Laura Gonzales, chief officer for Los Alamos County’s Information Technology Department, presents a report of her review of the School District’s Technology Department. Photo by Bonnie J. Gordon/ladailypost.comLaura Gonzales, chief officer for Los Alamos County’s Information Technology Department, presented a report of her review of the School District’s Technology Department. She pointed out that many school connections are very limited in their bandwidth, while many more wireless devises are now connecting to the school’s Internet connection.
Other problems include access to climate control for District hardware, age of District servers, lack of documentation and compensation of IT employees at lower than state average. According to Gonzales, bright spots included an excellent three year technology plan, good policies on how to use equipment, the flexibility of the IT team and the level of service provided by the IT team to District staff.
District Coordinator of Technology Dean Obermeyer gave a detailed report on the District’s technology plans and the reorganization of IT staff that incorporates Gonzales’ suggestions.
Also at its Dec. 10 meeting, school board members unanimously approved the sale of $4.9 million in General Obligation School Building Bonds to Larson Financial through Los Alamos National Bank. Interest rate on the bonds, which were rated Double A2 (State Double A1 enhanced), is 2.098 percent. Bonds will mature in an average of six years. The Board agreed to draft a letter recognizing LANB for its support of the District in facilitating the bond sale.
Teacher Suzanne Lynne, left, and Curriculum Coordinator Pam Miller present a summer school proposal. Photo by Bonnie J. Gordon/ladailypost.com
During Tuesday’s Curriculum Report, Curriculum Coordinator Pam Miller and Apsen Elementary third grade teacher Suzanne Lynne presented a proposal they are developing for elementary summer school in 2014. Lynne has been in charge of elementary summer school programs in Los Alamos for many years. Elementary summer school was not held in 2013.
The proposal recommends charging $100 per class for summer school. Two classes, reading and math, will be held five days a week for one month under the proposal. Teachers will recommend students working below grade level to the program, Lynne said.
Lynne and Miller will return to the Board in January with further plans and recommendations for summer school. The Board thanked Lynne for her work on the proposal and encouraged her to continue to flesh out the details.
Lynne stressed the importance of the summer school program to students performing below grade level saying, “I’ll do whatever it takes to make summer school happen.”
