[ale] Atlanta school converted to Linux by PTA

[aaron]

I believe these would be the people who presented at last month's
ALE Central meeting, Jim...

==========================
ALE CENTRAL for Feb. 9, 2006 -- Open Source Benefits in Education

"Evangelizing Open Source Benefits for Education"
   presented by
   Daniel Howard, President and CEO, Quadrock Communications

Background:
    After years of frustration trying to keep Windows legacy computers 
functioning at Morris Brandon Elementary School, two parent volunteers 
recommended to the principal and the PTA leadership that the school move
to a Linux thin client server system employing the K12-LTSP package. The 
proposal was accepted, with the result that all of the school's computers are 
now fully functional and over 50 donated PC's have been converted into useful 
Linux thin clients. Some of the teachers are now considering what they could 
do with a computer for every student.  Initially, the school  district 
technology personnel were staunchly against the system, but they have become 
believers after observing the success and benefits of using open source 
software first hand. 


Synopsis:
   This presentation will cover the decision process for moving to open source 
software, the challenges of convincing legacy locked administrators of the 
benefits of an open systems approach and, most importantly, how the teachers 
have used their new Linux systems effectively in their classrooms.
 

Bio:
   Daniel Howard was the Associate Director of the Broadband 
Telecommunications Center at Georgia Tech, and is now an entrepreneur. 
His first startup company was Digital Furnace, a cable modem technology 
company, which was acquired by the Broadcom Corporation in 2000.  His 
current startup efforts are in the area of interactive television 
software.  He has been a parent volunteer at Morris Brandon Elementary 
School for over two years, and is now the chairman of the Brandon 
eParents, a group of computer-savvy parent volunteers who are all being 
introduced to the Linux operating system as a result of the new 
technology initiative at Brandon Elementary School.

=========================

On Thursday 09 March 2006 19:23, James P. Kinney III wrote:
> Yes, you read the subject line correctly! Apparently, there is one
> school in the Atlanta Public School System that was converted to almost
> entirely Linux by its PTA. 
> 
> If someone knows about this, PLEASE step forward and take a bow and tell
> us how it was done!!! I would love to replicate this in DeKalb county
> for my kids but have hit nothing but roadblocks.
> 
> Contact me off list if this is sensitive.
> -- 
> James P. Kinney III          \Changing the mobile computing world/
> CEO & Director of Engineering \          one Linux user         /
> Local Net Solutions,LLC        \           at a time.          /
> 770-493-8244                    \.___________________________./
> http://www.localnetsolutions.com
> 
> GPG ID: 829C6CA7 James P. Kinney III (M.S. Physics)
> <jkinney at localnetsolutions.com>
> Fingerprint = 3C9E 6366 54FC A3FE BA4D 0659 6190 ADC3 829C 6CA7
>