This does not compute

     It’s necessary now to re-visit and expand on an earlier issue.
     Imagine having to call a technician to do these little jobs (to name just a few) on your computer: add a font, change the desktop, switch the screensaver, add a bookmark to your browser, and enable or disable the popup blocker.
     Some EPISD staff and teachers already face this situation and all will eventually be in the same boat if the technology office ever completes its new, massive reconfiguration project of the district’s network and networked computers.
     Computers district-wide are supposed to be reformatted and set to be unalterable in any way afterwards unless the user turns in a work order for a technician to do the job – however small it may be. It’s a solution selected to reduce viruses and other unintended damage to the operating systems.
     It’s “A” solution, and even though some other school districts do the same thing, I don’t think it’s the best solution. I also have problems with how this plan is being implemented.
     To start with, this is a major change to the way we will deal with our technology. Yet, despite the far-reaching impact, nobody’s officially been told the reason, heard of any prior discussion about it, or been given any kind of expected timetable for its completion.
     Though it’s hard to understand, this lack of communication doesn’t surprise anyone. We have never gotten any kind of messages from the technology office – not warnings about viruses, not notices about important security patches to download, not warnings about e-mail scams, not info about training available, not a heads up about scheduled network interruptions. Zilch. Nothing. Nada. If that’s not the job of the technology office, then I don’t know whose job it is.
     Sometimes, the technicians will add or change routers or servers. Then, we go in and some equipment doesn’t work like it’s supposed to. So a teacher spends 2 hours trouble shooting the problem, then calls someone.
     They say, “Oh, we made some changes and the IP addresses are different now. We didn’t think it was important to warn anyone that some of your settings would have to be changed to keep everything working.”
     So, you think, “Don’t they know their work actually affects other people who might be grateful if you can give them a heads up and save them from doing 2 hours of work for nothing?”
     Work on their newest fiasco of an endeavor began in the summer, but now three weeks into the school year, this work is still being done and looks far from complete. It’s causing interruptions and is interfering with students getting their work done. This really frustrates the affected teachers because they were ready to start the school year from the first day, and the students were ready, but the tools they needed weren’t ready – and still aren’t ready.
     The problems being found with our technology could have been drastically reduced if the technology office just consistently exercised due diligence. For example, new computers lately have arrived and been installed without antivirus software. We have a district-wide license for a program, but nobody knows how to get hold of it. Nobody that I know of has ever been offered training in preventing viruses. They will come install anti-virus software if one asks but the program they install doesn’t always update itself like it’s supposed to.
     Large downloads like complete movies hogging hard drive space and slowing computers have been a problem. Some of this is due to inexcusable teacher inattention, but some of it is due to the network administrator’s lack of effective control over network traffic. Also, the technicians usually know in which classrooms this is happening, yet I’ve never heard of a teacher being reported for not effectively monitoring the use of the computers. Better supervision by the technology staff and campus administrators with consequences for proven neglect could have prevented most of the concerns that they’re now trying to solve.
     Generally, this big technology department initiative just seems poorly planned, badly implemented, heavy-handed and too far-reaching and too complex for their current staff to pull off. So far, it has caused only headaches. When it gets finished (if it gets finished and if it works) it will continue to cause resentment and inconvenience. I don’t think any positive outcomes will ever outweigh all of the negative effects.