tech options

The Next Step
Let's have a Net Day in Grand Rapids

By Theo Gantos

The GRPS bond issue proposal was defeated yesterday. Now what? What can the Grand Rapids Public Schools do to update their technology without any money? Some say if you can't get money then you can get creative. Everyone including bond opponents agree that the need exists. Teaching our children is a vital priority for the future of our society. I will outline a few ideas that other districts and non-profit organizations are using to get the most out of their often strained resources.

Patching up existing technology infrastructure might be the easiest first step to take. Many organizations enlist the help of area professionals to form a support group. From the larger group smaller teams can be enlisted to perform certain tasks. An essential step in solving any problem is understanding it. Thus, a networking and technology survey could be done by a few small teams wandering around to the various district sites and making notes. These notes could then be combined into a survey notebook. This could take a month or two.

Once the problem areas have been identified, next comes assigning priorities and proposing various solutions. Many of these solutions might involve some volunteer time (techno-elbow grease) and very little cash to implement. Some may require some investment, but every item could be ranked in order from most impact with least investment to least impact with most investment. Equipment needs might be solved through soliciting donations of money or equipment from area business, foundations, and individuals.

Building communications wiring or "network infrastructure" is a particularly thorny problem for schools. Wiring classrooms for networking is time consuming, labor intensive, and usually the real benefits are realized over time and not at once. However, no real progress toward technology integrated learning can take place without wiring classrooms. Industry professionals have stepped forward to help schools out of this dilemma. Net Day 96 was a state-wide event in California organized by volunteers with support from technology companies. Schools were wired across the entire state by organized volunteer teams. NetDay is now a national organization and Michigan has it's own NetDay coordinators. Oddly enough, no schools from the Grand Rapids area have contacted them. GRPS needs to push for a district-wide NetDay to wire the entire district. Too ambitious some will say. I believe Grand Rapids is up to the challenge. If California can do it across a whole state, Grand Rapids can do it across a city! All that is needed is a push from the top (Board and Superintendent) down and ask each school principal to head a NetDay effort at their school. NetDay info could be distributed to educate administrators on the history, facts and how to get their own NetDay events going.

TECH CORPS is another national group of volunteer technical people interested in giving back to their community. I advise any technology professional willing to pitch in to help schools and non-profit organizations to get involved in TECH CORPS. Senator Levin is lending his support toward moving forward with the implementation of TECH CORPS Michigan. To this end he is calling a meeting to discuss TECH CORPS. This meeting will be held on the afternoon of Thursday, April 9 in Lansing from 1:00-3:00 p.m.
Once the problems are documented and prioritized with solutions, then the last step can be completed, the District Technology Plan. This details everything the district will do over the next several years to implement technology, complete with scheduling milestones, and a list of the expected benefits. Grants, foundations, businesses, and private individuals can then be solicited to implement the technology plan.

Finally, no technology implementation can run for very long without support and maintenance. There is just not enough support to go around right now in the district. Adding technology will only multiply the support headaches. The only feasible way to support an ambitious technology upgrade like this within the current budget limitations is to decentralize the support functions to individuals willing to become school technology administrators. These people could be recruited from promising high school students, college student interns, teacher or parent volunteers, etc. Guidelines and manuals will need to be written. The central technology group will need community support to train and develop volunteers into an effective first-line support network.

It's not going to be easy by any means to get all this accomplished, but we have to try. Don't give up on our children and our future. Lend a hand and get involved and Grand Rapids can become a model for other troubled cities to emulate.

To get started on organizing a Net Day event at your school contact Andy Schor. (1-888-2PETERS or email ASchor@senate.state.mi.us) If you are planning to attend the TECH CORPS Michigan meeting, please contact Jim Turner in Senator Levin's office (517-377-1508 or jim_turner@levin.senate.gov).

Theo Gantos is president of TEKA, a technology consulting firm. Contact him: