Technology
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Our Platform
Our Board of Education views technology as an integral piece of a well-rounded 21st century education. Our students benefit significantly from that vision.
All of our school buildings are connected to a high speed wide area fiber backbone providing both Internet and internal network access.
As we continue our journey to deliver the best possible computing experience to each and every student every day we are transitioning all of our Primary buildings from traditional computer labs to 1:1 computing environments utilizing iPads at all grade levels supplemented by Macbook Air's where needed that can be used in any space throughout the building for collaborative student based learning. Each of the K-8 classrooms are currently equipped with LED Displays connected to Apple TV streaming devices. All high school classrooms are equipped with Extron control systems powering low energy led/laser technology projectors helping control costs, maintenance, and energy consumption.
Continued Investment
This summer technology staff have been very busy preparing for the new school year. With the assistance of our Buildings and Grounds department we have installed a brand new wireless infrastructure across all of our schools pushing increasing our network speeds up to 30 times faster in most buildings. We have updated and cleaned over 500 desktop computers. Prepared and deployed over 2,000 MacBook Airs, and are preparing for an all out 1:1 deployment across our primary and middle schools. We have upgraded our Data Center to Microsoft Server 2012 in a virtual server environment and our planning to be one of the first to upgrade our Student information system to an HTML 5 platform. We are currently preparing to upgrade our aging analog telephone system with new voice over internet protocol technology district wide..
Internet Safety
The online safety of our students is important. We have implemented new internet filtering technology that will allow us to manage internet access on all devices on the DPS61 network to protect our students. All students and staff are required to sign an Acceptable Use Policy before they are allowed to use a computer or access the internet. We also utilize network monitoring devices to help us efficiently manage our network resources and to minimize threats from viruses and spyware.
Home Access
All of our schools provide our parents, guardians, and students access to attendance for their students. In addition the district has partnered with Parentlink to provide a Decatur Public Schools app available for both iPhone and Android devices allowing them access to this information as well as school news and event calendars. The app is free in the app store or google store and uses the same login and password as your home access account.