Technology Plan IIReport of the Bow School District’s
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The Bow School District is committed to excellence in education for all students. As part of the commitment, it is essential to prepare students for the world in which they will work. In order to properly prepare students, the school district must make use of all instructional tools available for this purpose.
The Bow Technology Committee was created in the fall of 1992. The membership of the committee represents school district personnel, parents of students, and town officials.
The task assigned to this committee was to develop a five-year plan, which will address the technology needs of the Bow School District.
The report that follows in these pages reflects the work accomplished. It is dedicated to defining the goals and designing the future of technology (i.e. electronic and/or computer technologies) in the Bow schools. This report encompasses not only a study of needs and a direction for the incorporation of technology into the schools, but a detailed outline of expenditures necessary to meet the goals. The committee felt it important to go beyond examination of the current situation to estimating in detail the cost of a plan to be implemented.
These purchase and implementation guidelines are spread over a period of five years with recommendations for ongoing maintenance and upgrading of equipment. There will be annual review of the progress of the plan and reconsideration of purchases scheduled.
As you review this report, be assured that improving student learning is priority number one in this venture. The Bow School District Technology Committee members recognize that this plan is prodigious. We are committed to the belief that integrating technology into the curriculum is essential for quality education now and in the 21st century.
The committee urges that all constituencies in the Bow School District support this report enthusiastically.
The planning team created the following technology mission statement to help guide their plan and future acquisitions procedures and policies:
The technology mission of the Bow School District is to incorporate technology into the educational program in order to achieve desired goals in education:
The Bow School District serves approximately 1600 students in grades kindergarten through twelve, housed in three buildings.
The Town of Bow has historically been supportive of the changing curriculum needs of the district.
As technology increasingly becomes a major part of everyday life, it is necessary for the district to infuse technology into the education and administrative processes. The technology plan presented here is designed to accomplish this task.
This extensive long-range planning process, initiated in December 1992, is based on the conviction that the use of technology will:
The Bow School District’s Technology Plan for the implementation and utilization of technology has drawn upon a wide range of sources and involved many individuals. The planning team would like to acknowledge the contributions of:
Members of the Long Range Planning Committee on Technology:
Ralph Minichiello, Superintendent
Roy Bailey, Technology Coordinator
Pat McLean, Principal, Bow Elementary School
Kirk Spofford, Principal, Bow Memorial School
Sandy Bennert, Teacher, Bow Elementary School
Tim Neville, Teacher, Bow Elementary School
David Gagnon, Teacher, Bow Memorial School
Donna Girard, Teacher, Bow Memorial School
David Heath, Technology Ed. Teacher, Bow Memorial School
Nancy Kantar, Media Specialust, Bow Memorial School
Jeanette Lizotte, Media Specialist, Bow High School
Stan Wawrzyniak, Dean of Math and Science, Bow High School
Eric Andersen, Chair Person, Board of Selectman, Town of Bow, and NH State Represenative
Pansy Bloomfield, Community at Large
Erle Pierce, Community at Large
Al Lindquist, Community at Large
Marie McMillen, School Board
As of April 1993
In the Bow School District, efforts at entering the computer age began in 1984 with the purchase of one Tandy Computer. Although the district has moved forward since then, it continues to lag behind as technological advances in education instruction increase by leaps and bounds.
Currently, the district has 66 computers. Many are on carts so that they may be moved where necessary. Bow Elementary has 26, one in each classroom and one in the library. Bow Memorial has 40, 17 of which are in the 9th grade computer literacy classroom. In the library there is a partial lab setup at one end with 14 computers plus 2, which are shared by the library staff and students when necessary. The remaining 5 are in classrooms, and their locations sometimes change. Additionally, there are 2 Macintosh computers in the Technology education lab (formerly industrial Arts) because funds were recently allocated to upgrade this subject area.
Bow Memorial School administrative tasks such as scheduling, grading, attendance and word processing are performed in the office on 2 IBM’s. An additional Mac with a modem is used in the Assistant Principal’s office for Special education needs. There is no networking at either school; therefore teachers are unable to receive or access student information directly. There is also no networking between the schools or the superintendent’s office.
Without a well-trained and experienced technology coordinator, acquisition and use of software and hardware has been hit or miss. Teachers, lacking the training and proper knowledge of the materials available, have been unable to effectively acquire and utilize technology. At Bow Memorial School, word processing has been the primary emphasis of technology and most of the students have been exposed to this. Some science and social studies materials have been utilized, but there is no cohesive plan to examine the latest materials and determine what would best enhance learning. Use of word processing is increasing at Bow Elementary School, but other software is limited and often restricted to drill and practice. Teachers often spend time troubleshooting rather than instructing during computer use. Little has been done to determine needs and to coordinate acquisitions to enhance circulation.
As of December 1997
In the Bow School District, implementation of the original 5-year technology plan began in the Summer of 1994 with the installation of a LAN at Bow Memorial and 42 workstations. In year two of the plan’s implementation, Bow Memorial’s LAN was expanded by an additional 40 workstations and a LAN was installed at Bow Elementary School with 35 workstations. Years three and four saw the number of workstations at each school increase and in year four, Bow High School joined the district. Bow High School opened its doors in the fall of 1997 with its own LAN of 200 workstations as well as state-of-the-art distribution networks for video and voice.
Currently, the district has 494 computers on its district-wide network. The majority of these computers are arranged into Pods, which are located in each classroom. A Classroom Pod consists of 5 computers, computer furniture, a printer and curriculum specific software for the classroom it is located in. Bow Elementary has 21 Classroom Pods in place and Bow Memorial has 24 Classroom Pods in place. In addition to its Classroom Pods, Bow Memorial also has 3 computer labs: a 17 workstation computer lab used for research, a 17 workstation computer lab used for Computer Literacy and Keyboarding, and a 9 workstation computer lab used for Technology Education. Bow High School opened with 10 Classroom Pods, and one multi-media computer in each of the remaining 26 classrooms. In addition to its classroom based computers, Bow High School also has 5 computer labs on the premises: a 24 workstation computer lab for Computer Science, a 17 workstation computer lab for Keyboarding, a 19 workstation computer lab for Technology Education, a 16 workstation computer Writing Lab, and a 20 workstation computer lab for research and information retrieval.
The LANs of all three buildings are connected together via fiber-optic backbone and to the Internet, thus information can be shared throughout the district and globally. All student and faculty work is saved to a Server Farm which consists of 10 Windows NT servers which are interconnected via a fiber-optic FDDI ring which runs at 100mbps. Once saved to the server farm, all files can be accessed anywhere in the district or via dial-up networking regardless of what computer platform was used to originally create the file, or which computer platform is being used to access the file.
The district wide network, know as BowNET provides network accounts for all 1600 Bow students grades K-12 as well as each of the district’s employees. BowNET also houses the district’s presence on the World Wide Web at http://www.bow.k12.nh.us. All district employees have their own email addresses which facilitate communication throughout the district and globally.
Internet access is currently contracted through the Destek Networking Group of Nashua, NH, who provides a fractional T-1 connection to the Internet via fiber-optic cable terminated at Bow High School. From Bow High School the Internet connection is fed to the rest of the district over BowNET's FDDI backbone. A Proxy Server (part of the Server Farm) administers and monitors student and faculty access to the Internet. A pool of 8 modems allow district employees to access both BowNET and the Internet from home. Using this remote access, teachers can update their email, prepare their lesson plans, and evaluate student work without being on campus.
A mix of Macintosh, Windows NT, and Windows ‘95 machines handles all administrative tasks such as scheduling, grading, attendance, budgeting, etc. Each building administrator and their secretarial personnel are equipped with either a desktop or laptop workstation as are all guidance personnel in each building. These workstations and BowNET allow fast and efficient communication for administration, faculty, and staff throughout the district.
As of Fall 1997, all three school libraries now have their entire circulation and catalogs online and available through BowNET to all district employees and students. Later in the 1997-98 school year, the district plans to electronically link its catalogs to those of the town library. This will allow patrons at either location to browse the catalogs of the other location.
A district-wide technology coordinator has been has been available throughout the implementation of the 5-year plan. He, along with three full-time technology assistants (one for each of the three buildings), has overseen the acquisition and deployment of technology at all grade levels and subject areas. This support structure along with extensive faculty training opportunities have worked together to push Bow into the forefront of technology/education integration for the state of New Hampshire.
Professional Development in technology integration was an integral part of the original 5 year technology plan and included a variety of training forums such as:
In addition to the professional development opportunities provided by the district through Technology Plan funds, the district was fortunate enough to receive Goals 2000 grant moneys for 1997 and 1998 and the Nynex K-6 grant for 1997. The Goals 2000 moneys were used to establish a Summer Computer Camp for Bow Faculty. 50 teachers were paid a stipend of $ 500 a piece to participate in the week-long camp were they studied in one of the following tracks:
The first camp was successfully held in July of 1997, with a second camp to be funded by Goals 2000 moneys in July of 1998. The Nynex grant moneys were used to establish a peer-mentor system for technology integration at the elementary school level. Participating teachers receive stipends for working as mentors to their peers or for being mentored and producing classroom materials and lesson plans. This project will culminate in the spring of 1998 with the resulting lesson plans and classroom materials being posted into a searchable database on the Internet.
The Bow School District Technology Committee, which authored the original five year plan, as well as the second five-year plan which you are reading now, has continued to meet monthly to evaluate the progress of the original five year plan. The committee also oversees all district purchases related to technology. This insures that all purchases adhere to the district’s five-year plan, prevents duplication of efforts, and addresses the needs identified by the committee.
The Technology Committee also encourages the district’s administrators to seek grant funding in support of its five-year initiative. Furthermore, the committee supports the district personnel continuing to apply for competitive grants such as the Goals 2000 and Nynex grants, which have been very helpful to the district in the area of technology integration.
The committee has continuously monitored the implementation of the plan through observation and periodic surveying of Bow Faculty. As a result of these observations, the committee has elected with this second five year plan to slow the pace of technology acquisition, to maintain what we have, and place even more emphasis on technology/curriculum integration and professional development. Please note that Year One of this second five-year plan (1998-1999) replaces Year Five of the original five-year plan.
IBM offers a process called the Joint Education Technology (JET) Planning Session. On three different occasions throughout the 1996-1997 school year, the Bow Schools Long-Range Planning Committee on Technology met to develop a new five-year plan to improve the use of technology in the Bow School District. The committee was fortunate enough to participate in the "JET" process. This process was facilitated by former IBM consultant, Herb Moyer of Multimedia Systems, Inc.
On each occassion, the team met at the Bow High School Planning Offices in Bow’s Public Works building. After being updated on the current types of technology available on the market, the committee members determined the needs of the district and developed a new five-year plan to implement changes to technology in the schools.
The approach used encompassed six topic areas:
These topics are viewed in the following three sections:
This report represents the recommendations of the committee based on the methodology.
Requirements, Solutions and Benefits
As technology progresses at a faster and faster pace, we can barely keep up with it. This has been referred to as "future shock". In this day and age, when computers, the World Wide Web, television, video discs and other ever-evolving technologies have become a crucial part of our daily lives, the schools must make technology an integral part of their operations. Otherwise, they run the risk of becoming increasingly irrelevant to our student’s perception of their world.
The Bow School District Technology Committee members have developed this plan to integrate technology throughout all components of our educational system. This plan seeks not only to advance instructional methods, but also to streamline administrative tasks and enhance communication through the school community. These goals will be met through the following means:
The Technology Committee has developed a detailed long-range action plan to acquire the necessary technology in a thoughtful, logical progression. This plan is a tremendous undertaking and will require the full commitment of all parties involved in order to see it to successful completion. All Bow students (children and adults) should be entitled to the necessary tools which will enable them to meet their academic or professional aspirations for the 21st century.
Class A Upgrade: CPU level upgrade which includes a new motherboard, new internal components, additional RAM, and new harddrive
Class B Upgrade:
Component level upgrade which includes additional RAM and a new harddriveClassroom Pod:
Typically consists of five networked multimedia student workstations, a networked printer, furniture, and curriculum specific software/peripheralsFDDI:
Fiber Distributed Data Interface. An ANSI-defined standard specifying a 100-Mbps token-passing network using fiber-optic cable, with transmission distances up to 2 km. Uses a dual-ring architecture to provide redundancy.Proxy Server:
A server, which passes or blocks packets of data between the Internet and an Intranet. Can be configured to allow or deny passage based on destination, origination, user, and protocol.Server Farm:
In the case of BowNet, it’s a group of servers, which are located in a central location though they serve the entire district. A FDDI ring interconnects the individual servers as Class A stations.Ultimedia Machine:
Ultimedia Machine: In the case of BowNET, it’s a high-end multimedia computer (usually mobile). These units are networkable and include audio-video digitizing and playback capabilities.