District Administration - January 2012 - (Page 66)

Buying in Bulk CONTINUED cio District ing on the type of products. “It’s clear that the economy and the effect on taxes in public education is having an effect.” According to Randecker, PEPPM serves districts of all sizes. “It kind of runs the gamut,” he says. “We have the big districts, which is kind of unusual because they have large procurement offices. The economy has put a strain on them. But it’s especially the smaller schools that get the benefit of the volume we’re bidding on, and therefore the low prices.” 300-School Network In New York, 37 Boards of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES) fulfill this function, each covering one county or more depending on population density. In Nassau County, on Long Island, the 45-year-old BOCES is in the process of building one of the largest fiber-optic networks in the country to connect all 56 school districts—about 300 schools total—at no cost to the districts. Seven are now connected, and Nassau BOCES hopes to have 20 more added during this school year, says Tony Carfora, Nassau BOCES’ director of curriculum instruction and technology. Nassau BOCES anticipates savings of at least 15 percent in districts’ telephone and Internet bills, while doubling their bandwidth capacity. “We buy bigger,” says Carfora, who adds that the Nassau BOCES has been buying tech since the “green screens” of the early 1980s. “Instead of buying Internet service for each individual district, we’re buying for the entire network with rates that are much less expensive and sharing the reductions with the component districts. The same thing is true with telephone service.” This countywide network, called BOTIE, will provide more than cost savings. “[Districts] can send all sorts of data— student data, educational data, videos— on this network,” Carfora says. “School districts can now share information among themselves.” The Nassau BOCES handles projects at the individual district level as well. In the Massapequa Union Free School District—the name refers to its independent status, not lack of teachers’ unions—Nassau BOCES helped to purchase and install nearly 1,900 new instructional computers during the summer of 2009, at a 40 percent Fifth-graders at Fallsington Elementary School in the Pennsbury (Pa.) School District take part in a videoconference using LifeSize equipment to connect with e-Missions, a distance learning program involving math and science skills. The district is part of the Bucks County Intermediate Unit #22, which obtained reduced pricing for the Lifesize equipment. Connecticut Districts Gain from Reverse Auctions Districts in the AreA covereD by the LeArn regional educational service center in southeastern connecticut for the past four years have boosted their ability to save money on bulk technology purchases through online reverse auctions. such auctions are designed so that vendors try to out-lowball one another to get the job in school districts. Until this year, about 20 districts had participated. ringleader Gary Mala, previously superintendent of regional school District 17 in haddam/Killingworth, conn., has moved on to become superintendent of Avon Public schools, outside of LeArn’s service area, and has added Avon and other nearby districts into the mix. Districts have typically saved 25 percent to nearly 50 percent on various items put out for reverse bid, says Doreen Marvin, director of development for LeArn. “they come up with some baseline specs for hardware and software,” she says, adding that LeArn has not put out a starting bid for each item in the past. “We look at historical prices for the school districts. that’s our baseline.” 66 January 2012 District Administration

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of District Administration - January 2012

District Administration - January 2012
Contents
Letters
News Update
Conversations
District Profile
Administrator Profile
Finding the Perfect Fit
Kansas City Plots Next Steps
Seeking Savings in Special Ed
K12 Guide to Audio/Visual Solutions
Equipping Teachers to Infuse Technology
Flipped Classrooms Gaining Ground
Buying in Bulk
Online Identity Management
Going Mobile
Student Counsel
Online Edge
New Books
New Products
Product Focus
Professional Opinion

District Administration - January 2012