Friday, February 10, 2012

Weekly Update 2/10/12


The mobile laptop lab went live this week and within the span of an hour was already booked for classroom use.  So for the response and usage has been great.  Of course, all great initiatives have their share of nuances which need to be dealt with and this project has been no exception.   The good thing is having gone through the set up process has taught me lessons that will make future technology deployment much easier. 

We are currently undergoing a study on printer usage within the school.  One technology issue that has been frustrating for both teachers and students is availability of printers.  The study is actually a program on our server which tracks the use of each printer so we can tell where our “hot spots” are and if we need to look at alternative solutions for the approximately 15 printers  in the school right now.

The finishing touches are being put on our brand new sound system in the large gym. The last component will be the addition of an antenna to provide for better connect ability for our wireless mics.

Wednesday I attended a conference on the financial market and tax outlook for 2012.  The purpose was to give individuals and businesses a look at potential tax changes in the upcoming year.  There was a ton of great information, especially for a person that loves learning about the economy and financial markets.  To summarize the opinion of the presenter: Europe will enter a recession, there will be moderate to sub-par growth in the US, unemployment will drop slightly and housing should begin to see some recovery.  We shall see how these predictions play out.
 
I had a great experience speaking at All Saints this week about the Family Tuition Plan.  They had two sessions for incoming Kindergarten parents, one in the morning and one in the evening. Both were well attended and the FTP information was well received.  It seems as though our parents are starting to have a better knowledge of tuition assistance options, but we still need to keep getting the message out.
 
I lead the teacher professional development on Wednesday and we spent our hour working on the Iowa Core Alignment Tool or ICAT. This session was the “ICAT camp” where our teachers worked through the introductory information.  We will spend the next three weeks working through the ICAT tool. 
  
Tonight is Pack the Stadium Knight as both our boys and girls basketball teams have the chance to secure MAC championships.  Tomorrow our wrestlers head to Mount Vernon for sectionals.  I hope to see all of you at some point this weekend!

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