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School board member Adil Baguirov, who has led DPS’ push for better classroom technology, was critical of the district’s implementation plan in early October. He said some schools were slow to use new computers, and he too often heard that students were unable to log in.
“Now that we have all the hardware and have all the software and have trained all the teachers, we have a much greater capacity,” Baguirov said. “Now we go from a quantitative to a qualitative stage. We want to make sure that everybody is getting enough hours, that they’re actually using all of that software.”
DPS consolidated an earlier plan to roll out one-to-one technology over three years, doing it in one year instead. Baguirov has said he wants an “unbiased report” from the consultant so that by January, every school in the district is using educational technology effectively.
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The school board also approved a $52,200 contract with NextStep Networking for a “review of managed IT services” for the district.
DPS spokeswoman Marsha Bonhart said NextStep essentially will help DPS evaluate its systems and create a “request for proposals,” so DPS can hire a company to oversee its multimillion-dollar technology services.
Baguirov said the district is looking for a new three-year contract when its deal with CBTS comes to an end. He said DPS was only able to attract two bidders the last time in part because of aging “legacy systems” that companies didn’t service.
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Associate Superintendent Shelia Burton said NextStep was chosen from a half-dozen companies that talked with DPS about a “new vision” of information technology. Burton said the district will be looking to upgrade outdated information storage, email systems and security protocols.
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