Re: [seul-edu] Good news and a request

["Linux at DCE" <seul@dce.k12.wi.us>]

Comments mixed in below.

> On Wed, 5 Feb 2003 13:00:26 -0800
> Jim Aird <jimaird@hometech.org> wrote:
>
> >
> > On Wednesday, February 5, 2003, at 12:35 PM, Gary Dunn wrote:
> > >
> > > Don't underestimate the power of coordinating with local open-source
> > > groups.
> > And don't underestimate the difficulties OSS advocates can encounter
> > when dealing with school districts and individual sites.  The two
> > cannot be separated.  Schools have to spend their tech dollars in ways
> > where they can pay for a certain level of service.  Assuming volunteers
> > will be available is really out of the box for district tech
> > coordinators.
>
> ...due to the unwavering support of band parents. They do fund
> raising. They travel with the band (paying their own way) as chaperones.
> They rent the truck and move the big instruments for performances. They
> manage the uniforms. (Pausing to catch breath.)

I have to agree with Jim on this.  You'll be hard pressed to find a tech coordinator
willing to go in front of the school board and say, "Don't worry about support...
we'll find skilled volunteers to do everything."

As an example, our high school file server (where all student and teacher files
are saved) supports about 1400 users.  Our district Director of Technology is
not going to rely on volunteers of there is a problem.  What if they can't get
away from their job, what if they are on vacation, what if.. what if.   What if 
they just don't want to run over right away because they are busy?  

Also, I'm not sure where you live, but here there aren't a whole lot of people
available who could do much with Linux... not even in the computer businesses.
There are certainly fewer of these individuals than there are people capable
of driving a car or washing a uniform.  Some districts I know of likely don't 
even have a single person within an hour drive who would be competent enough
in Linux to fix even more minor problems.

I'm certainly not saying that volunteers are bad or that you shouldn't accept
help from volunteers.  Instead I am saying that there is a place  for professional
support; someone you can pay to fix your Linux problems (or maybe just configure
a network printer.)  These bid specifications should start to encourage more of
these types of businesses to get trained (or send someone for training) in Linux.
Currently most computer vendors don't see a market or a way to make $ with 
Linux and so they are not making any move to support it.

If there are people in your district who can volunteer support then GREAT!!
Maybe you can limit use of the paid support considerably.  But for most districts,
it would still sure be nice to know that the paid support option was out there
if needed.

A few thoughts on the comment from Jim of "...school districts and individual sites.
The two cannot be separated."

This is usually very true.  In most cases the majority if not the entire tech budget
comes from the district.  The previous post by Gary, however, was also correct.
Often the district size does not matter when sizing individual servers.  I had 
overlooked that originally.  A LTSP server should size out the same for a 30
user lab no matter what size the entire district is.  

I don't know how things are done outside of Wisconsin, but due to pricing
and subsides, most of the districts here have a single Internet feed.  In
this case some servers do need to be sized based on the district size.  But 
that is probably limited mainly to mail server and proxy/filtering.

> > > Many members enjoy doing volunteer work at schools.
> > Many members enjoy being paid for their services as well and have a
> > much shorter response time when there is a buck at the end of the stick.
>
> Okay. If the band parents have the money they can contract for the truck.
> If not, they will have to rely on Bill's cousin Bob, who thinks his will
> be available that night. Money can be good, but enjoyment comes from
> helping the kids, helping your school, contributing to the community.

I think the point is that when you are paying someone you can insist on
a quick response.  When it is 100% volunteer, then you have to live with
what you get.  The students and teachers might not like a full day downtime
because of a serious problem, but they'll really hate a three day downtime
due to Bill's cousin Bob being out of town and being the only one who
happens to know how to fix the thing.

Again, I'm not saying that volunteers are bad, just that it's not a good
idea to rely on them 100%

> > > Also, don't
> > > underestimate the students' ability to install and administer these...
> > However, students with admin logins ain't gonna happen.
>
> You and I disagree here.

I would say that it depends on what type of server.  A reasonably well screened
student who is technically capable may be able to do a good job.  But be sure
he/she knows what they are doing enough that they don't accidentally wipe out
all user files on a server.   

We have used student interns for the past few years and there haven't been 
any issues.  We do, however, limit admin access in cases.  For example the
student would never have access to the financials or student records servers.

> > Confidential
> > files need to be kept that way.
>
> How do you propose maintaining confidentiality with non-student system
> administrators? Access controls only create barriers to non-privileged
> accounts. But back up a moment, exactly what confidentiality are we
> talking about?

Off hand I suspect he's talking about types of items covered under FERPA.
I'd hate to get fined by the feds or sued by parents for not keeping things
confidential that are mandated as confidential by law.

You may not be able to guarantee confidentiality, but at least you can 
show reasonable effort was made.  (Which might just save the district
from a law suit big enough to force closing down a school or two.)


Finally... I wanted to let everyone know that the main reason behind these new
bid specs is not to create commercial Linux support industries in the state.  The
main reason is to encourage some districts to start using Linux.  The specs
should allow us to show a school board or tech coordinator similar proprietary
and non-prop solutions.  When they see that both do the same job but that
one is literally thousands less and doesn't have recurring upgrade costs,
it should open a few eyes.