Effective and efficient technology adoption is considered vital for a competitive K-12 education in today's highly computerized world. The Batavia School is focused on technology. With a $8.7 million technology initiative to be implemented over the next five years, Batavia schools, libraries and administration buildings will be equipped with over 1,000 new computers, a Wide Area Network and T1 speed Internet connections. The ultimate goal is to provide a complete technology and communication environment where there is one computer for every three students in the district.

The Batavia/Hewlett-Packard Partnership

After a detailed evaluation process, Batavia chose Hewlett-Packard as its preferred computer hardware vendor. Batavia schools currently have about 100 HP Vectra desktops out of 350 computers. With this new partnership, Gary Johnston, Director of Technology for the Batavia School District, is expecting to implement an additional 300 new HP Vectra PCs by the end of the school year to complete the first phase of the five-year plan.

Batavia's decision to work with HP ultimately came down to competitive pricing for the best quality according to Johnston. Gary has been a long time customer of Hewlett-Packard. "I feel that HP has high quality products and behind the engineering are some really talented people. If we were to have any problems, I know our local HP office would provide outstanding service and support."

The Batavia School District is comprised of a high school, a middle school, three elementary schools, a library and administration building. Implementing the technology project will have far reaching affects. A 12 strand single mode WAN will eventually link the District, and the vast majority of system repairs will be handled centrally from the administration building where the collapsed servers will be kept.

Technology as a Viable Instructional Tool

To promote teacher-driven curricula software development, Batavia has developed a unique program. Batavia will provide its teachers with a basic tool set including Microsoft Office '97 software. Through experimenting with these software programs and the Internet, teachers will be able to develop learning tools based on their particular curriculum and needs. Ideas will be presented to a central IT staff who will then propose software solutions to help teachers implement effective learning tools based on their initial input. Once a software program is adapted for a specific curriculum, the program will be made available district-wide.

To promote rapid adoption, Johnston plans to create teacher learning opportunities taught during short seminars following the school day. These 'bursts of learning' will be offered frequently and to maximize attendance, pizza will be served, according to Johnston.

Batavia's plans are ambitious and forward thinking with the intention of continuing its tradition as a leading New York State school system. Lisa Vince-Quarterman from Vanstar, Batavia's HP product supplier, said that the project requires high quality and reliability. "And HP is the best at quality, reliability and service."