[K12OSN] Charter School

["Terrell Prudé Jr."]

While I don't have much for your second question, I do have some input
for your first and third questions.  Answers below.

--TP

Steven Santos wrote:
> Simply Circus is putting in a new charter school proposal with the state of
> Mass., and I need some advice for the IT section of our proposal...
>
> First, while I can't specify it in so many words, I want to specify K12LTSP,
> and I am looking for language that will do so.  We have a small K12LTSP
> server in our office that gets used for web surfing and OOo.
>
>   
Easy.  Just do like the politicians do when they want to allocate
earmark funds.  Specify the following parameters for "The System":

1.)  Must use a thin client architecture, and must use either the
EtherBoot or PXE-Boot TFTP-booting specifications.
2.)  Must be able to use older Intel "Pentium I" computers as a
TFTP-booting thin client.  [N. B. to my knowledge, only EtherBoot will
do this!]
3.)  Must be able to use older Apple Macintoshes (e. g. iMac G3) as a
TFTP-booting thin client.  [N. B. K12LTSP is preconfigured for this, and
several of us do it, including me.]
4.)  Must use the OpenLDAP directory system.  [This gives the illusion
that Apple's Mac OS X might be considered!  Heh heh]
5.)  Must use the Heimdal Kerberos authentication system. [Many,
including the famous OpenBSD development team, prefer Heimdal Kerberos
for security reasons.]

You get the idea.  :-)

> Second, I need to offer a fairly wide range of services, and wish to do so
> with central LDAP authentication.  For this proposal I need to include the
> names of software packages that do the job, and support LDAP for single sign
> on.  I need suggestions for all of the following (they do not have to be
> OSS, but its obviously preferred.
>
> - ID cards (UIDs tied to student and staff ID cards and access the same LDAP
> database)
>
> - Physical Access (building locking/security tied to magnetic ID cards)
>
> - General computing (obviously K12LTSP)
>
> - Student Information System (records, classes, grades, etc.  Ability for
> parents to check student progress a plus)
>   
For a Student Information System, you might look at something called
Web2School.  In a conversation with them a while back, they told me that
it is Java-based, runs on GNU/Linux, and is usable with pretty much any
browser.  Worth talking to them, perhaps.

> - School Lunch system that can use student ID cards (bar code or magnetic)
> or authenticate with UID/Password
>
> - Library system (KOHA? Something that supports LDAP)
>
> - Remote access to databases that authenticates via the LDAP database
> (specifically we will be interfacing with International Index to the
> Performing Arts, SIRS Researcher, eLibrary CE, Culture Grams, Lexis Nexus
> Scholastic and 3 internal databases - 1 mediwiki, 2 SQL)
>
>
> Third, assuming that we are approved for this, can anyone offer any advice
> on hiring a person whose job will be 1/2 network admin and 1/2 computer
> teacher?

While it's doable, this one's not so easy.  It's not because there
aren't qualified people; there are plenty.  But there are a few issues
that, as a school employee myself and systems engineer/trainer, I can
see you running into:

1.)  It'd be a pay cut for a lot of people to go to the instructional
side.  Schools are just too damned cheap with teacher salaries, even my
district.  For example, I'm on the Dept. of IT side.  If I were to get
reclassed on the teacher scale, it'd be a US $30,000 pay cut for me. 
And that's at the high end of teacher's salaries!

2.)  You'll have to weed through a flood of MCSE's and MCP's trying to
sell you on MS Windows so that they stand a chance of getting the job. 
They are absolutely petrified of anything UNIX-y.  Yes, in my MCSE days,
I was guilty of exactly this.

3.)  Most teachers (not all, but most) are ABSOLUTELY STUPID when it
comes to computers, unfortunately.  I see this every day.

4.)  There's more than one male teacher that I know who left the
profession after false accusations by underage girls for giving them the
"B" or "C" that they actually deserved, instead of just handing them the
"A" (didn't do their homework, etc.).  I've seen these guys in their
classrooms, and I can tell you we lost some very good teachers that way.

So, my suggestion to you would be to head over to your local GNU/Linux
Users' Group and tell people what you're trying to do.  Since you're in
Massachusetts, I don't know how close you are to Cambridge, but you
might go visit the Free Software Foundation offices there and explain
your situation.  Given what you want to do, I'm sure they'd be *GLAD* to
at least point you in the right direction.  They may even know someone
who'd be a good fit!

--TP