At the Monday, December 12th, Board of Education meeting, Technology Director John Molnar updated the Board on completed projects and plans for the rest of the school year.
Kenston’s Technology Department serves our students and staff in various ways. This year, just under 3,000 Chromebooks are in use on campus. Our students receive 1-to-1 Chromebooks and Chromebooks are provided to teachers and some of the staff as well. A part of the services provided is continual repair and maintenance of Chromebooks.
To keep technology working smoothly for the students, the Chromebooks are rotated on a 4-year life cycle. Students in the 1st, 5th, and 9th grades receive new Chromebooks at the start of the school year. With this rotation, we replace between 650 to 750 Chromebooks annually (depending on enrollment). For example, replaced this past summer were 705 student and 180 teacher/staff Chromebooks. Once the old Chromebooks are turned in, summer student interns remove all the useful parts (cables, screens, keyboards, etc.). Those parts are used daily during the school year for needed repairs, allowing the department to keep costs down.
Moving forward, the Technology Department is planning an upgrade to the district’s wireless access points and core network switches originally installed in 2015. Our current wireless access points and core network switch are no longer being supported as of June 2023. Kenston will utilize the federal E-Rate program to help offset the eligible equipment cost by up to forty percent. The Technology Department’s goal is to replace all existing access points, add additional access points at Timmons Elementary School and Kenston Intermediate School, and add access points in outdoor spaces on campus.