It looked like an easy decision to School District Technology guru Tyler Starkovich: simply approve purchasing replacements for 250 six-year-old PCs as set out in the third year of the School District’s current 3-year Technology Plan.
Starkovich, realizing that money is tight, managed to locate 250 refurbished Dell desktop PCs and monitors for $300 each, roughly half the price of new replacement computers. He told the School Board Thursday night that the old PCs need to be replaced.
But, Board Member Mitch Everton suggested that the school district may not need to purchase as many computers if students brought their laptops to school. And, he didn’t like the idea of purchasing refurbished PCs, saying “I have a little heartburn when we spend $75,000 for refurbished computers.”
Starkovich, noted a potential delay in authorizing him to purchase replacement PCs, said “I don’t want to jump. We have machines 6 years old and they will fail.” He had already delayed the purchase of these PCs for several months. They are in the 2009-2010 plan and the school year’s end is approaching.
Everton said “I’d prefer to say we go out with a technology request and ask the public to fund it.” That comment met with a cool reaction by other board members, who probably remembered the stunning defeat of two other bond votes in recent years.
Starkovich indicated the schools would need wi-fi installed for students to bring laptops from home. And, the school networks would need added protection against viruses and other malware that could be on home PCs.
Board member Carol Pyke suggested establishing a technology committee to review future strategy.
School Superintendent Chris Borgen jumped in. “We are at a changing point now and time for a strategic plan.” And, he said he could only back a plan “that will move our curriculum forward and help our students learn.”
Starkovich will return to the Board with some sort of a proposal on how to move ahead and how much it could cost. After the meeting, he said he had placed the 250 PCs on hold with a vendor and that, “Now I’ll have to phone him in the morning and tell him the deal is being delayed.”