Conejo Schools on Line for Tech Upgrade

Embarking on a $2.1-million technology push, Conejo Valley schools are set to replace antiquated power lines, add computer wiring and create a network among all campuses over the next year and a half.

Long in the planning phase, a technological surge for the 18,574-student district is about to begin in earnest.

“This has been boiling for a long time,” said Supt. Jerry Gross. “Two years ago, in our strategic plan, the board agreed to upgrade technology. The whole thing is at a critical mass right now.”

It’s a technical plan, indeed, but the push will result in concrete classroom results within months, including fast and cheap Internet access and local and wide-area networks that will allow all computers in one school to communicate with each other and with computers elsewhere, said Rich Simpson, assistant superintendent for instructional services.

When the project is done, a government teacher will be able to easily snag text of 1960s presidential speeches from the Internet, Simpson said. Science students may find themselves watching a mission to Jupiter in virtually “live time,” rather than waiting weeks for video footage. A fourth-grader might form an e-mail friendship with a student a county, or a continent, away.

“We’re not putting a lot of technology in that . . . is going to replace the traditional schooling that kids need,” Simpson said. “The technology has to either impact a student’s learning or support teachers in their ability to provide instruction. If it doesn’t meet one of those two needs, it’s not worth scarce district resources.”

Scrapping 30-year-old power lines that simply cannot sustain computers in the classroom will be the first step toward bringing the Conejo Valley Unified School District firmly into the technological age.

“We’re getting adequate electrical power into the classrooms to support computers,” said facilities Director Sean Corrigan. “At our older schools, a classroom might only have two outlets--a strip outlet in the back and an outlet for a teacher’s phonograph in the front. Those are no longer adequate for today’s schools.”

For $1.2 million, the district will put in enough outlets and power lines to support eight computers a classroom in the 10 biggest schools--all three high schools, all four middle schools and Manzanita, Park Oaks and Westlake elementary schools, Corrigan said. While money has already been allocated for the rewiring, trustees are set to accept a low bid for the massive undertaking, which will take about a year, at their Dec. 12 meeting.

Trustees will vote on wiring the district’s smaller 15 elementary schools, at a cost of about $400,000, shortly thereafter.

Next comes about $30,000 worth of computer wiring--coaxial and fiber-optic cable plus high-grade phone lines--for voice, data and video transmission.

Schools and district headquarters are scheduled to receive $500,000 in computers and file servers to create networks linking computers within the school and beyond, said Gary Mortimer, assistant superintendent for business services. Each school will then receive Internet access through a single account with the Ventura County superintendent of schools office, for about $120 annually. Right now, all Thousand Oaks schools have Internet and e-mail access, but only through one or two slow modems and a $25-a-month America Online account.

“It will take us light years ahead from where we are in terms of access and speed,” Simpson said.

From an administrative standpoint, having computers on networks will speed the processing of purchase orders and grade cards, which are currently sent the old-fashioned way.

Using one-time technology monies from the state, discretionary monies and local fund-raising, individual schools will continue purchasing the Apple or IBM-compatible computers and printers they require.

Criticized as all but technology-phobic by school board contender Paul F. Finman during this fall’s school board campaigning, the school district officials say they are trying to build wisely, rather than investing heavily in technology that will soon be obsolete.

“We’re not behind other districts,” Simpson said of the Conejo Valley’s 10-to-1 student-computer ratio. “But we’re in a community where just average is not acceptable. This community expects us to be above average and to perform at a higher lever. This [plan] allows us to do just that.”