Re: [PLUG] Can FOSS help school districts in trouble?

[Jim Fisher <jedijf@myfisher.org>]

Our own Lyz is part of this organization http://partimus.org/about.php
on the West coast.

I have found the 'IT' people are the biggest obstacle. There are so
many ways 'we' can help, from LTSP labs to utilizing hardware that
other OS' make, or IT deems unusable.

Keep me posted, I would love to help out if time permits.


On 5/13/12, K.S. Bhaskar <bhaskar@bhaskars.com> wrote:
> Our local school district is in trouble.  No, I am not thinking of their
> financial woes right now, although money certainly is at the heart of this
> evil.  When money was less scarce, they acquired with pride the latest
> technology - proprietary of course - some of it because the IT deparment
> makes selections on autopilot, some of it useful but not essential, and
> some of it downright wasteful and misleading.  Now that money is tight, the
> school district is considering demoting senior teachers instead of taking a
> long, hard look at the IT budget.  So, the trouble our school district is
> in is ongoing woolly-headed decision making by the administration: they are
> still spending more money on IT than they need.
>
> It being better to light a candle than to curse the darkness, I would like
> to help showcase free / open source software in K12 education, to control
> IT costs without compromising educational performance - indeed perhaps even
> to enhance the educational experience since FOSS does not set artificial
> boundaries as to what one can learn.
>
> I think it makes sense to start with a single school, too impoverished to
> even think about serious IT spending, and then move to a suburban school
> district and then to the school district for a city ... on our way to world
> domination, of course!  This is a journey, not a destination.
>
> As much as solving technical issues, we need to document and publicize.
>  So, from the start, we need to get the press involved.  We need to blog
> about it and we need to be able to reach out to the public, Government and
> others to talk about it as it goes.  So we need people with talent beyond
> technical skills.
>
> To that end, this post is to see who shares my interest in such an
> endeavor.  Thank you very much.
>
> -- Bhaskar
>
> --
> Windows does to computers what smoking does to humans
>


-- 
jim fisher
Jedijf

irc freenode  #ubuntu-us-pa
www.myfisher.org

"Do, or do not. There is no 'try.'"
  --  Jedi Master Yoda
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