SFUSD requires online report cards.
They are not required to provide functional computers.
They are not required to provide internet access at school sites.
They are not required to provide correct rosters of one's students.
They are not required to provide adequate server space so that the report card program doesn't crash.
They are not required to provide printers or ink.
I ended up doing report cards on a Kindle at an open wifi point, and I'm still not sure how I'll get the report cards printed.
So the next SFUSD official to yammer about 21st century learning and technology and online data collection and standards online and data-driven instruction is getting glitter-bombed. It's easier to yammer and buy a program than it is to make it actually function, and I'm tired of putting my time and energy into all the actual requirements of SFUSD's big talk.
Beyond the Talk, you will find teachers on the ground cobbling together systems to make it work while district adminstrators pontificate and pose for photos.
You might want to bring this up with your principal and your Site Council. Our teachers (at our not a trophy nor a SIG school) got new computers within the past few years out of the school budget.. I have no advice on the server crashes though. That is a district thing...
ReplyDeleteWe actually got a mess of good computers donated, and I have one in my room. The district has yet to feel compelled to network and configure it, though...although they did come out and condemn the server box, which was an early 90s relic.
ReplyDeleteOh, and for the record, I'm tired of the district not making a central budget allocation for technology and expecting the schools to do it. I'm also not clear on where the literally dozens of computers donated to the district centrally end up.
ReplyDeleteAfter all, central depts. provide cutting-edge technology - even phones - for their staff. So the central office knows it's important...but not important enough, Prop. A or no Prop. A, to budget centrally.