When the need arose, Arnol Shaw, IT director for Fort Smith Public Schools in Arkansas, knew exactly who should tackle the work of implementing an IP video surveillance program in the district: his own IT team. After all, his two wiring technicians had worked in the buildings for years, so they knew the construction compositions and layouts. And his two network administrators were both familiar with what the network could support. "We were prejudiced," he said. "We really wanted IP-based technology."...

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Dallas School System Using GPS Device To Track Truant Students

A Dallas high school is using a new GPS/wireless device in a pilot program to track truant students who are under court order to attend class. The pocket-sized GuardTrax units from NovaTracker combine cell phone and GPS tracking technology that security guard companies use to monitor security personnel in real time via the Internet....

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Wisconsin School District Rolls Out Access Control

Racine Unified School District in Wisconsin has awarded Vuance, a provider of radio frequency verification solutions, a $1.4 million contract to install its MASC security solution into 31 school buildings and two administrative buildings....

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Franklin ISD Implements Audio over IP in 2 Schools

Franklin Independent School District (ISD) in Franklin, TX has begun using Barix AG Exstreamer 100 Audio over IP decoding devices for school-wide voice, music, and bell-tone distribution in two schools. The solution provides administrators and teachers with a control system that interfaces with audio and video devices in the schools....

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12 PA Districts To Eliminate Spam with Abaca Appliance

Twelve school districts in Northeast Pennsylvania will be using the Abaca Technology Email Protection Gateway appliance after testing by BLaST Intermediate Unit (IU) 17. BLaST is an education service agency that delivers services to 19 school districts and 36,000 students....

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Plainfield District in IL To Deploy Pervasive Wireless Network

Plainfield Community Consolidated School District 202 in Illinois has selected Aruba Network's wireless LAN technology and identity-based security for use across the district's 28 schools. The district has 29,000 students and 3,500 faculty and staff....

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Library Self-Checkout System Shrinks

Library Automation Technologies has released what it's calling "the world's smallest self-check for libraries." FlashScan-MAXine measures 33" x 22" x 22" and allows libraries to let patrons check out their own materials. It's wireless, which makes it portable and can be upgraded for RFID; plus it supports front-gate security....

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Channel One Network And i-SAFE Partner for Online Safety Awareness

Teen news and content provider Channel One has partnered with electronic safety firm i-SAFE in an effort to enhance and increase electronic safety awareness among teens. The organizations have signed a memorandum of understanding, committing to work together to provide video programming and curriculum-based tools to students through the Channel One News broadcast and the i-SAFE and Channel One Web sites....

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Clinton Public Schools Signs Three-Year Contract for Security Service

Massachusetts-based Clinton Public Schools has signed a three-year contract with QED Connect, an information security company. Clinton will implement Omni Manager, an online service, to provide Internet filtering, monitoring and reporting on 250 computers district-wide....

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Schools Frustrated by Budget, Staff Constraints

While schools have spent the last year beefing up their physical security infrastructure, the quality of their data security has apparently dropped. According to the 2008 School Safety Index, conducted by Quality Education Data and released in May by CDW Government (CDW-G), district IT professionals rated their own "cyber security" 25 percent lower this year than they did in last year's survey results, while their physical safety score rose 39 percent over 2007....

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Share Your Best Practices

T.H.E. Journal is currently looking for the following types of articles for future issues and for our eNewsletter, T.H.E. SmartClassroom:

• School Perspectives - discuss a specific topic, trend, or concern about education technology.
• Case Studies - have you implemented technology and learned a lot from the experience? If so, share your efforts about what worked -- and what didn't.

If you have a potential article, or questions about the above topics, please e-mail [email protected]

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