Sardis Technology Plan
Sardis High School
TECHNOLOGY PLAN
2012-2013
- Years of the Plan: 2012-2013
- School: Sardis
- Date Submitted: October 19, 2012
Approval – Principal
Gerald Beard
______
Name Date Signature
Approval – School Technology Coordinator
Jessica Walden
______
Name Date Signature
Jennifer Johnson
______
Name Date Signature
Approval – System Technology Coordinator
Melissa Shields
______
Name Date Signature
Name / Position / Business or School
Gerald Beard / Principal / Sardis
Wendy Gibbs / Assistant Principal / Sardis
Jessica Walden / School Technology Coordinator / Sardis
FarrahHayes / Teacher / Sardis
Jordan Humphreys / Counselor / Sardis
Heather Wilson / Teacher / Sardis
Ashleigh Lee / Parent / Sardis
Natalie Strickland / Parent / Sardis
Vision Statement
In 1775, Samuel Johnson wrote, “Knowledge is of two kinds: we know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find information upon it.” The tools for finding and communicating information, however, have changed dramatically. Our schools were once physical places where the teacher dispensed ideas and students then recited back what had been learned. Students and teachers must now adapt to new models for learning if Alabama is to continue to thrive. Our future depends upon how schools educate young people in Alabama, using the learning tools of the 21st century: the tools of technology.
History of Sardis
Sardis moved into the newly constructed building. It features a junior high wing and senior high wing, two computer labs, Internet accessibility in every classroom, a specialized distant education room, cameras throughout with direct feeds to the Principal’s office, and a new media center. The school’s design has a positive correlation with implementing new technologies.
The first Sardis school was built in 1905. In 1925 the Junior High was added. In 1924, the school building burned. In order to get funds to rebuild the school the people in the community put a property tax on themselves. The first SardisHigh School was built in 1933. The second school was built in 1960 with volunteer labor. In 2004 construction began on the new school, which was built in two phases and was completed in the 2006-2007 school year.
Demographic Information
SardisCity is located in a rural area on the northwest boundary of Etowah County (population of 103,459). It borders two other counties, Marshall (population 82,231) and Dekalb County (population 64,452). Sardis City is located at the center of these three counties with a combined population of 250,142.
The population of Sardis City has steadily increased since it was incorporated in 1963. The population at that time was 210 and is now 1,704. The number of households within Sardis City is 690 with 38% of those households containing school aged children. The average estimated income is $47,010, with the median home value at $119,008.
Developing and Approving Your Plan
Technology and Curriculum IntegrationTECHNOLOGY IN THE CLASSROOM
Sardis High School, along with the Etowah County Board Of Education, promotes the integration of instructional technology and technology literacy in the classroom. All classrooms have full connectivity with at least 4 data outlets per room. All teachers have at least one computer in the classroom with internet connectivity for student use. The senior high computer lab has 30 computers and is used for business education classes and as an internet resource for classroom teachers and students. The junior high computer lab currently has 25 computers and is used for one business education class and as an internet resource for teachers and students. The Distance Learning Lab is fully functional with IVC and web-based classes being offered during both high school semesters. It houses Sardis’ IVC equipment and 30 tablet notebooks, and provides students the option of taking distance learning classes and web-based classes. Sardis’ Title I funds purchased a portable notepad cart with 20 laptops and one portable wireless access point.
Teachers are provided with numerous selections to utilize technology devices across the curriculum. Teachers have the freedom to adapt their resources to fit their instructional plans. All teachers have ceiling mounted LCD projectors which are connected to computers with internet connectivity. Both junior high and senior high science labs feature ceiling mounted LCD projectors for instructional use. All math, science, and English teacher have InterWrite pads which enhance mobility and teacher instruction. In 2009, a promethean board was purchased along with 32 automated student response systems.In 2010, 4 more Promethean boards were purchased. Also, in 2011, ‘Digitally Engaged’ workshop was held at SHS to train teachers in the usage of the digitally engaging students through multimedia resources. In 2011, an additional Promethean board was purchased for an English language arts classroom. Teachers have access to twoSmartboards in the school. One is mobile and one is housed in the Distance Learning Lab. Teachers can capture still moments and short videos with the departmentdigital cameras and Flip cameras. The media center offers six student computers with internet connectivity. In 2012 we were able to purchase two additional Promethean Boards for the math and science departments. We also purchased 8 netpads and five additional netbooks. Sardis added five wireless access points within our school. Five Bloggies were purchased for each of our five core subjects. These cameras can be used in various classroom to engage students in their daily school activities. All of our math teachers (6) received IPads, with the purchase of our new math books
Teachers at Sardis digitally engage students through United Streaming and Discovery Education videos that are correlated with objectives and shown to reinforce the content area. Teachers use ofpodcasts, blogs, Movie Maker projects, Animotos, andother technology projects are documented in lesson plans. Sardis purchased DANA devices that are used in the classrooms and students have the advantage oftakingthese portable devices for home use.
The business department uses Microsoft Office 2007, Front Page, and Think.Com, along with kuders.com to teach beginning and advanced computing skills. All special education (SPE) teachers have laptop computers with fingerprint identification and at least one student computer with internet connection. Also, SPE teachers utilize the computer program “e-aerobics” in their classes. All test remediation teachers have three or more student computers with internet connectivity to utilize the USA test prep remediation website and other Alabama High School Graduation Exam remediation programs. All math, science, and language arts teachers have at least one student computer in the classroom.
MAJOR SOFTWARE
All teachers are required to use STI/INow software. Through STI/INow, teachers must post a daily morning attendance, compile and record a digital grade book, and create weekly lesson plans. Teachers communicate through Gmail and Google Chat on a daily basis. The special Education SETS module for STI has been installed at Sardis and teachers are able to input and manage Special Education information. McAleerNexGen software is used for all accounting at Sardis. This includes payroll, accounts payable, accounts receivable, and all other school accounting. Network management is implemented through Novell Zenworks. Zenworks allows the desktops to be locked while still giving students access to what they need. It allows software updates to be pushed out to the desktop over the network and thus decreasing maintenance and upkeep costs. The library/media center recently upgraded to Follett online.
FUTURE PLANS
Sardis strives to enhance student learning through 21st Century technology skills in information literacy, publishing, presentation, and multimedia planned to meet core course objectives and technology objectives. A needs assessment was conducted at the end of the 2011-2012 school year to determine the technology needs of Sardis High School. This needs assessment concluded that teachers (80%) felt their technology needs were somewhat or completely met, including access to technology professional development opportunities. Sardis plans to continue to provide professional development activities to teachers and administrators to integrate 21st Century skills in activities and lessons; enhance teacher productivity by providing technology tools and skills to access research, facilitate curriculum development, and utilize diagnostic and assessment tools; provide ongoing training on the use of standardized hardware and software that supports District adopted-curriculum and state content standards; enhance employee participation through a variety of training opportunities and incentives. Teachers are required to maintain a current teacher web page and are required to post blogs on the status of their classroom environments. More technology resources will be purchased to accommodate the growing student population; it was 730 during 2011-2012 school year and is 751 currently during the 2012-2013 school year. This will enhance resources for students and teachers. Also, the stated communication plans will enhance the communication between teachers and the community.
Infrastructure as Related to Technology
The Etowah County School District is currently wired with Category 5 or 6 copper cabling in every classroom. Highland Elementary School was destroyed by fire in May 2003. We now occupy a new facility on that campus as of August 2004. The new facility is wired completely with Category 6 cabling and connected with 100 mbps switches and multiple wireless access points utilizing 802.11G technology.
The Etowah County School System completed the largest construction project ever undertaken in this system. We have replaced facilities at 5 of the 6 high schools. West End High School, Sardis High School, Southside High School, Gaston High School, and Glencoe High School are complete. These schools are wired with Category 6 and Category 5e copper and a fiber optic backbone. There are 802.11g wireless access points throughout each building. The networks are connected with 130 mbps switches to the desktop. All new construction was completed with Category 6 cabling and fiber optic backbones. The system’s protocol is TCP/IP, which is standard internally. Each classroom has a minimum of 6 RJ45 connections.
In our existing facilities, every classroom has a minimum of four drops of Category 5 or 6 copper cabling. All elementary and middle school classrooms are connected to the Internet and local area networks with switched 100mbs connections with a 100mbps or 1 gbps backbone. In the high schools, the WAN bandwidth has been increased to 1 gbps to better meet the demands of ACCESS instruction. All schools have 130 mbps fiberoptic WAN internet connections. Internet connections are provided by the Alabama Supercomputer Authority and Charter. These connections are routed through the ECBOE Central Office. All file servers in the Etowah County School System are running Novell Netware 6.0 or 6.5. There are numerous Microsoft Windows 2000 and 2003 servers running specific applications such as STI District. A typical server hardware configuration is a Dell PowerEdge 2650 or 2850 with dual Intel Xeon processors. The servers have a minimum of three 36GB SCSI hard disk drives in a RAID 5 configuration and a minimum of 4 GB of RAM.
Network connectivity between schools is provided by either a switched 100mbps or 1 gbps fiber optic network provided by Charter and monitored by ITS in Wetumpka, Alabama. The 30mbps Internet connectivity from the Alabama Supercomputer Authority combined with a 3mbps Internet connection from ITS gives us a total of 33mbps of Internet connectivity.
Connectivity/WAN Connectivity Between Schools
The Etowah County Bus Shop has a Bellsouth DSL connection using a VPN back to the Central Office for connectivity. A 10 mbps Internet connection provided by Charter combined with a 120 mpbs Internet connection from Alabama Supercomputer gives the Etowah County School System a total of 130 mbps of Internet connectivity.
All Etowah County Schools including the Central Office are equipped with either Dell Poweredge 2650, 2850, R300 or R310 servers with 4GB of RAM, 3 36GB SCSI Hard drives in a RAID 5 configuration, and Intel Xeon processors. Microsoft Windows Server 2003 and 2008 are the operating systems on the school servers using Microsoft Active Directory. All locations have Cisco Catalyst 2950 switches to give 130 mpbs switched connectivity on all network backbones.
Future plans include placing Cisco 3560 layer 3 switches at the core of each local school network to allow additional management features and to increase the functionality of the system-wide network. The layer 3 switches will also provide the functionality necessary to add a voice-over IP telephone system in the future.
Other future plans include installing a Voice-Over IP network. Voicemail would be provided, administrators would stay in contact with their schools, and other personnel would be more accessible throughout the system. Because of the networking capabilities, telecommunication expenses would be reduced as a result of fewer phone lines.
Measures to Ensure Information Security
During the 2004-05 school year, a system-wide network security committee was formed. This committee used the COSN initiative on Cyber and network security as the basis for the need for this committee ( This committee used the COSN Self Assessment Checklist to determine the current level of school district network security. Areas that were at an adequate level were noted as well as the areas that needed immediate improvement and other areas for long term improvement. The committee developed a mission statement for network security that was adopted at the May 2005 Board Meeting.
Areas that needed immediate attention were addressed. This included purchasing a back-up server with the capabilities of backing up all Central Office servers to tape. These tapes are rotated each day as well as a weekly backup that is stored off site. An increased emphasis on network security has taken place in school technology committee meetings with additional training on the reasoning behind the security procedures so employees will understand the importance of these procedures.
The System WAN is protected by a Cisco PIX firewall solution provided by the state as well as a Linux firewall solution designed by the Alabama Supercomputer Authority. This Linux solution is in place at the Central Office as well at each school. All wireless access points are currently protected by WPA and WPA2 security protocols with TKIP encryption. This solution enables a very high level of encryption that is more difficult to crack as well as making overall access to the wireless networks easier to access by users with appropriate credentials.
The Etowah County School District utilizes Trend Micro Officescan Antivirus software on all workstations and servers in the district. The software is automatically pushed out to all computers through a login script. The Trend software on the local and mobile workstations periodically, automatically and without end-user interaction, contacts a Trend server at the Central Office for updates to the software itself and the relevant virus databases. The Trend server is manageable through a web-based console that identifies all computers on the network, their level and status of antivirus protection (whether they are updated or are infected with a virus), and the version of the software currently running on that machine. A Lightspeed Total Traffic Control Box is used for additional content filtering management. This device provides very detailed information about network usage. It also gives us additional protection from viruses, hackers, and malicious content.
Sardis, along with the Etowah County School District is CIPA compliant. An Internet Safety Policy is in effect and has been since the implementation of CIPA. Our Internet Safety Policy contains two different Acceptable Use Policies. There is a student AUP and an employee AUP; both were recently updated in July 2011 to reflect emerging technologies and social media. The student AUP must be signed by the student and a parent/guardian and the beginning of each year. This AUP states that the school district will provide adequate supervision any time a student is using technology at school. The policy also states that adequate content filtering will be provided on all computers within the district. The policy stipulates that any student who intentionally breaks the Internet Safety Policy can be punished according to the Student Code of Conduct and board policies including losing technology privileges. These policies and AUP forms are available online at our district website:
The employee AUP is a contract signed by all employees who have contact with school technology. The employee AUP must also be signed by substitute teachers, pre-service teachers, and volunteer workers who might come in contact with school technology resources. The employee AUP states that inappropriate use of school technology resources can result in disciplinary action including and up to dismissal.
Content filtering is currently accomplished using a Lightspeed Total Traffic Control server. The Alabama Supercomputer side of the connectivity uses content filtering provided by Alabama Supercomputer. This gives our system a second level of protection. Currently, the network is designed to stop all Internet traffic within the WAN in the event of the R2000 failing. Future plans include increasing the management of the network using the Lightspeed reporting capabilities to maximize the load balance between the Charter Internet connection and the Alabama Supercomputer Internet connection. Plans are also in place to configure the two Internet connections so if one were to drop, all traffic would automatically be redirected to the other.
Beginning July 1, 2008, SchoolWires of State College, Pennsylvania, began hosting the Etowah County School System website. The data center holding the ecboe.org data is in an underground secure location with multiple redundancies.
During the 2007-2008 school year, the Etowah County School System installed a natural gas-powered generator for the data center, located at the Central Office. This generator is capable of maintaining the data center as well as the HVAC for the data center for an unlimited period of time.
Future plans include Parent Internet Safety trainings at each school location.