REPORT OF THE TECHNOLOGY DIRECTOR
The technology department continued its hard work to maintain the current systems as well as to replace aging equipment. Several highlights of the year were the implementation of a web based trouble ticket system and asset management, major network upgrades, and the change of personnel in the department.
During March of 2008 the technology department implemented a web based trouble ticket system and asset management system purchased from Schooldude.com. The two products are called ITAM (asset management) and ITDirect (trouble ticket). The major benefits of this system are that it is entirely web based, and does not require hosting on our network. Schooldude.com handles the backups and maintenance of the system. ITAM allows us to install a small piece of software on our computers that uploads an audit of the system daily, providing us with software and hardware information. Previously it would take three people at least a week and a half to do a full asset inventory of the entire district; now we have a fresh one every day. ITDirect allows the teachers and staff to submit work-orders via a website. The work orders go into a queue where the IT director can assign them to different members of the tech department. It allows the tech department to receive and process work orders more quickly, and to run specific reports on the nature of that work.
Over the summer of 2008 much of the network infrastructure in Henry Wilson Memorial School and Farmington High School was upgraded. The first phase was to remove extremely long runs of CAT 5e, replacing them with fiber optic cable instead. Fiber optic cable can be run for much longer distances and maintain better data transfer rates. The second phase was to upgrade our switching equipment. The new switches utilize the fiber to improve network performance and utilization. All of the switches transfer as gigabit speeds. The chassis allow for expansion if there are changes in the future. The goal was to purchase equipment that is expandable and upgradeable to last us several years. The final phase was to implement a managed wireless system. Since our buildings have high utilization, it is impossible for us to create computer labs to fill the needs of students and staff. Instead the district has purchased mobile labs that use laptops. This way the labs can move around the school for greater flexibility. Our new system handles the movement of mobile devices much better than our previous system. As a laptop moves around the building the system can hand off the laptop from access point to access point. The system can also load balance clients to provide much better performance and reliability. All of these improvements have helped the technology department better focus our time for the students and staff.
The only low point in 2008 was the loss of Joshua Stewart who has been with the technology department since September of 2006. The district would like to thank Joshua Stewart for his hard work and wish him the best as he pursues a new career with the Air National Guard. The technology department saw the addition of two new staff members, Brian Chagnon and Kelly Parker. Brian Chagnon joined us over the summer of 2008 and is currently in charge of channel 25. When Brian started the only content that was being broadcast was school board meetings. Brian has expanded that programming to sporting events and has recently started assisting students with their own programming. Kelly Parker joined the technology department towards the end of 2008, replacing Joshua Stewart. He is fitting in well with students and staff alike who respond very positively to his cheerful assistance.
2008 has been a positive year for the technology department. We have been better able to manage our time with our new trouble ticket system. The asset system has also saved us many man-hours and allows us to better manage the district's assets. Our network improvements have improved the performance and reliability of the network and have allowed the technology department to be better prepared for future changes. Despite the change in staff, the department continues to function well and to support over 1400 students, 250 staff members, and over 500 computers that span multiple buildings.
Respectfully Submitted,
Joshua Olstad
Technology Director
