Technology Improvements Gain Steam in Huntington
The technological march continues this summer in the Huntington School District with a number of initiatives advancing, including the recent installation of a fiber optic wide area network. With regular classes still a month away, school officials expect to accomplish much more in the weeks ahead.
The completion of the WAN project is considered a milestone. “It is now fully functional, connecting all eight schools together,” Assistant Superintendent David H. Grackin said. Connections between buildings are via 12 strands of dark fiber. New computer switches that support fiber connectivity were also installed.
The project replaced the district’s existing T1 lines. Each of the buildings communicates with the high school servers via these lines. Fiber optic cable was strung from each building to Huntington High School.
Wide area networks (WAN) cover large areas, which in this case is the entire Huntington School District. Computers in each school are connected to each other by a local area network (LAN). The WAN then connects the LANs to each other. The project provides much faster and more versatile fiber optic cable, which can carry more information in shorter time frames and will give students and staff members more flexibility.
The project cost more than $340,000, but Huntington expects to receive a substantial portion (as much as 50 percent) of the money back in the form of state aid next year.
The district is also extending thin client card implementation in order to place a computer and printer in every classroom on the secondary level, Mr. Grackin said. Thin client technology improves the performance of older machines, including those that have “ancient” Pentium I or II processors. Thin client cards are allowing older PC machines to function like new ones. Current software applications are able to run quickly on the old machines as a result of this technology.
Hundreds of machines have been upgraded using thin client technology, saving the district money. For about $150 a machine and a new server, Huntington is extending the lifespan of its current crop of computers without have to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on new machines
The implementation of the E-School student management software system is also continuing “with the goal in mind of having every instructional staff member using it in September,” Mr. Grackin said. “All secondary students will have E-School produced schedules for the first day of school,” he added.
On the secondary level, teachers will use the new program to take attendance and enter course grades. “They will be able to look up any demographic info on their students including guardian and contact info,” Mr. Grackin said. “IEP’s will be available in a readable but not printable form to those teachers who need access.”
The system will also be useful to the teachers of younger students. “At the elementary level it will be used for entering daily attendance, looking up information and generating lists and mailing labels,” Mr. Grackin said.
With computer hardware and software technology constantly changing, along with the needs of students and staff, the district is continuously on the move in this area. The district is also in the process of upgrading its e-mail server and its website, too.
“Our website has become a treasured resource for members of the school community as well as residents and we hope they enjoy the new website we expect to roll out for the fall,” Superintendent John J. Finello said.
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