To Learn Twice

This is a twofer. There was a board meeting last night so I really didn't have much time to reflect on the day. So over the past 2 days my time has been spent: 1. Preparing documentation for our feedback that will be included in Google's case study of how Maine 207 is using Google Apps for Education. This has been cool chatting with Google about our philosophies and how we see the product improving to meet the needs of schools. A follow up to this was contacting my teachers for examples of the activities they are using with their kids that require Google to get them done. This is a great learning experience for me because I have seen several activities teachers are using, but I have a much broader scope now. 2. Working on the announcement for the winners of our RFQ. You can see the winners here . We got some really good deals. The savings we have here can be leveraged towards other products or be returned to the Education Fund (business managers really like it when you come ...

One of the biggest responsibilities that a Tech Director has is using their budget correctly to meet the needs of their school(s). For the 2009-10 school year I have a fabulous budget of $2,843,405 to meet all of the technology needs of our district (about $400 per student). This is a larger number than year's past (except last year) and is greater than we plan to spend each year over the next 10 years (the long term plan is about $315 per student per year). We are currently in the process of catching technology up in areas that we fell behind from the late 90's through 2006 due to a lack of funding for technology initiatives. We have in place a 3 year plan from 2008-2011 that was approved by the Board of Education that outlines our budget for each of those years. We built out our expected expenditures based on a long visioning and planning process last year. Now in year 2 we revisited those plans and put together a budget plan. We then shared that plan with all of the staf...