School Changes

[Diane Amberg]

No USDA rural development money available? Not even to underwrite the loan? Are you going to go all wireless for your computers? Just me being nosey.

[pepelect]

No USDA rural development money available? Not even to underwrite the loan? Are you going to go all wireless for your computers? Just me being nosey.

The federal dollars that we have found available have many strings attached.  Such as a stimulus bill provided loan at 0% interest has a labor clause that you have to pay union prevailing wage.  The bond interest is right now going to be 4.25% the increase in labor from a right to work state like Kansas to union scale is between 10-15%.  So you will increase your obligation just to say that you got a 0% loan.  It doesn't make sense.

The wireless thing is very promising.  We have figured out that we can buy every child in the entire district a laptop computer and keep them in a base unit cart cheaper than utilizing the existing wired networks that we currently do not have enough of.  Instead of building a computer lab so to speak it is cheaper in the long run to buy the computers and wire the building.  There is a lot of bluetooth, broadband based tech that we don't even use yet.

As far as USDA money, we have been pursuing a water system in the county for about 5 years.  Our school can't have that kind time frame.

[Diane Amberg]

Gotcha, thanks.
   One of the things Providence Creek Charter did here to save money, and it does look kinda cool,i s they have open ceiling in a lot of areas with visible ducts and all, and all the floors are simple poured concrete with a sort of mottled pattern to the concrete. Saved about $150,000. We don't get the vicious hail storms here that you do, so I don't think you could use "drive it" walls like we did with Newark Charter.The bad economy here did help too. Providence Creek came in at about $115.00/sq.ft. The builders were hungry. Charters here don't need to use union labor either. Are you considering Geothermal? I did see the building drawings....looks good.

[Lookatmeknow!!]

I think that the people that are working towards getting this bond to pass should be commended.  They are putting countless hours into it.  I am proud to say that I am a VOTE YES person!!  I am for the new school.  I think that there are way more positives than negatives to having the new grade school in Howard.  Do I care if my taxes are raised?  Yes I do.  But the cost of the taxes are little compared to the education of my girls.  I want what is best for my children and if it means a few dollars more in taxes so be it!!    

At both open house, the committee for the  "VOTE YES"  were there to answer questions, give out information, and even had a wonderful movie to show people.  I think that all these members are doing a great job!!

So in November when it's time to vote, I hope that you go to the polls with an open mind and think about the future of our children in this community, not just the worry of the money it might cost.  What's a few dollars when are childrens future are at stake!!!

[srkruzich]

No USDA rural development money available? Not even to underwrite the loan? Are you going to go all wireless for your computers? Just me being nosey.

The federal dollars that we have found available have many strings attached.  Such as a stimulus bill provided loan at 0% interest has a labor clause that you have to pay union prevailing wage.  The bond interest is right now going to be 4.25% the increase in labor from a right to work state like Kansas to union scale is between 10-15%.  So you will increase your obligation just to say that you got a 0% loan.  It doesn't make sense.

The wireless thing is very promising.  We have figured out that we can buy every child in the entire district a laptop computer and keep them in a base unit cart cheaper than utilizing the existing wired networks that we currently do not have enough of.  Instead of building a computer lab so to speak it is cheaper in the long run to buy the computers and wire the building.  There is a lot of bluetooth, broadband based tech that we don't even use yet.

As far as USDA money, we have been pursuing a water system in the county for about 5 years.  Our school can't have that kind time frame.

I sure hope yall don't make the mistake of using apple computers for your laptops that your talking about.   The business world uses Intel based computers not apples.  Also if your going wirelesss, you are going to need NIS servers stationed around to balance the load. YOu can't just throw everyone on one computer server or nothing will work as it will bottleneck especially when you end up with lots of video intensive apps.  The other thing your going to have to address is the limitations of wireless speedwise vs wired.  Currently with wired you can get 1gb bandwidth, wireless comes nowhere near that speed. You'll need at least 368kbs for video to run across the network and thats slow.

Are yall going to allow the students to carry the laptops home?  If so, buying a insurance plan to cover all the laptops is going to be necessary and then you can go with laptops that are designed to withstand kids.  Their a bit more expensive but worth it for the investment.
The lapper can also go with the kid from grade to grade. 

You can eliminate books by utilizing software disks that are downloaded onto the laptops.  That will produce a massive savings every year and make it healthier for the kids to not have to carry a ton of books everywhere.

[Mom70x7]

I know some of these answers! 

I sure hope yall don't make the mistake of using apple computers for your laptops that your talking about.   The business world uses Intel based computers not apples.  Also if your going wirelesss, you are going to need NIS servers stationed around to balance the load. YOu can't just throw everyone on one computer server or nothing will work as it will bottleneck especially when you end up with lots of video intensive apps.  The other thing your going to have to address is the limitations of wireless speedwise vs wired.  Currently with wired you can get 1gb bandwidth, wireless comes nowhere near that speed. You'll need at least 368kbs for video to run across the network and thats slow.

Are yall going to allow the students to carry the laptops home?  If so, buying a insurance plan to cover all the laptops is going to be necessary and then you can go with laptops that are designed to withstand kids.  Their a bit more expensive but worth it for the investment.
The lapper can also go with the kid from grade to grade.

You can eliminate books by utilizing software disks that are downloaded onto the laptops.  That will produce a massive savings every year and make it healthier for the kids to not have to carry a ton of books everywhere.

The computers bought so far have NOT been Apples.
The students will NOT take the laptops home - at least not under the current plan. The laptops are for classroom access and use.
Software textbooks are being looked into. No decision has been made yet.

[pepelect]

I sure hope yall don't make the mistake of using apple computers for your laptops that your talking about.   The business world uses Intel based computers not apples.  Also if your going wirelesss, you are going to need NIS servers stationed around to balance the load. YOu can't just throw everyone on one computer server or nothing will work as it will bottleneck especially when you end up with lots of video intensive apps.  The other thing your going to have to address is the limitations of wireless speedwise vs wired.  Currently with wired you can get 1gb bandwidth, wireless comes nowhere near that speed. You'll need at least 368kbs for video to run across the network and thats slow.
Are yall going to allow the students to carry the laptops home?  If so, buying a insurance plan to cover all the laptops is going to be necessary and then you can go with laptops that are designed to withstand kids.  Their a bit more expensive but worth it for the investment.
The lapper can also go with the kid from grade to grade.  
You can eliminate books by utilizing software disks that are downloaded onto the laptops.  That will produce a massive savings every year and make it healthier for the kids to not have to carry a ton of books everywhere.

The only apples currently outside the lunchroom are in the art department.  They are much better than pc's in that area.  The current plan would have laptop carts in the classrooms.  None of this is board policy just speculation and outside assessments.

[srkruzich]

The only apples currently outside the lunchroom are in the art department.  They are much better than pc's in that area.  The current plan would have laptop carts in the classrooms.  None of this is board policy just speculation and outside assessments.

YEs that is true apples are a graphic computer.  So art would be better off with a apple.  I've done this before and it is a excellent way to go but you have to make sure that you have the right equipment to serve the laptops. IF you don't, your system will crash and burn.  One major thing that you don't want someone to do is come in and sell you a total microsoft solution either.  Windows can't handle the loads put on it and you'll be spending more time fighting virus's and hackers than you will anything else.  Set up a rock solid server solution and you won't spend a fortune in maintaining the servers.

[pepelect]

I agree completely.
I really think this needs to be done with a new building or not. 

It seems that the technology would be more cost effective in the long run than to buy the books.  I know even when we attended there was not enough English books for both classes of students to take one home so the book had to stay in the room.  The only problem I would have with that is lit is very hard to teach on a computer.  There is something about the tactile feel of a book while you are reading that you don't get reading on a screen.  But most curriculum would work just peachy.

[srkruzich]

I agree completely.
I really think this needs to be done with a new building or not. 

It seems that the technology would be more cost effective in the long run than to buy the books.  I know even when we attended there was not enough English books for both classes of students to take one home so the book had to stay in the room.  The only problem I would have with that is lit is very hard to teach on a computer.  There is something about the tactile feel of a book while you are reading that you don't get reading on a screen.  But most curriculum would work just peachy.

That makes sense.  I myself read more on computer than i do any books, partly because  of my eyesight.  The plan i submitted to several schools when i did a proposal to go digital was that every student from 1st grade to 12th grade got a laptop.  Each student carried it with them and 1st graders used the same lapper til they went to middle school, middle school til high school and highschool all the way to graduation.
The highschoolers got the laptop upon graduation to take to college with them as a reward for sticking with it and graduating.  The justification for the cost was that the laptop was beyond its useful years for a school but still good enough to start a college kid off.
The software was stored on central computers operating in the school, and the kids would download the image onto their hard drives and mounted as a disk on their computer to access.  Its a VM technology that takes a disk image and turns it into a virtual drive.

Anway i projected the costs for the school system and found that by doing this, plus the cost of the software and licenses, they bought it all lock stock n barrel plus a maintenance contract for the first year in the initial purchase for 1/4 less than what it would have cost them to buy books, provide lockers, and all that stuff.  They could eliminate lockers in all of the school and reclaim wasted space too in the school without all the lockers and bookshelves needed to store books.  It was also one less thing to worry about for security.

Then there was a maint contract for the servers and i even submitted a administration contract to run the things for them so that no one at the school had to fool with it or hire a perm admin.
It also provided a redundent system to back up the servers in case of failure so that the school lessons were not interrupted. 
I'll tell ya what you need to have if you do this is someone who is a expert at enterprise solutions to get that off the ground and keep it maintained.   There is a whole world of possibilities with a system like that.