TekTegrity™ Computer and Network Support
Featured Client
San Miguel Joint Union School District:
North County's hidden academic treasure
San Miguel is a delightful, family oriented community at the edge of San Luis Obispo County seven miles north of Paso Robles. The school district there has only two sites, adding the second school just last year to serve the growing population in San Miguel proper and surrounding lake communities.
Dean Smith, long-time resident of San Miguel and first-year superintendent of San Miguel Joint Union School District, describes the unique beauty of the district, "We're small enough to connect with each student and family in a way that's personal, yet big enough to provide the resources necessary for a superior-quality education."
When hired as superintendent, Smith established eight core goals with collaboration from the staff to maximize the district's strengths and begin development in some areas that needed an influx of creativity, resources, and commitment. One of those areas was technology.
At the end of the 2004/05 school year, the school board seriously considered putting all the technology equipment "up on blocks" until there were funds to renovate, citing the equipment's disrepair and lack of use.
Smith, however, had a different idea. He encouraged the board to allocate funding to develop and implement a comprehensive technology plan. Russ Levanway, TekTegrity CEO and active supporter of technology in schools, was instrumental in providing the vision and explanation to justify the investment before the board. Two weeks later, Russ and his staff had a contract, a vision, a budget, and a lot of work to do.
At the new Cappy Culver K-6 Elementary, Russ and his staff had to design and install a new network with one server and over 100 workstations just days before school started. At Lillian Larsen K/8, TekTegrity brought all the old technology back to life by adding memory, upgrading operating systems, and augmenting the network with new staff workstations and cost-saving network laser printers.
All grades, which were once typed by hand, are now centralized using networked grading software with automatically updated rosters. Grading and other data, which was lost the year prior due to a server crash, is now automatically backed-up on redundant servers. A T1 secure link was established between the two schools giving all district employees access on the same network. Teachers were trained by TekTegrity staff on all the new equipment and software and nearly 1000 staff work-orders were completed during the first school-year. Overall, the district network achieved parity through complete restoration and standardization of protocol and equipment.
Over the past twelve months, "TekTegrity has done nothing but exceed expectations. With wise purchases and their expertise at integrating the existing and newly acquired equipment, San Miguel has progressed rapidly to a level where everyone is satisfied," Smith remarked. "Once we were behind our neighboring districts, now we are on par or better."
Looking toward the future he added, "After only one year, I can check this goal off as a profound success which will leave extra energy and resources to devote to the other seven [core goals]. TekTegrity isn't just an outside company to us, they are truly part of the team here, and we depend on them regularly."