New School Year Well Underway!

The 2007/2008 school year is moving forward, and the technology department has been especially busy assisting over 120 new teachers and getting all equipment at our new Santa Cruz campus operational.

To assist staff members, we held two orientation sessions and walked campuses stopped by all classrooms. We are now beginning "Talk to Tech" sessions during lunch time on each campus. This will be a time for staff to informally relate to members of the technology team. This is one component of our goal to maintain open communication between out district level department and the classrooms.

This next week, we will welcome a new member to our team after losing a team member earlier in August. While this does not add additional staff to our department - it will bring us back to four members. It is our sincere goal to add additional staff in the near future so we can maintain the prompt customer service our stakeholders have come to appreciate.

We have established four department goals for 2007/2007:

Goal 1: Increase communication with stakeholders

• Add video tutorials and other components to the technology department website
• Hold "Tech Talk" sessions periodically at each campus
• Implement an online helpdesk support system
• Implement a manned "help desk" - if staffing allows

Goal 2: Develop a list of special systems specifications for new construction projects

Goal 3: Develop comprehensive Video Conferencing training

• Hold group training sessions prior to large video conferencing events
• Work one-on-one with teachers new to video conferencing prior to events

Goal 4: Utilize additional tools/equipment to provide efficient support to users

• Utilize VB scripting to map network drives
• Implement SPAM filtering system
• Utilize Deep Freeze enterprise to protect lab workstations
• Evaluate and redistribute server workload to accomodate growth and protect data