Annual Report

Technology Update

...a look back to the 2004-2005 school year

by Craig Williams

December 12, 2005

PowerSchool

During the 2004-2005 school year, Seward Public Schoolsimplemented a new student administrative system called PowerSchool.Training for administration, teachers, office staff and lunchpersonnel took place during the August in-service sessions. Thegoal of this replacement was to implement an automated lunch systemand add a parent link to student data (i.e. grades, attendance andlunch balance). Grants were secured to purchase the software,hardware and training for the new system.

Six training sessions were provided to parents in January. Over500 student's parents attended to receive training on the parentcomponent of PowerSchool. During the second semester over 8000 hitswere received on the parent side of PowerSchool. During the firstsemester of 05-06, 22117 parents (or students) have accessed thesite with an average of 166 per day. 750 different student's fileshave been accessed.

Technology Updates

Two labs were updated in August, 2004. Thirty eMacs werepurchased for the Middle School. The eMacs were purchased with DVDburners allowing the students to utilize iLife - a set of programsthat manage movies, photos, music and creates DVD's. Twenty-fivePC's were purchased at the High School and installed in a computerlab. These machines are being used for training in Officeapplications, desktop publishing, webpage creation, imagecreation/editing and data analysis. Currently there are 525computer workstations in the district and 14 servers.

Library Systems Upgrade

A Seward Foundation Grant was secured to assist in the purchaseof server software and hardware to upgrade the library catalogsystem. The original equipment was 15 years old.

SOCS

Seward Public Schools continues to utilize the Simplified OnlineCommunication Solution (SOCS) system to update patrons onactivities happening in our district. Current articles related tothe district, along with calendars of activities and lunch menuscan be found on the site. SOCS visitors are able to sign up for'email updates' so that they are informed when new and excitingarticles are placed on the site. Sponsors are being sought tosupport the site. If you are interested in being a sponsor andhaving your ad on the main page, contact Dr. Marlene Uhing(marlene.uhing@connectseward.org).