[K12OSN] Best approach to calm the school's administration about Linux?

[dalen]

Joseph Bishay wrote:

> Hello,
> 
> After finally setting up everything and having the lab running 
> smoothly, some issues have arisen.
> 
> It seems rumours within the school's administration/board abound that 
> the lab we have is totally useless for preparing students for future 
> computer use/education.
> 
> Background: we are a small private Christian elementary school with a 
> very limited budget and basic staffing. The school board is also made 
> up of people who have no experience in teaching (mostly business 
> people) and they don't interact with the school directly (IE: they're 
> completely out of touch).
> 
> What would be the best way to reassure them that the system we have 
> IS able to prepare the students for the future (IE: Doesn't need to 
> be Windows)? Note that in our area (Toronto) there is no ministry-
> mandated computer curriculum, so essentially the lab is used as a 
> reference room for other subjects. 
> 
> Thanks,
> Joseph
Joseph,
	Considering that you are trying to convince business people, I would 
use business examples.  I would try and find influential newspaper (Wall 
Street Journal, New York Times, etc...) articles about Linux 
deployments.  Perhaps look for IBM internally moving to Linux Desktop or 
that city in Florida that has many thin clients.  Let me know what you 
find as I have the same task in front of me.

Thanks,

Dale