District Technology Plan

The goals included the the district technology plan include offering ongoing professional development, updating and maintaining hardware and software, continuing and improving relationships with the community and parents, and maintenance of infracstructure with improvements and needed and can be afforded due to budget.

In the area of professional development, it is planned to be an ongoing process to incorporate online workshops that can be assessed 24/7 and in all subject areas for technology integration. This should enable educators to continue growing in the area of technology integration at their convenience. The technology coordinator and network specialist along with the administrators are responsible for this strategy. Surveys from teachers will be used in order to help decide what professional development should be offered.

The hardware, software, and infrastructure will be constantly monitored and evaluated in order to prevent issues with out of date or expired licenses, computers that need repair, and a network that won't support the traffic of the district. A district must have these items in working order in order for technology to be an effective asset. The network specialist is responsible for the maintenance and upkeep of this goal.

Communication with parents, community members, and school district stakeholders is very valuable in a small community such as ours. The school is the center of the community which most events are centered around. Without the ability to communicate, we lose the support needed to ensure up to date information between the district and the concerned stakeholders. We allow this communication by providing parent portals for direct contact with parents and their children's grades and attendance. An up to date website with current and up coming events. Administrators also incorporate their own blogs with daily information pertaining to their campus. Network coordinator, network specialist, and administrators are the responsible parties.

The budget poses issues as far as the needs of the district at times. Adequate funds are available for maintenance and upkeep but monies allocated for future and new additional hardware or software is sometimes not available. With the looming budget cuts in technology, this will prove to be even more of a burden.

With the burden of lack of funds in the future, this makes evaluation of current needs even more of an important factor. With teacher, student, and administrator surveys and needs assessments, the district will be able to focus on what needs to be addressed based on priority.