Debra Somerhalder
Approval of minutes from 1/29/97 meeting.
The team was informed that the minutes will not be circulated by paper and that it will be the individual's responsibility prior to the next meeting to approve the minutes by reading them on the Web. It was decided that we would hold off approving the minutes from the prior two meetings until the next meeting on this project. In addition, it was suggested that the memo that is currently posted on the Web be removed and this will be enacted as soon as possible.
Item #1 - Progress on router / internet connection / telephone connection for BWE Project
Report from Dave Edmunds
Mike Becich mentioned that Mark Steward from Nauticom has agreed to provide us Internet services for Bradford Woods Elementary free of charge. Although the exact details of this are not worked out, a formal proposal will be submitted to Mark Edwards. This will replace an approximately $3,000 per year charge at Allegheny Intermediate Unit. A number of issues, however, remain in what IP addresses will be assigned to us, who will administer them, and what kind of access will be provided to students, as well as to teachers at Bradford Woods Elementary. It is Dr. Becich's current opinion that this will allow for staff and teacher's access to the Internet, but not students. Student accounts will be shared by individual addresses in the classrooms and in the learning laboratories for school use only and not individually billed out to students.
Report from Mike Becich
Mike Becich reported that PC Solutions, Executive VP Steve Wirth, has agreed to volunteer time and services for hooking up the network at Bradford Woods Elementary. PC Solutions has also offered to let us purchase an appropriate router for Bradford Woods at cost with no retail mark-up. Estimated value of these services based on the current budget is at least $2,500. The details of this will be presented in a formal letter to Ron Perry which will describe the money donations that have now been made to this project.
Item #2 - Presentation of the budget for the 3-year program.
Report from Ron Perry and Barbara Schmid
As an attachment (see Attachment #1) is a budget for the "Greenhouse Project" which we will try to get additional funding for North Allegheny through direct donations and through additional grant support. The budget is attached and the group suggested, described and justified. This will be discussed further at the next meeting.
Item #3 - Report on Internet Night
Report from Ron Perry, Barbara Schmid and Sabra McConnell
The Internet Night is being modeled after a technology fair that is described in an attachment from Classroom ConnectÔ which was described in November, 1996, Volume 3, #3. Their URL is http://www.classroom.net. (Click here for Meeting WWW Page http:// ). The tentative framework for the Bradford Woods Introduction to the Internet night is attached as Attachment #2. In general, the meeting will start with an introduction to the Internet by Dr. Mike Becich followed up by potential use for e-mail by Barbara Schmid, classroom impact by Amy Groetsch, parental perspective by Sabra McConnell, curriculum implications across the district by Dr. Ron Perry, safety concerns by Dr. Linda Kamzelski and project future plans by Dr. Mike Becich. This will be followed up by a question and answer period. This program will be on March 6, 1997 and further discussions concerning this, as well as brochures are being prepared by Sabra McConnell, Ron Perry and Barbara Schmid for distribution to the parents through the students at the school. An attempt will be made to get this up on the Web site within the next few days for approval.
Item #4 - Miscellaneous Items
The miscellaneous items were not formally discussed at the meeting but this information is provided by Dr. Becich.
- Interview with Post-Gazette
An interview was given with the Post Gazette describing this project but the article has not appeared in the paper yet.
- Fundraising
We have been successful in raising funds from the following sources:
Fore Systems
PC Solutions
Nauticom
These companies have all agreed to donate services which in inkind money represents the following:
DFD Consulting (Dr. Becich's group) estimated costs thus far - costs and services donated - equivalent to approximately $10,000.
Nauticom: Estimated costs and services approximately $3,000.
PC Solutions: Estimated costs and services approximately $2,500.
Fore Systems: Not available.
Total: $15,500
3. Introduction to PC services offer (See Item #1 above)
Item #5 - Action Items for the next meeting.
- Dr. Becich has promised to submit to Ron Perry a letter describing the use of advertising off the Web page so it can be presented to North Allegheny administration. These ads should be mocked-up to allow for this to be presented to the Superintendent, Larry Bozzomo for approval so that the advertising in the web page can be demonstrated to potential contributors.
- Ron Perry will provide a detailed budget justification for the "Greenhouse Grant" Program.
- Linda Kamzelski and Hank McCarhty will provide a third level budget and plan for the Bradford Woods Internet Project which will describe all the cabling that will be necessary to completely upgrade the work at Bradford Woods Elementary. This is a third stage project which will help to offset some of the costs by the district related to the previous installation that exists at Bradford Woods.
- Sabra McConnell, Ron Perry and Barbara Schmid will prepare the final graphics for the Internet Night and distribute them to the students.
- Dr. Becich will continue fundraising efforts and talk to Black Box, Fore Systems and
PC Solutions about a router solution so we can connect.
- Linda Kamzelski will cancel the router purchase and the CSU-DSU install, as well as the cabling charges which are listed as a total of $5,100 for the current install.
