Stimulus (or "economic recovery") and Title II Part D

If you dig deeply enough into the text of the Economic Recovery bill, you can find (on about page 169) that $650M has been provisioned for the Title II Part D funds (known by our folks as Enhancing Education Through Technology or EETT).

I also found a nice state-by-state PDF that correlates to the $650M. If this is accurate, it could mean about $9.5M in EETT funds for Kentucky.

Stay tuned, as we'll obviously see something official from KDE once the totals are verified and details are ironed out. If this is accurate, that could be a nice "shot in the arm" for that particular funding source.

Webcast next week on iPhone integration

I was forwarded some information on a webcast related to integrating iPhones with Exchange and Active Directory. I don't know if it will be compatible with the way we do things, but thought I'd put the info out here if anyone's interested in checking it out:

February Webcast - iPhone Integration and Deployment

Date: Tuesday, February 17th, 10:00 AM (Pacific)
Time: 10:00 am - 11:30 am PST
1:00 pm - 2:30 pm EST
18:00 - 19:30 GMT

Presenter: Chase Kelly, Sr. Manager, Apple Education Mobility

Summary: A detailed look at how the iPhone integrates into Active Directory and Exchange network infrastructures.
In addition, we will cover how to manage deployment of iPhones utilizing the iPhone Configuration Utility.


How to View an Apple Sales Training Webcast:

• Go to the following web page 5-10 minutes prior to the webcast start time:
http://webcast.training.apple.com/

• Enter the webcast ID and passcode:

Webcast ID: MacEnterprise
Passcode: 527375

Don't let this happen to you!

A few of our folks saw the following story from the Arizona Daily Star. There are several cautionary tales here, including appropriate E-Rate behavior and accepting vendor favors, creating conflict-of-interest issues:

Arizona AG takes action over Tucson schools’ technology purchases

The Arizona Daily Star reports that state investigators have detailed "pervasive and continuing problems" with the Tucson Unified School District's (TUSD) purchasing procedures, saying employees and vendors rigged bids and violated conflict-of-interest laws. Investigators in the state Attorney General's Office found that TUSD's staff had improper contact with vendors both before and during what should be competitive bidding processes. The documents also show district employees routinely accepted gifts from vendors and, on at least one occasion, split contract amounts for a vendor to avoid the competitive requirements that kick in at higher thresholds. "This is not a case of one rogue employee and a dishonest vendor corrupting a single district procurement," the report said. "Multiple district employees and administrators took part in these activities and others looked the other way while district policies and state and federal laws were ignored."

To avoid litigation, the district has entered into a settlement agreement with the agency, paying $7,500 and consenting to a host of stepped-up auditing requirements and stricter scrutiny of future contracts. The agency, however, has filed a civil lawsuit in Maricopa County against former TUSD’s technology director Guyton Campbell and its chief operations officer, Rudy Flores, seeking $39,100 in penalties for procurement-code violations. It also seeks civil penalties against TUSD vendors Trillion Partners Inc., E-Rate Consulting Services, and Logical Choice Technologies Inc. The report offers the first glimpse into improprieties found in separate investigations involving TUSD's technology contracts and its purchase of interactive whiteboards for classroom teachers. According to the report, TUSD's relationship with Trillion began with a violation of conflict-of-interest statutes after the company in October 2005 paid $621 to fete as many as 15 district employees at a private dinner, with the approval of then-Superintendent Roger Pfeuffer. By November 2005, a Trillion salesman had informed technology director Campbell and his then-assistant director, Flores, that the company had begun working on a contract to determine the district's wide-area-network needs, even though TUSD wouldn't advertise that contract for two more months. In another case, this time involving E-Rate, Campbell and Flores divided the contract to avoid competitive bid requirements for an analysis meant to convince school board members that the district needed to overhaul some of its technology systems.

Other staffers also violated conflict-of-interest laws, the report said, stemming primarily from an April 2008 conference at Starr Pass hosted by Promethean, a whiteboard manufacturer. "The district does not seem to recognize that accepting gifts and gratuities from vendors is improper," the report states. "It does not matter whether the gifts are from Trillion, a prospective vendor, or from Promethean, a current vendor. Accepting gifts and gratuities violates district policy and Arizona's conflict-of-interest statutes."

Photosynth attempt

When you're living through something like this recent ice storm, it's difficult to gather yourself enough to try to capture the event in pictures. I have several pics (as many do), so I thought I'd try to use Photosynth to render a 3D image of some of the damage around my house. It didn't do so great, but it was worth a shot:

Rear of house 'synth':

Front of house 'synth':

You may need to download a viewer or something like that, but you should be able to at least see it.

Tuesday AM status update

At this point, contact has been made in some form or fashion with all districts, at least to the point where I know that our group is OK.

Ben returned my voicemail with a voicemail.
I talked to Dale, who has talked to Nina.
I talked to Cheri and Brandon this morning as well.

Power is returning to a few locations, while others are still seemingly far away. The worst reports are still saying it could be a few weeks!

With the forecast, tell any of your friends/family to find warmer shelter for the next two days or so.

Brief status update

Margaret is OK - no power in Carlisle, but she's running on a generator and may be dealing with the need to run payroll soon.

Kent is OK - no power in Dawson Springs, but he's been running on a generator the entire time.

Shari is OK - no power in Hopkins, though. She shared a tragic story of a former teacher struck by a falling limb while taking food to her wheelchair-bound daughter. The lady struck has a broken back, among other injuries. Just a terrible, terrible situation.

I've left voicemails for Ben, Nina and Cheri. I've talked to most other districts or at least gotten information second-hand that folks are OK. I'll try to update this as I learn more.

Status: Personally and with local districts

I'll quit with the Web 2.0 info, etc and focus on basics for now. Here's an update that I sent to some of our Frankfort-based staff last night:

I had power restored sometime overnight Saturday evening/Sunday morning. After Sunday's work of helping my grandfather clear trees from fences, I will attempt to resume a (somewhat) normal work schedule tomorrow (Monday). I figure this will consist primarily of trying to touch base with various districts to get status. If you have particular concerns with specific districts, let me know and I will attempt to address them.

Things are improving daily, but it's still a good way from "normal" in many areas. Some smaller districts are resuming classes Monday. Some badly affected rural districts have already stated that they will be out of school for the entire week. Most are in between, meaning that many will be closed tomorrow with a goal of opening sometime this week.

If you read this before bringing your KEN site up, do NOT simply power on the AD/Exchange servers. Our support staff is monitoring status of KEN cabinets and they want the UPS units to get sufficient battery power before powering these servers up. They can remotely power on the servers and will do so 1-3 hours after power is restored.

I have power and am available as needed. Don't hesitate to call if I can do anything to help. I'll be reaching out today to various CIO's that we haven't heard from yet. As I get info, I'll try to update the blog. Take care! JR