Grunwald outlines technology plan for school

Spending is down this school year in the district technology budget compared to last year, John Grunwald, technology director for Fairfield schools, told board members Oct. 21.

Grunwald, formerly a Fairfield elementary/middle school music teacher, was hired as the technology director in July after Mark Cremer resigned. Grunwald has 11 years experience as technology director concurrent to teaching music in the Harmony School District prior to coming to Fairfield four years ago.

He said his department has spent $202,390 this year, which is $42,255 less than last year.

?This is encouraging to me since we have purchased some new classroom software and testing software we didn?t have in the past,? he said.

?I am working to try to keep spending down in an effort to bank money for future purchases such as having a technology replacement schedule, a high school network replacement or the possibility to purchase equipment for a move toward a one-to-one initiative,? Grunwald said.

Some equipment purchases will be reimbursed with Microsoft money.

?Some purchases will be reimbursed when we submit for our Microsoft money,? said Grunwald. ?This is our last year for the Microsoft settlement.?

Board member Jerry Nelson asked about the one-to-one plan for each student to be issued a computer or tablet. He wanted to know if providing computers for every student wouldn?t be setting up for a continuing expense.

?How long do those last?? said Nelson.

?Yes, we?ll have to plan that out to be sustainable,? said Grunwald.

Curriculum director Marci Dunlap replied Apple products typically have a four-year life span.

Pence Elementary School was rewired this year. The entire network was upgraded with new cable and the old network cable was abated. The project was completed Oct. 8, and Grunwald said he anticipates the final bills to be just more than $35,000.

?It seems the installation went very well, and we feel we are already seeing some benefits from the new wiring and changes in some configurations of the network that took place at the same time,? he said.

FHS needs wiring update

The high school building has one of the oldest networks and has the greatest need to be upgraded and replaced, said Grunwald.

With the possibility of a computer for each student in the future, correct infrastructure needs to be in place so it can handle the extra traffic, he said.

?I would like to look into the possibility of replacing the entire network at the high school and not just patching a new network from the building project to a sub-standard network,? he said. ?My plan is to research and get some ideas about costs to accomplish this as we work on the high school project.?

It isn?t only the high school network that needs a review.

?A separate issue is the wireless network throughout the entire district,? said Grunwald. ?The equipment in place worked really well when it was installed. Now, adding extra wireless technology and the activities taking place in our classrooms through online software and Web 2.0 tools and other online resources, we?re really taxing our current equipment.?

He said his department has started looking into solutions for the wireless network.

?It won?t be adding faster equipment, but something that would be more robust and works ?smarter,?? he said. ?Some solutions could route our traffic in better ways and give us more options for controlling our wireless network. This could reduce collisions and bottlenecks from the amount of data passing through.

?This is one reason why we have been limited on personal equipment coming into our district and requesting access to our network, including students, staff and guests visiting our school,? he said. ?New solutions would allow us to be better able to handle bring-your-own-device situations and still protect our data and network.?

Technology department works on replacement schedule

The district needs to develop an equipment replacement schedule, Grunwald said.

Computers in some classrooms can no longer be updated with their software or hardware because they are 6-to-10-years-old.

?As a result, these computers cannot access websites as needed because the technology behind the websites is too advanced for the capabilities of these machines,? he said. ?All of our computer labs are becoming outdated and will need replacing for the same reasons.

?The teacher laptops were all purchased at the same time, four or five years ago, and are quickly becoming outdated.?

The technology department is developing a schedule to replace equipment before everything stops working at one time.

?We don?t want to wait long enough that all the machines die at the same time and the district would be forced to do without or replace all of them at once,? said Grunwald.

Looking ahead to

one-on-one initiative

The district has not decided on what type of devices to purchase for a one-to-one computer/student program, nor what grade levels would be involved. Grunwald is researching about various devices and programs.

?We will decide first what students will do on them and how staff will use them,? said Superintendent Art Sathoff.

Two devices under discussion are Kuno Tablets and Chromebooks.

?Fairfield Middle School has a need to access technology, and we?re considering purchasing a cart of Chromebooks to help with access,? said Grunwald. ?It would be a pilot program and provide data about how well they work and what their limitations might be. It would help inform our future plans.?

The district wants to ensure teachers are prepared for a digital technology one-to-one program.

?We?ve been discussing implementing a program, such as Curriculum Loft, next year, to allow our teachers a full year to prepare their classes for digital delivery,? said Grunwald.

Curriculum Loft is a network educational program which teachers use for creating lessons and sending assignments and students access to receive lessons and assignments. It can be individualized to each specific student and allows teachers to share with one another.

Professional development time is needed to prepare teachers.

?We?ve started some of this, with staff beginning to update their bio pages on the website,? Grunwald said. ?By helping staff members update their bios, it gets them in the habit of posting to the website. This skill is very handy as they work in a program such as Curriculum Loft where they would build materials, assignments and assessments for a digital classroom.?

Sathoff has said previously that a district one-to-one computer to student program is a few years away, possibly in the 2015-16 school year.