MicroComputer Support

March 2002

In the MCS Spotlight:  Hempstead UFSD

The Hempstead Union Free School District, in partnership with Nassau BOCES, has brought a tremendous transformation of the use of technology within the district. This cooperative effort has
  involved all aspects of technology use in the district, from the students, to the upper levels of the administration. The entire district network has been reconfigured with the utilization of 64 servers, 79 switches, 14 routers, and over 1600 workstations.
                                                               Before & After

Instructionally, the district has seen the repair and restoration of functionality to the existing computers in the classrooms throughout all buildings. A new Dell computer has been added to every classroom, all connected to new  Dell servers and the existing WAN for Internet and file sharing. Six instructional computer labs to be used with a variety of curriculum content areas have been replaced in the High School and Middle School. In all, this initial rollout included more than 300 new classroom computers, 186 new computers for the instructional labs, and the restoration of functionality to a majority of existing district machines.

Administratively, the district has performed an upgrade to the Finance Manager system, implementing 26 new workstations, a new server, and Ethernet cabling to replace the old token ring network. The business office is now enjoying the ease of use of Finance Manager 2000.

Two new computer labs have been placed in the Alverta B. Gray Schultz Middle School. (below & right)

In addition, the district has moved from the Columbia Student Management System to SASIxp. This rollout included the intricate configuration of the District Integration Module for central enrollment, and the implementation of terminal services. There are now well over 150 users in the district benefiting from new workstations along with the SASIxp application.

Looking to the future, Hempstead currently has proposed the replacement of additional instructional labs, the addition of two wireless science carts with Pasco science probes, and the implementation of a Fiber Optic WAN. Connected with this fiber initiative, the district will be pursuing IP telephony and the application of video streaming.

Wiring closets in the High School (right) and Middle School (below) received complete makeovers. The infrastructure was transformed from a single linear Token Ring topology to a fast Ethernet star topology spanning multiple subnets.

Coordinating this large initiative in the district is Donna Jones, the Assistant Superintendent of Business, and Iris DiLorenzo, Director of Informational Technology. Their combined efforts have led to the improvement of all things technology related.

                                                              Middle School Server Room

"I am excited to be part of the Technology Improvement Plan that so greatly benefits the children of Hempstead"

Donna Jones,
Assistant Superintendent for Business

"The technology support we receive from Nassau BOCES is outstanding. Our users have virtually uninterrupted access to the network because of the quick response to our calls to the Help Desk."

Iris DiLorenzo,
Director of Informational Technology

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