District 70, being a one building district, has limited support.  The first line of defense is the District Technology Coordinator, a la network administrator, computer teacher of 3 classes, web master, etc.  All problems are sent via e-mail, voice mail, or face-to-face on the run to the coordinator who then tries to fix the problem ( see Problem Solving).  Problems are entered on a “Problem List” chart where they are addressed.  Those easily solved are generally tended to within a week at a maximum.     Technical difficulties are then referred to our district networking consulting firm, Wise Enterprises.  The district has worked with Dr. Willie Wise since 1996 when he stepped in after an unsatisfactory relationship with a similar firm.  Dr. Wise makes regularly scheduled visits twice a month and his days are full.  Due to the fact that the district does not employ an on-site "techie," he takes care of the many hardware problems that have been deemed too difficult or time-consuming for the Tech Coordinator.

     Any problems with the Internet Service Provider, AVENEW are referred to AVENEW’s toll free hotline.  We have received excellent service from AVENEW, who also provides the district with an e-mail server, for 3 years.  If the Internet goes down (maybe 4 times in a school year), the problem has been solved within an hour at most.

    Backing up is a collaborative project, with the files backed up on Syquest removable drives.  One of the school secretaries backs up daily the information collected for Schoolmaster,  our school administrative program.  The librarian backs up weekly the information from Follett, our electronic circulation and card catalog software.  The remainder of the backing up task is left to the Tech Coordinator who backs up the following files:  (1) teacher pdata, (2) student sdata, (3) teacher gradebooks, gbdata and (4) Lotus ccMail data files.  That task is done weekly as well.  All staff is reminded the more important the file, the more places it should be saved.  Whether or not that motto is lived by is a revelation when something does go wrong and the file is not retrievable!