SAD 31 to upgrade school computer technology

HOWLAND – Computer and Internet access for SAD 31 students and staff will double by Sept. 1 under an ambitious plan to upgrade school technology, officials said Wednesday.

As part of the Maine Laptop Initiative’s next phase, an infusion of about 300 new and used laptop computers will complement the approximately 300 computers available. The infusion will go first to seventh- and eighth-graders, then to teachers and staff and the rest of the school system, SAD 31 Technology Director Barry Van Gurp said Wednesday.

“The situation come September will be a whole heck of a lot better,” Van Gurp said. “My goal is to get a 1:1 ratio of computers to people, and we’re going to come very close to that.

“We are having fun. It’s a challenge, but it’s fun, and from my perspective, I think we will be wowing a few people when school comes back in September,” he added.

About 110 to 120 new Apple iBook laptops will be funded by the Maine Laptop Initiative. Under that plan, the school system will buy 122 laptops given to it earlier under MLTI at $48 each, interim Superintendent Jerry White said.

White and some members of the SAD 31 board of directors will collect about 198 used computers at Caribou, Beals, Jonesboro and Indian Township schools on or about July 15, White said. Those will be purchased from the schools at $48 each.

The new or used machines not posted to classrooms will be mounted on large carts that teachers can roll into classrooms for pupil use, White said. Also, the schools will be completely set for wireless Internet access.

“The technical resources will enable us to put up an e-mail server, a Web server and student folders Web site where students can work online through the server,” White told the board Tuesday night. “We’re also working on having Internet e-mail accounts available for SAD 31 residents.”

The board’s facilities committee will have a plan ready shortly, he said. A recent survey showed that 80 percent to 90 percent of all SAD 31 pupils have computers at home. SAD 31 serves Burlington, Edinburg, Enfield, Howland, Maxfield and Passadumkeag.

Classrooms that have only one computer likely will end up with several more, said Van Gurp. The technology director joined the school system last July after 24 years in the U.S. Air Force, where he worked on telephone and computer systems, and several years as a systems administrator in the private sector.

With each computer requiring at least 20 minutes for basic diagnostics and software reloads, he and school technician Jean Thibodeau expect to have a long summer.

“This summer is going to be elbows and you know what,” Van Gurp said. “We have a lot to do.”