Tech department works to keep district safe, modern

GOSHEN COUNTY – The Goshen County School District No. 1 technology department will continue to maintain and upgrade existing devices and infrastructure, according to Technology Director Bryan Foster.
“A large percentage of the technology budget is designated for this purpose and I expect that to continue,” he said in a memo to the GCSD No. 1 board of trustees.
The department’s No. 1 goal is infrastructure and connectivity, including equipment deployment and rotation, wireless network optimization and broadband attendance area
connectivity.
Foster offered the following strategies to achieve this objective: replace old devices and increase total personal computers available to students; add wireless access points to address device density increase; monitor and help provide fiber connections to outlying attendance areas; and promote and participate in the Goshen County broadband coalition.
“The former Instructional Technology Plan began to address the need to increase the total number of devices available for student use as identified by the (area administrators),” Foster said in the memo. “We were largely successful in achieving that goal by increasing the number of new devices we budget for and by extending the useful lifespan of a device. We were able to extend the useful life of a device by repurposing older devices to less demanding roles.”
In two years’ time – from the spring of 2015 to spring 2017 – the district’s student-to-device ratio improved from 81 to 1, to 1 to 1.

“Due to the way devices are deployed, students do not each have their own device to take home,” Foster explained. “Along with the increase in devices, we noticed an increase in the pressure applied to our infrastructure. As budgets tighten, we will need to look for creative ways to maintain this level of support. I believe the technology budget will support the increases but it will need to be closely monitored in the future.”
A second district goal is technology integration, specifically curriculum/Cloud integration, student accessibility and communication.
Foster said his department is working on moving email to Cloud-based applications, instead of using on-premises exchange servers.
“Cloud-based applications can provide real-time formative assessments and greater opportunities for differentiated instruction,” he said.
In addition, district staff plans explore third-party options, including Google apps, to potentially integrate certain educational features.
As far as student accessibility, Foster plans to continue to increase bandwidth at each school to provide a better user experience.
“We believe better access and responsiveness will increase participation and engagement,” he said.
Communication is also critical to the district’s goals, with plans to promote digital citizenship for students and staff, in part by cultivating a Facebook and Twitter presence to aid in communication with students, parents and the community.
“Digital (citizenship) is becoming an important topic as we are increasingly more connected,” Foster said. “As connectivity increases, our staff and students are exposed to a digital world that is often dangerous to navigate. We need to educate our community on the dangers of the cyber world and also provide them with the tools to make good digital decisions.”
The technology department’s third and final overall objective is professional development – practical and relevant training opportunities and exposure to emerging technologies.
“(Professional development) will continue to be a focus in our tech plan due to the ever-changing landscape of technology in education,” Foster said. “Finding opportunity to present new technology and to train on current technology … is elusive and will require us to creatively develop (professional development) opportunities.”
In the memo, Foster also point out that security and communication are major concerns for today’s schools. Physical security needs, data protection and privacy, video surveillance, access control and visitor management systems require updates and hardware upkeep that will affect the district’s technology budget.
“Communication and security work together to provide a safe and informed environment in our schools,” Foster said.