School Committee Accepts new IT Policy

In a nearly unanimous vote, the School Committee decided at its meeting on Tuesday night, Dec. 14, to accept a new Informational Technology (IT) policy that will place the school department's electronic resources under the purview of the town IT department.

"Prior to beginning discussions with the town, our infrastructure was on the verge of critical failure," said Joan Landers, Superintendent of . Landers said efforts to collaborate with the town regarding the school department's electronic hardware, software, and informational systems have already proved fruitful and will continue to be improved by accepting the town-wide general acceptable use policy. 

"It's very hard to put a program like this together," said Steve Maio, , but that "it will be a money saver in the long run." 

According to Landers and Maio, who have worked together extensively on the policy, a new work order process and project management system will reduce turnaround, which reportedly stands at three weeks between the time a complaint is made and a solution is determined. 

Additionally, both claimed that the integrity of the network would be increased substantially.  The superintendent stressed that she would continue to work proactively with Maio to address any issues that may arise.

Despite optimism over potential benefits of the new policy, several committee members voiced concerns.  Committee member Christopher Callanan said he'd spoken with teachers who'd developed lesson plans based on valuable online learning material only to learn that it was blocked.

"They want to use web-based software and it seems like this policy on the table prohibits that," Callanan said.

  Maio responded that some sites were blocked unnecessarily, but that "it does take a little planning to unblock these."  Landers added that school principals and staff were familiar with the process for accessing blocked websites, but that she would work to make it more efficient.

Callanan also asked if a portion of the policy would transfer too much responsibility away from the superintendent's office to the town administrator's office.  Committee Chairman Anthony Guardia cited a line in the same section of the policy that would require the town administrator to meet with town department heads, in this instance the superintendent, before approving any IT policies that would affect their domain.  Committee member Thomas Markham added that it was not uncommon for communities like Wakefield to place town-owned electronic resources under the control of municipal administrators and that it would not affect the superintendent's role as disciplinarian. 

Although not opposed to its eventual passage, committee member Daniel Lieber expressed his doubt that the policy was ready to go into effect and suggested discussions continue during the next policy subcommittee meeting. 

"My concern with this policy is that it is not a complete policy as is," he said.  "Could this be implemented right now?" Callahan responded that there would be bumps in the road that would need to be worked out during its implementation.  Markham commented that a lack of policy could be more troublesome than an imperfect policy. 

Maio added that the policy could be changed in the future. 

"If years from now there's a new team and this isn't working, the school committee can certainly opt out and create a new policy. I don't anticipate that happening, because we have a great relationship, but I think we really need to throw off the shackles of the old way of doing things because this will save money, save time, and do better for the pockets of all our taxpayers and will protect the integrity of the network."

When put to a vote, the policy was approved by a 6 to 1 margin.  Lieber represented the sole dissenting vote.  The policy will go into effect immediately.