About Me

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Santa Clarita, Ca, United States
I work as a Technology Manager in the Entertainment Industry. My first film was Disney's Dinosaur and have been credited on several films since. I love working on old electronics, especially old radios. I am also passionate about technology and education. I have 4 kids and you can read about us on our family blog.

Saturday, February 23, 2013

SCVi 2013 Projects

We've got a lot on our plate at SCVi over the next year and we could use lots of help!!  We took a pass at listing everything we know and what we think will be needed to accomplish these tasks. Of course, these are only estimates and estimates can be way off, but we at least wanted to get an idea of the relative scale of the different tasks.


  • SCVi Admin Trailer has Internet And Phones
    • We are expanding into a trailer behind what is currently Higher Vision Church.  We need to pull the Wireless bridge, router, cabling and phones and move it into the trailer. 
  • Internet In New High School
    • SCVi high school will be moving into the building that is currently Higher Vision Church.  We need to make sure they have Wifi. We may either bridge this from the main school campus, or set up a new provider.   If it is a separate drop, it will also have separate phones and a separate phone system.
  • New High School Has Phones
    • If we do a wireless bridge, we can tie the new High School into the main SCVi phone system.  If they have separate internet, this will be more difficult. We need to figure out what we will be doing and then make it happen.
  • Summer 2013 Classroom Moves
    • Every time a classroom is moved we find it takes about 3 hours of labor.  It is expected that several classrooms will move during the Summer of 2013.
  • Phone System For iLead
    • A new phone system has been purchased for them.  Someone at iLead will need to install it.
    • Folks involved : Daniel Glen, Matt, Shannon, Lynn Boop, Natasha
    • Estimated Effort : 32 Hours
  • ERATE 2013
    • We have several bids from different vendors. We need to look at them and determine which will work best for us.
  • Increased Internet at SCVi
    • Once we choose an ERATE vendor, we need to look at increasing Internet bandwidth at SCVI and what will be involved in that
  • iLead Internet Filters
    • We currently use OpenDNS for internet filtering and CIPA compliance at SCVi.   It's always been free,. but the service is being retired so we are going to have to find something else.  We are doing ERATE at  iLead Lancaster so we now need to add filtering for them as well.
      I started looking at a replacement that we can use at both sites.  The direct replacement for OpenDNS is called umbrella,. and it's expensive,. about $4,000 per year!   We are going to be obligated to have something so I don't see a way to avoid having this as a budget item.  There may be some other devices or services that are cheaper, but it sounds like this is an expense we're going to get stuck with one way or another.  
    • Folks Involved : Matt, Shannon
    • Estimated Effort : 16 hours
  • Internet For Breezeway
    • We purchased an outdoor access point that we believe will provide strong internet for the breezeway and parts of the cafe. However, it appears we got the wrong one.  We can probably make it work, but it will take some time to figure out. 
    • Folks Involved : Matt, Shannon
    • Estimated Effort : 8 hours
    • Estimated Cost $100
  • Wireless Network Accounts
    • We want each person on the wireless network to have their own account.  We hope to accomplish this by logging in with our Google ID's.
  • Implement Adobe Cloud
    • We have purchased 14 Adobe Cloud licenses.  We need to see how these can be use don Island or Apple Laptop Cart machines.
  • Tech Ticket Web Site
    • We have been using http://www.scvitech.com.  Though, there have been problems with reliability.  What other options do we have?
  • All Technology Inventoried
    • We need to know exactly what we have at the school.  Every computer, monitor, iPad and network switch should have a property tag and a vital statistics stored.  We should be able to know how many we have a particular type of computer, processor or iPad model.
  • School Checkin / Google Intetgration
    • We want to be able to send an e-mail to parents that don't have enough volunteer hours.  We are experimenting with google groups to send mail through \  volunteers@scvi-k12.org or  parent.volunteers@scvi-k12.org.
    • If you add folks through the Web interface, it sends them an e-mail so we need to write a script that will create the group through GAM.
    • The school checkin does not have e-mails so we'll need to merge two different lists in software and use that to generate the google group.
    • Also looking at automated ways we can add and delete users from the system based on the school roster.
    • JB is looking at backups and upgrades for the system as well.
    • Folks Involved : Matt, Shannon, Cheryl Sena, Christine Chane, Ronald Johnson
    • Estimated Effort : 12 hours
  • Learners Can Checkout Laptops
    • We will need to purchase  chrome books, a few Mac Airs and a few ipads for learners to check out and take home for short periods of time.  The computers on the carts need to stay on the carts.
  • Paperless Business Office
  • Electronic Time Card System
    • We purchased a time card system that will require IT support to get set up and configured. A lot of concerns have been raised as to whether this is a good fit for the school. We want to verify that this is the best option before we invest the work in deployment.
    • Specific concerns have to do with the "Punch In"/"Punch Out" time clock nature of the system since many people work from home and don't want to have to drive in to the school to punch in.
    • Some of the requirements that have been requested:
      • Remote access for folks working from home
      • Web interface to view and edit hours for use on iPad, iPhone, Mac, Linux,. ChromeBook,. etc.
    • Folks Involved : Matt, Ceci, Amber, JB Marsh
    • Estimated Effort : 40 Hours
  • Network Documentation
    • We've made a lot of changes to our network over the last few weeks.  We need to document how these changes were made so that  IT staff can maintain these changes.  We need to document the commands and process for the following.
      • Static routes set up for the phone system.
      • Configuration on Ubiquity Dishes
      • Configuration on small Cisco switches.
      • Configuration of switch in 2'nd grade
    • Folks Involved : Matt, Shannon, Daniel Glen
    • Estimated Effort : 24 Hours
    Nightly Ubuntu Update
    • We'd like our Unbutu machines to run our update script every night. This can be done by CRON. Anything we need to do to make sure the machine is in working order should be added to the script.  
    • Folks Involed : JB Marsh, Matt
    • Estimated Effort : 8 hours
  • Island Computers
    • The tables in the Island need to have computers set up on them.  All the table space should be available for use with computers.  The tables in the middle of the room probably need to be secured for earthquake safety.  We'll probably put the light computers (Mac Minis) in the middle table and Heavy HP 8200 machines along the wall. 
    • Folks Involved : JB Marsh, Kay McElvain
    • Estimated Effort : 24 Hours
  • Deploying Computers To Classrooms
    • We have a lot of computers configured in the Island. We'd like to get them deployed to classrooms.  There are some issues that need to be resolved here:
      • Network problems in Room 219. They would like 4 computers added.
      • Tables in 2'nd grade are too tall for use by learners. Either need new tables or tall stools.
    • Folks Involved : Kay McElvain, JB Marsh
    • Estimated Effort : 40 Hours
  • Phones Cont'd.
    • We don't have all our phones up and running yet.  We need to get more phones set up in Maui Wowie as well. This may involve running extra cables in Maui Wowie.  We may also need to add phones to the Cafe.
    • Folks Involved : Shannon
    • Estimated Effort : 8 hours
  • All Printers On The Network
    • We have printers in most classrooms. However, not all are on the network.  We'd like all printers to be available for printing wirelessly. 
    • Folks Involved: Shannon, Kay McElvain
    • Estimated Effort : 24 Hours
    • Estimated Cost $300
  • Synology - SCVi Cloud Music and Photos
    • We have purchased a Synology NAS to use for  picture and movie sharing. 
    • Folks Involved : Matt, Shannon, Tad Miller
    • Estimated Effort : 40 Hours
  • Disney Computer Donations
    • Disney will be donating more computers and maybe a cabinet for the server room
  • 2014 Computer Purchases
    • We may need to buy more Facilitator laptops in 2014.
  • Donated Network Equipment
    • We have a coule Cisco 4507 Catalyst switches and a Foundry POE switch we could be using for our network.
  • Island Comm Closet Spaghetti Mess
    • Our comm closet is a disaster!  We need to get wires organized,. maybe add a rack or turn switches around for better access.
  • Cable Management / Tidy Byte
    • Besides getting computers put into the classroom, we want to make them look good.  Wires should be minimally visible and CPU's should be tucked into places where they don't interfere with hands and feet. 
    • Also open up machines and remove dust that has clogged fans.
    • Folks Involved : Looking for fresh meat!
    • Estimated Effort : 8 Hours
  • Music In Hallways
    • We'd like music playing in our hallways and we'd like a central PA system that is connected to it.  We should be able to bring learners back from lunch using this system.
  • Televisions In Lobby
    • We'd like to place televisions around the school. We'd like to stream video content to them.
    • 3 at the front door
    • 1 at the end of the high school hallway
    • 1 outside the Island
    • Estimated Cost is  $2,000
  • Apple TV's in all Classrooms
    • We would like to purchase an Apple TV for every classroom projector

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