The electronic roadways for Indian Prairie Community Unit School District 204’s computer-based network will soon be in place, but officials are still drafting the rules of the road.
School board members this week accepted a low bid of $267,651 from Advanced Data Technologies for the electronics needed to establish a districtwide network and a local area network for Waubonsie Valley High School.
The equipment is the final piece in the district’s structure for low-cost computer communications between classrooms and schools, as well as for Internet access, said T. Jay Hill, director of management information services for the district.
The system should be in place before the end of the school year, Hill said. The next step will be familiarizing teachers and administrators with how to use the networks for classroom projects, conferencing and other activities, he said.
“We have a very large task ahead of us to in-service staff and administration,” he said. “Until a lot of people get very comfortable with it, it’s not going to happen.”
District administrators also are working to draft a policy regulating student use of the computer networks to avoid problems with some of the undesirable material available on the Internet, Hill said. A policy recommendation is expected to be made to the school board in May.
By establishing a local area network, the district will be able to eliminate telephone company charges for computer communications between schools, Hill said. The network also will allow students to access information from other school libraries and reference sources, he said.
