum (Student Services) Educere TBA TBA

Realtime Student Info System (Student Services) Realtime TBA TBA

Comcast Data Circuit 20MB Fiber -pre Erate (Bldg/Tech) Comcast $ 1,000.00 12 $ 12,000.00

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Comcast 5MB Fiber VOIP PRI Circuit -pre Erate (Bldg/Tech) Comcast $ 289.00 12 $ 3.468.00

Verizon Cell phones - pre Erate (Bldg/Transportation) Verizon TBA TBA

B. Federal, state, local and other sources of funds used to help ensure that students have access to technology.

Identified funding sources used to help ensure that students have access to technology include: E-Rate funding, REAP Grant, NCLB Grant, Perkins Grant, district technology and departmental funds, district fund balance surplus, and private funding sources, including the PTSO, Lambertville Area Education Foundation and corporate donations.

i. executive summaryhs.shrsd.org/userfiles/servers/server_18623/file/... · 1. critical thinking...

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