Showing off their connections

Deirdre Newman

This is your mission, should you choose to accept it: integrate

all the varied computer networks on campus into one single network

that serves both Macs and PCs.

Estancia High School Principal Tom Antal accepted this mission

over the summer, making technology funding a priority and

transforming his school into a districtwide model.

On Tuesday, the school hosted an open house to show off its

technological achievements, from the computer labs to classrooms.

One of the biggest advantages is that students and staff can now

log onto any computer on campus with the same username and password.

“One of the major benefits is if a student was working on a senior

project in the English department and then came to the library, they

couldn’t use the computers there,” said Mark Wagner, an advanced

placement English literature teacher and technology coordinator at

the school. “Now they can.”

Estancia was one of the first schools to receive technology

support from the state through digital high school grants.

Inevitably, being the first meant it was also the first school to

have outdated equipment.

When Antal found out over the summer that this funding from the

state was going to be cut off, he decided to move funds from other

projects to technology to keep Estancia on the cutting edge.

Between the funds the school received last year and moving money

around over the summer, the school was able to spend about $102,000

on equipment, software licensing, training and other technological

needs.

Now, Estancia is the only school in the state that has integrated

their PCs and Macs -- the technological equivalent of getting

Democrats and Republicans to agree on an issue.

In addition to enabling students and staff to log in and retrieve

files from any computer on campus, other benefits can be found in

classrooms, where teachers take roll by computer -- the day’s

attendance record is automatically sent to the main office -- and in

the language lab, where students can work on different activities in

different languages in individual booths at the same time.

“It’s connected by the headphones, and [my headphones] can jump

from one kid to the next every five seconds, so if they are sleeping,

I can hear that,” said Monica McCrea-Steele, Spanish teacher.

The $88,000 language lab is so new that it hasn’t even been used

by students yet. It is expected to open sometime next week,

McCrea-Steele said.

The technology upgrade should enhance students’ attitudes about

their projects, said Bob Sterling, who teaches Advancement Via

Individual Determination.

“It’s a great cycle,” Sterling said. “They make a great-looking

project, we validate them and then they want to make a better

project.”

Assistant Supt. Paul Reed said he was impressed with the school’s

focus on technology.

“I think it’s very exciting,” Reed said. “They’ve done some

incredibly innovative things that directly translate into benefit for

kids.

“It seems to be a wise investment,” he said.