From the Director - David Fernandez

I hope everyone had a great time this summer and your school year is going well.  As always, the Technology Department has been busy with several new and ongoing projects.  I would like to share some of these that went on over the summer. 

In order to provide better communication services and support, the Technology Department has completed the District’s transition from GroupWise to Outlook Email and Calendaring system.  Our Department staff has finished installing the Outlook client software on administration, support staff, and teacher computers. The transition has been challenging, but the input we are getting back is very positive about Outlook.  We have offered 22 classes that provided training in the basics, calendaring, and intermediate features of Outlook along with classes on how to access your email through the web interface.  More classes will be offered in the future.  Please refer to our Class Registration page at http://techreg.amphi.com/ to sign up for these classes.

This year we will continue with the ongoing Microsoft Migration project throughout the District.  We have also ordered new computer equipment that we expect to arrive within the next month.  The District will be replacing several student labs at various school sites, as well as getting more student computers than we’ve been able to order in the past several years.  We will be upgrading the RAM (memory) on most of the computers that are not being replaced this year.

This past spring, a committee came together which represented every facet of our District to create the Amphi Strategic Long Range Technology Plan.  This plan was submitted to the Arizona Department of Education in June, and is available on our website at http://www.amphi.com/departments/technology/home.html. 

Dr. Peggy Steffens, our Instructional Technology Coordinator, has been named to the ASSET Board of Directors and just got back from the NAU College of Education State Advisory Council in Flagstaff.  She has been giving her 21^st Century presentations around our District and now that the word has spread – she’s being asked to give it to other Districts around the State.

As you can see, with the normal installations and repairs that are ongoing, our staff stays very busy, but never too busy to answer any questions you may have for us.  Feel free to give any of us a call anytime.