Building while Flying the Plane

As the new fiscal year begins, North Carolina will unveil two very promising education options. Both are rigorous, somewhat independent of time and place, and free of charge to students.

One is the North Carolina Virtual Public High School, which is technically underway with some credit recovery and acceleration classes. The other is Learn and Earn On-Line, where high school students can take college courses for credit.

Checkout the Fall 2007 classes:

• North Carolina Virtual Public High School
• Learn and Earn On-Line (more course options will be published soon)

Clearly, our lawmakers and leaders are to be commended for bringing a future vision to reality so fast. Students will flock to these options for a variety of reasons. I think all high school students should be required to take at least one on-line course. Not a bad idea for secondary teachers either.

We have much to learn about this new education model in North Carolina. It’s going to affect locus of control, seat time, GPA, and attendance to name a few.

And we have to learn to fly this plane while it is being built. This is a common characteristic of life in the times of accelerated change.

Playing Poohsticks

Beaufort Elementary music teacher Melissa Vincent is an adjunct member of our Laptop Learning group. Aside from her affinity for teaching music to elementary school children, she keeps the Beaufort El webpage and she is quite the graphic artist.

This summer she is sharing on her blog “Outtahere” great pics of her tour of England. In this neat photo sequence, Melissa shares her game of Poohsticks on Pooh Bridge just down from the House at Pooh Corner. Now if that experience doesn’t win the hearts and minds of her students next school year, what will?

Melissa’s credibility factor with her students just went off the charts!

Ethiopian Summer

Recently, an English teacher at West Carteret HS e-mailed me with news that her teenage daughter is spending some time in Africa this summer. The daughter is keeping a blog of her experiences.

Not only am I able to stay current with her travels, I (or anyone else) can also comment and she can respond. Her account of Day 17 is especially striking:

This morning, once everyone was awake, all of the children went to Mother Teresa’s orphanage for HIV positive children while the adults went to another place. Although the fact at first glance that the people here will never live a “normal” life is undeniable, I’m beginning to question myself on what constitutes a “normal” life.

Being normal in America is completely different than being normal in Ethiopia or most anywhere in the world. Normal to me includes so many things that people without as much as I dream of having. A car to drive around in, an I pod to listen to, a computer to type on, a loving boarding school , family members who unconditionally support me, and friends who make every morning worth waking up are just a few. Clean water, electricity, shoes, and food are things I’ve begun to notice are not so normal here. If the world as a whole would redefine the word the human race wouldn’t be as materialistic. Why cant normal mean having food, a loving support group of any kind, a bed, clothes, and whatever is needed to remain healthy?

I think going back to America and being one of many white people will be stranger than having friends who didn’t wear shoes until high school .

The world is flat! And this young lady, whom I used to watch play soccer on local fields, has gone global. The real life lessons she is learning transcend what can be found in books and movies. This summer is a true blessing for her which she has chosen to share with us on her WordPress blog, Ethiopia.

Road to Recovery

The county commissioners will formally vote on this proposal on July 16:

But in the end, commissioners increased the operations budget proposed by the county manager, appropriated $2.54 to the school’s capital budget and decided to pursue a $2 million financing deal to purchase 1,475 computers, as well as printers, servers and projectors. The board approved the budgets during a special meeting held in the boardroom of the county administration building.

The county and school board also agreed to pursue a $2 million financing plan to replace computers in the schools.

In an e-mail sent to commissioners Tuesday, Mr. Langdon stated it was clear technology needs at the schools had been under-funded during the last seven years and as a result, the schools’ computer fleet was obsolete.

The school board agreed to limit its request for technology funding during the next five years to move forward with the financing plan. While both board’s agreed to the idea, no official motion was made.

(News Times, 6/22/07)

The Ship, She May be Sailing

Read today’s account of the technology part of the local capital funding request in the Daily News:

The request includes $1.2 million to replace 780 outdated computers and other technology, but County Manager John Langdon sent out an e-mail Tuesday to school officials suggesting that amount may not be the most affordable or realistic route to take.

“That number may be too much for annual funding and won’t significantly improve excessive obsolescence (of computers) soon enough,” he said in the e-mail.

Langdon has proposed a financing plan much like one it just adopted for Carteret Community College improvements. The county would finance a $2 million loan to go toward school system technology needs.

In return, the school system would agree to a five-year replacement plan that caps spending for computer and technology replacement over the life of the loan.

This ship may not sail until the new fiscal year—if she sails at all—but dang if she ain’t at berth.

Forest of Metaphors

Ropes Course Element: I leapt 4-5 feet from a small platform to a smaller one with six adults already on it. Like a wrecking ball, I figured I would take them down with momentum and weight. Instead, they countered my force and then some. As I was reeling backwards from the contact, they grabbed me and pulled me aboard.

Organizational Metaphor: The power of the group is always greater than the power of the individual. The ropes course is not a proving ground for solo artists; neither is a highly functioning team.

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Ropes Course Element: Blindfolded and with hands locked to form a human chain, seven of us searched a portion of a field for a huge rope that we would eventually have to form into a polygon. We could not make any sounds.

Organizational Metaphor: Going into the dark or unknown territory is not as frightening when linked with others committed to a common cause. The key to success is prior planning and communication. Every voice counts in the process.

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Ropes Course Element: I stood five feet in the air on a piling. My back was to the group behind me that I was trusting to catch me. I tilted to no return. As I fell backwards through space, I relied on faith and trust. Suddenly, my fall was interrupted by 14 outstretched arms. I was safe!

Organizational Metaphor: How many times a week do we jump off a cliff? Or do we rarely? Calculated risk is part of growth and/or breaking out of familiar paradigms. When we get ready to jump, do we see a support mechanism in place to make our landing as safe as possible? If we hit the ground, do we get back up? While down, have we ever been kicked?

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The Ropes Course behind Morehead Middle School is a great asset of our school system. Every element has some lesson that can be brought to bear on organizational life. I, and seven new friends, recently spent two full days gaining our certifications. Thanks, Debbie Baysden, for a job well done in leading us!

I look forward to the kick-off of the 07-08 school year and the 3-hr meeting of all administrators for an abbreviated session at the Ropes Course.

Love Your Tomorrows

—Dr. David Lenker and Dr. Pennylloyd Baldridge—

May the tomorrows of your retirements

Be as rich as the yesterdays of your careers.

Thank you for your years

of dedicated and quality service!

Dr. David Lenker
Superintendent

Dr. Pennylloyd Baldridge
Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum & Instruction

Island Legacy

Dianne Garner and the Harkers Island Battle of the Books team won the NC State Championship this year. Coach Garner and the team were recognized at the Board of Education meeting on June 5.

Because of time constraints, Dianne did not get to share her historical analysis and caveats of wisdom. Fear not! We have them for you here in this 5-minute video clip.

Why Spend More on Quality Laptops?

Although quality laptops are more expensive out of the box than either desktop or low-end laptop computers, they can be a better value for the school system and the county if we are willing to consider the bigger picture.

Laptops enable educators to access their gradebooks, lesson plans, websites, staff development and other educational tools virtually anytime, anywhere—thus increasing the likelihood and efficiency of technology-rich instruction.

The use of laptops to create mobile computer labs allows students seamless access to technology within the context of classroom instruction. The computers come to the class rather than the alternative. The mobile labs reduce the need for dedicated building space for computers which is a “bricks and mortar” cost savings.

When we purchase laptops for our schools, we look for computers that will perform well for hundreds to thousands of users in a variety of contexts over many years. We have identified four main points as being important as we move toward deploying laptops in our schools. These are in order of importance:

Durability: We do not look for home or personal laptop models. Instead, we look for a heavy-duty chassis and features that influence the longevity of the laptops. These features include components that defend against material stress, shock and fatigue in high demand, multi-user environments.

Warranty: We spec laptops with 3-year, on-site, next-business-day, Complete Care Accidental Service extended warranties. This includes immediate top-level phone support and replacement due to accidental breakage over the life of the warranty. This coverage greatly extends our technical support reach and keeps equipment in educational use.

Performance: We spec durable computers above current standards to solve future problems. Our current laptop specs include Intel Core Duo 2Ghz processors, 2 GB RAM, DVD burner, and Windows XP or Vista Business Edition operating system. XP or Vista Home Edition will not work on our networks.

Flexibility: We spec our laptops with 9-cell batteries which allow up to 4-5 hours of continuous use without recharging. This allows multiple classes to use these computers each day. We have included the cost of seven fan-ventilated laptop carts into our per computer cost for student laptops which will remain in schools. For teacher laptops, we have included the cost of vinyl carrying bags.

It is particularly important to recognize the length of time that we expect to keep any computer we purchase today since our history of erratic local funding suggests that we are buying these computers not only for today but for many years to come.

Going Yard

“Going yard” is baseball terminology for hitting a home run. Four home run hitters presented a technology demonstration at the Board of Education meeting on 6/5/07. Croatan High School All-Stars Millie Temple, Julie Perry, David Perry and Courtney Grafton went yard as they showed the BOE and audience the value of SAS inSchool Curricular Pathways on a powerful computer.

I cannot thank them enough for stepping up to the plate and swinging for the fences. As Millie said, “This web-based software is fundamentally changing teaching and learning.”

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When I think about computers the school system buys, I think of how long we tend to keep them. Even though by today’s standards the computers we spec may be over-the-top, past history informs us that we are buying these computers not only for today but for some time to come.

Consider the data:

• We average replacing general academic computers every ten years.
• The computers we bought ten years ago had 32MB of RAM and a RISC processor (Apple) that is no longer on the map.
• The computers we bought eight years ago had 64MB of RAM and either a RISC or Pentium II processor.
• We still carry in inventory nearly 850 of these machines.
• Since we began replacing computers in earnest just over eight years ago, our processor requirement has tripled (from less than 733mhz to 3.2G) and our RAM requirement has multiplied by a factor of six (from 32MB to 2G).
• Because of erratic funding—especially in the last five years—we have been trying to solve future problems by buying robust computers.
• We now have stakeholders with good intentions and business acumen advising us to buy entry level laptops (refurb home use models, 512 MB RAM, 90 day warranties, Vista Home Basic Edition) because we can save a lot of money.
• We have one tech support professional for every 457 computers in inventory.

My question in all sincerity: What kind of business model would purchase lowball computers with today’s entry level specs for meaningful productivity by 9000 users in all grade levels and subject areas over a 10-year duration in a multi-user, secure network environment maintained by 7 tech support personnel?

Are we swinging for the fences of the 21st Century? Or are we bunting right down the bottom line?