Appendix A provides some technical details on the district’s infrastructure. Information for

the NJ DOE Checklist items is provided below.

resources and the internet from all district buildings (five schools and the

central administration complex).

with high-speed internet access. Student labs have color printing capability.

Our fifth and newest school, the Primary Learning Center, has 4 student

computers per classroom.

wireless local network and internet access and wireless laptops that are shared

across multiple classrooms. McKinley Avenue School has 74 student laptops

and Stafford Intermediate has 30 student laptops. Both these schools have

LCD display projectors.

learning capability via ISDN and a 25-station computer lab for training

purposes (in addition to the student lab in the building). The McKinley

Avenue School also has a SmartBoard and a nearly identical distance learning

setup, and has a 32-station computer lab.

network and internet access for use as a technology station.

own workspace from any computer in the district. Network servers are in

place for each building.

via the web through Virtual Private Networking or from their home PC using

Remote Desktop Web Connection.

School and the Intermediate School have been outfitted with state-of-the-art

peripheral devices, plasma display screens, digital cameras and scanners.

teachers can print multiple copies of handouts for class use directly from

classroom computers.

system. These phones currently reside in offices, common areas, and some

classrooms.

• Network capability between buildings will be upgraded from 100 Mbps

• Plans are underway for enterprise-level wireless networking in the remaining

• Fiber backbones for the Ocean Acres Elementary School and the Oxycocus

Web filtering software is in place on all district computers. The district uses

SurfControl software and Microsoft ISA Server (Firewall Service) for internet

filtering. Teachers who find that educationally useful sites are not available are

directed to a link that sends requests to the Information Technology Supervisor.

After consultation with the Curriculum Department, the Information Technology

Supervisor can then un-block specific sites as appropriate.

The parents / guardians of all students are required to complete internet access

and use permission forms at the start of each school year. Classroom and

computer teachers ensure that students whose parents do not want them to use the

internet do not participate in corresponding technology activities. Teachers and

Family School Liaisons at each building conduct outreach to educate parents on

internet safety as well as current district instructional practices in terms of

technology use.

The district has software in place to support instructional practices, including:

• Volume licensing for Microsoft desktop operating systems, server operating

• For grades 1 through 4, overlay software for Microsoft Office called

• AppleWorks is also used in grades 3 through 6

• KidPix, Graph Club and a variety of software for PreK to 2

• Inspiration, Kidspiration and other graphic organizer software

• Track-It! Software by Numara for help-desk request handling

• Realtime Friday Student Information System

• Systems 3000 (Financial Software)

• VersaTrans (Transportation)

• Sagebrush Winnebago Spectrum (Library Software)

• Tienet IEP Database (IEP Information System)

• AESOP (Substitute Placement System)

• CENS (Community Email Notification System – in-house developed)

• Global Connect School Communication System (Rapid Call-Out System)

• Microsoft Exchange Electronic Mail

• Virtual Private Networking (Remote Access Solution for managed computers)

• Remote Desktop Web Connection (Remote Access Solution for unmanaged

An extensive help-desk system is available (using Track-It! by Numara Software)

through the district webpage for staff to put in requests for assistance. The district

has an Intranet in place and all district computers are pre-set with a shortcut to the

Intranet in the default web browser Internet Explorer. On the home page of the

Intranet is the help-desk icon. All staff can submit help-desk requests (for

maintenance, troubleshooting or ad-hoc professional development) from any

computer in the school district.

Help-desk requests for assistance are directly routed to the technician assigned to

that building. Requests that are not addressed in three business days are upgraded

in priority and sent to the Supervisor of Technology who can assign them to

another technician or follow up with the building technician. If the task is not

resolvable in a short time period, the requestor is notified via email regarding the

status of the request. The Supervisor of Technology provides monthly reports on

help-desk requests to the district’s Board of Education.

The Technology Department wishes to develop a manual of policies and

procedures as time allows. This manual will address appropriate use of network

resources, email, software licensing and other legal and procedural issues

surrounding technology use in the district.

The district conducts daily and weekly backups on all network storage (including

network storage folders for each teacher) and data systems.

Each school has a telephone system with an intercom to communicate with each

classroom. Ocean Acres School has intercom capability that allows incoming

phone calls to be routed to individual classrooms.

The district’s telephone system is a Cisco Voice over IP solution. Three servers

control inbound and outbound calls for the entire district, featuring a sophisticated

auto-attendant and call routing system. Approximately 200 phones are connected

on the network. Also, each building has failover telephone lines in the case of a

network outage. While the district has outfitted classrooms in the Primary

Learning Center and the Connector with Cisco phones, the district is waiting for

available funds to provide this telephone service to the rest of the classrooms.

High-speed internet and network access via wire-based and/or wireless

networking is in place in all buildings.

The district purchases internet services from Verizon, and currently has a 2 x T-1

connection to the internet.

The Technology Department at Stafford Township School District includes a fulltime

Supervisor of Technology who reports to the School Business Administrator,

a full-time Network Administrator, four full-time technicians, a fulltime clerical

support person and several consultants and contractors who address different

aspects of technical support. The five schools have technology support provided

by our Network Administrator and four full-time technicians who are available at

the building level to respond to maintenance and support requests.

Professional development on technology integration is provided through the

Instructional Services Office, which is headed by the Assistant Superintendent.

The Instructional Services Office manages the process of organizing outside

speakers as well as internal presentations regarding technology integration. The

Assistant Superintendent serves as a liaison for onsite workshops through the

Southern Regional ETTC at Stockton College and onsite graduate courses in

educational technology through the Masters in Instructional Technology program

at Stockton College.

The district facilities infrastructure includes high-speed wired and/or wireless

network and internet access in all buildings. McKinley Avenue School, Stafford

Intermediate School, and Primary Learning Center have a sophisticated wireless

solution which has a high-level of security and comprehensive management and

deployment. We have plans to upgrade the wireless solution at the Central

Administration Complex, Ocean Acres School, and Oxycocus School to the same

enterprise level as the other three schools. Routers, network servers and other

network-level hardware are in place in each building, and many functions can be

performed remotely. For example, all PCs in the district are updated with new

software versions, configuration policies, and other system-wide improvements

through an automated deployment process that is centrally coordinated.

Additional details are provided in Appendix A.

In Year 1, the wireless infrastructure will be upgraded to a more secure and

enterprise level solution in the four remaining buildings.

In Year 2, the network connections between the server closets in two remaining

buildings will be upgraded to fiber that can handle up to 2Gbps.

In Year 3, the district infrastructure between buildings will be upgraded from a

100 Mbps rate to between a 1Gbps and 10Gbps rate.

No other services need to be described.

Assistive Technology can open many doors and break down barriers for children with

disabilities. Whether in the classroom, cafeteria, or playground, assistive technology,

including communication devices and software, can increase, maintain, or improve

the capabilities of individuals with disabilities. Even technology that is used by

everyone, such as spell check, can be particularly helpful to people with learning

disabilities. In our district we currently have augmentive communication devices and

software, such as Dynavox, Alpha Smarts, and Lexia, that allow our Autistic and nonverbal

population of students the ability to have “voice.” We also have field sound

systems that not only assist students with sensorineural hearing loss, but enhance

listening for all students in the class.

The district’s web site is available to all stakeholders on the internet at the URL

http://www.staffordschools.org/. The site was developed and is maintained using

The district has begun a leasing arrangement whereby all new classroom instructional

computers will be leased for a five-year period and replaced with new machines at the

end of the term. Currently, the district has about 200 large-screen classroom PCs that

are approximately two years old, and new leased machines will replace all of these

during the 2009-10 school year. This strategy streamlines budget planning and also

ensures that technology in the classrooms will stay no more than five years away

from the latest trends and innovations.

Through this policy, the district has defined obsolescence for the classroom, student

computer labs and office computers as five years. Laptop computers have a shorter

lifespan, which tends to be 3 to 4 years. Network servers, routers and other central

office equipment are expected to be replaced every five to ten years, with some

servers replaced each year and a rotation plan in place so that the most missioncritical

tasks are conducted on the newest servers.

• We limit our students’ internet access by way of a software-based content filtering

• All requests for internet resources must go through this system.

• Before allowing access, the system runs three checks.

o The first is a check against our own custom list of sites. This allows us to

explicitly allow or deny access to sites of our choice. If the site is on our

allowed list, access is granted. If it is on our denied list, access is denied.

If it is not on either list, the system passes the request to the next check.

o The second is a comparison against a database of known sites which the

system keeps (updated automatically every night). These sites are

categorized, and if the site is determined inappropriate, it is denied here.

o If the site passes the second check, it is then run through an application

which uses artificial intelligence to find inappropriate words and/or

phrases. Based on the result, the site is either allowed or denied.

• Also, as per policy, students are not allowed unsupervised internet access.

The acceptable use policy is a comprehensive plan for faculty and students. Attached is

the specific acceptable use policy (See Appendix B).

Students are educated about online safety awareness and proper use of the internet during

class instruction in the computer lab and in the general classroom. Additionally, the

Ocean County Prosecutors Office provides an annual training to all students in 5th and 6th

grade.

The Ocean County Prosecutors Office provides an annual training workshop to inform

parents of the principles of online safety. The parents receive a yearly Parent/Student

Handbook that outlines the acceptable use policy. Each site principal is responsible for

communication with the parents regarding all district policies.

The district continually looks to integrate technology into all subject areas. When

reviewing current curriculum and textbooks, the technology component is deeply

evaluated. Additionally, the current technology curriculum adoption process

develops technology training as a part of any new curriculum adoption, including

money and standards for newly integrated technologies.

a. The district is in need of the development of Professional Technology

Literacy Standards. These standards will include acceptable basic

knowledge and skill proficiencies, timelines for meeting these standards,

and recommended methods for meeting the standards.

b. The district needs to lower the student to computer ratio.

c. The district will utilize teachers, community members, and staff members

with specialized technology skills as trainers. These resources will also be

shared with other districts within our area.