Ann Arbor school district plans upgrades to technology infrastructure
John VanRiper shoved a handful of dry spaghetti noodles into a bright red straw, nearly filling it.
The straw represents some of the Ann Arbor school district’s technology backbone, VanRiper, the district’s technology director, told the school board’s planning committee this afternoon.
The district needed a bigger pipe to run its Internet connections, VanRiper said.
And he had a visual aid for the system he wants - a toilet paper tube.
“The district currently has a 1-gig capability and a 10-gig capability at the central core in Balas (the district’s central administration building). The bottleneck has had a negative impact on instructional delivery and will only continue to get worse,” administrators wrote in a memo.
The new pipe is part of more than $1 million in technology upgrades recommended by district administrators. The money would be paid out of the district’s 2004 bond fund.
Also included in the request is a 12-pair fiber expansion to Skyline High School and 21 laptop carts, each with between 30 and 32 laptops on it.
The upgrade is phase two of the district’s technology refresh. In the first phase, which took place in 2009, laptops and desktop computers in the district that were at least five years old were replaced.
The move to upgrade the infrastructure is needed because of increasing use of technology in the classroom, administrators said.
Robert Allen, the district’s deputy superintendent for operations, said there were times last school year when classes were unable to get online and times when classes saw their connections dropped.
“You can’t just say, ‘We’ve got our computers, now we’re done,’" he said. "This infrastructure absolutely needs to be there.”
The full board will get the recommendation at its meeting on Aug. 18 and will likely vote on it at a September meeting.
David Jesse covers K-12 education for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at davidjesse@annarbor.com or at 734-623-2534.
Comments
sh1
Tue, Aug 3, 2010 : 9:32 p.m.
Thanks for clearing that up.
David Jesse
Tue, Aug 3, 2010 : 9:04 a.m.
Let me clear up some confusion. The laptop carts are going to a bunch of different schools in the district, not to Skyline. the only thing slated only for Skyline is the fiber and that will just bring Skyline up to the same standard as Pioneer and Huron and what those two schools already have.
sh1
Tue, Aug 3, 2010 : 8:38 a.m.
I'm curious why elementary schools each have one laptop cart to share among several hundred students while Skyline will be getting enough laptops for nearly a one-to-one student:computer ratio.
Kerry
Tue, Aug 3, 2010 : 7:32 a.m.
Skyline is still adding grade levels. Last year about 800 students, but by 2012 closer to 1600 students. They did not buy laptops for a full school in 2009. It makes sense to add laptop carts as the school grows.
Stephen Landes
Mon, Aug 2, 2010 : 8:47 p.m.
Sounds like someone screwed up in building the new high school. How can a brand new facility be so far behind unless it was built to old specifications?
Blerg
Mon, Aug 2, 2010 : 7:36 p.m.
@ RUKiddingMe The article states that the laptops are for carts. One could easily assume that students aren't taking a 30-laptop cart home with them. Carts seem like an easy way to bring laptops to classes. If you have ever tried to move a pack of children anywhere quickly you will know that it can be like herding cats; it's just faster to bring the computers to them. Furthermore, when several students are using a single laptop throughout a single day, it seems reasonable that the device would incur some wear and tear over the course of five years.
David Jesse
Mon, Aug 2, 2010 : 4:02 p.m.
@Tony: District officials said the other schools are already at the fiber standard they want to bring Skyline up to. @Noreaster: You can find the report from the district on this at: http://www.aaps.k12.mi.us/boe.1011/home -- download the agenda for the Aug. 18 meeting and look on pages 20 and 21.
RUKiddingMe
Mon, Aug 2, 2010 : 3:59 p.m.
What's with al the laptops? Is every student issued a new laptop or something? Is that really necessary? What's wrong with the desktops or minitowers? And is it safe to ust assume that any and all computers over 5 years old should be replaced? I and most of the people I know have computers/laptops that old, and are doing fine in business and creative enterprises, except those doing video editing; and they just do things like get new drives, RAM, and video cards. I realize that can't be the case across the board, but a complete replacement of every unit because of a 5-year age seems a bit much. Perhaps just the classes that are going into high-power computer usage would get more modern high-power units? This smacks of the Pentagon $600 toilet seat....as does 600 NEW laptops, which, if I'm reading right, is in ADDITION to the big 5-year-old-across-the-board unit replacement
Tony Livingston
Mon, Aug 2, 2010 : 3:48 p.m.
You are kidding? Skyline has a brand new school while everyone else has an outdated relic and now they are getting technology upgrades? This takes the cake.
noreaster
Mon, Aug 2, 2010 : 3:46 p.m.
I must say I'm a bit confused by the "1-gig" and "10-gig" capability in reference to the Internet. It's one thing for the in-building network to be 1Gb/s (or 10Gb/s), quite another for the Internet connection to be 1Gb/s or 10Gb/s. Mr. Jesse please get your apples and oranges straight before attempting to "inform" the public. Also, it might be useful to clarify why and where Balas has this 10-gig backbone since a PC having more than a 1Gb/s network connection is both very uncommon and likely a waste of good money. Is that what the AAPS is doing? And how does all this relate to the AAPS Internet connection or connections, which is/are at what bandwidth?