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"The truth
is...no one really knows for sure. Prepare for the worst, hope
for the best, and weigh the risk of preparation with the risk
of non-preparation..."
---George Grindley (State Rep. District
35 Marietta, Georgia)
"It's better to have a plan for an emergency that doesn't
come than to have an emergency and no plan."
-- Red Cross
Here are some resources to help you verify that your own school
district is paying attention to the need for preparation for
Y2k.
Survey Reveals
Most Schools Not Ready for Y2K
http://www.usnewswire.com/topnews/Current_Releases/0827-125.htm
"Nearly three-fourths of school districts report
that they are not now fully prepared for the Year 2000's effect
on computers and other technology devices. Only 28 percent
said all their mission critical systems are Y2K compliant
at this time, according to a national survey of schools
sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education and the National
School Boards Association..." August 27 release.
President's
Council on Year 2000 Conversion
http://www.y2k.gov/new/3rdquarterly.html
"More information
about the Y2K readiness of the nation's schools has been forthcoming
in the past quarter and it is clear that educational organizations
need to increase the pace of their efforts to prepare for the
date change.
A troubling number of institutions, especially in the elementary/secondary
area, have not yet completed their assessment of systems and
are lagging in remediation and testing. According to spring/summer
1999 Department of Education survey data, only 28 percent of
more than 3,500 Superintendents/Local Educational Agencies (LEAs)
indicated that all of their mission-critical systems are now
Y2K compliant, and only 30 percent of roughly 2,100 postsecondary
educational institutions reported that all of their systems are
Y2K compliant. Furthermore, many school districts and postsecondary
institutions project that they will not complete Y2K work and
contingency planning until after October 1, 1999.
Y2K-related failures in schools are unlikely to have a direct
impact on teaching and learning. However, such failures could
have an adverse impact on other factors critical to the education
environment, such as building safety/infrastructure, student
records, payroll, and curriculum involving use of information
technology." -- From the President's
Council on Year 2000 conversion report, Third Summary of Assessment
Information.
.
How well has
your school system communicated with parents and the taxpayers
who fund the system about how Y2k compliant the school system
is? Does it appear to be an issue that has come up at school
board meetings? How responsive have board members or principals
been when asked about the schools' Y2k status?
Sample letter to Superintendent of Schools, etc.
http://www.fortunecity.com/millennium/tinkywinky/999/skool.html
This sample
letter gives a range of questions you might want to ask your
local school officials about their Y2k preparations. This particular
letter is copyright free, and permission is freely granted to
reproduce it and send it to your own local education officials.
For those of you in the Onteora school system, the letter
has been sent and we are awaiting followup.
Teaching Y2k
http://www.nytimes.com/learning/teachers/NIE/Y2K/
"Teaching Y2k: Y2k lesson
plans from the New York Times Newspaper in Education Program."
Bibliography
of books about kids coping with disasters
http://www.fema.gov/kids/tch_bks.htm
A small
list of books about kids surviving natural disasters. Are your
school librarians prepared? The Little House on the Prairie
series might be a better metaphor if Y2k is more than a "three-day
snowstorm."
Squashing the Millenium Bug
http://www.cgcs.org/y2k12/compliance_guide.htm
Squashing
the Millenium Bug, the Compliance Guide for K-12 education
put out by the Council of the Great City Schools.
Links to serious material for determining school system compliancy.
" Diving into Y2K: How Schools Are Coping with the Millennium
Bug"
http://microsoft.com/education/teach/school/y2k.asp
From
the Microsoft k-12 division.
Year 2000 Seminar for New Jersey Schools
http://www.tcnj.org/support/workshops/y2k/y2k_presentation/index.html
Teacherzone
http://www.teacherzone.com/specialreports/y2k/y2kresourceskids.html
Y2k
resources on the Web for elementary students
The Solar Cooking Archive.
http://solarcooking.org
Lots
of solar cooking resources, plans for simple solar ovens.
Empower the kids, send every kid home with plans for a solar
oven after covering these as class projects.
College financial aid Y2k remediation seems to be way behind
schedule
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/08/cyber/education/11education.html
"Riley
added that he was particularly disappointed that of 5,800 institutions
taking part in federal student financial aid programs, only 22
have successfully used the Department of Education's Y2K test
to make certain that their systems can exchange crucial financial
aid data with federal computers after the millennium. "
Y2k software problems cause backlog in background
checks on school bus drivers
http://chicagotribune.com/news/metro/chicago/article/0,2669,SAV-9908180049,FF.html
"...The
police checks were slowed--in some cases by months--as the agency
worked out bugs in its new $10 million, Y2K-compliant computer
fingerprint identification system in Joliet"
FEMA day care recommendations
http://www.fema.gov/kids/daycare.htm
Information on ordering the free "Day Care Center
Disaster Kit."
U.S. Department of Education's Year 2000 (Y2K) web site.
http://www.ed.gov/offices/OCIO/year/
"Y2k
assistance for the education community."
132 School Districts Out of 1,069 in Texas Claim 100% Compliance
as of April 1999
http://www.tea.state.tx.us/Y2K/surveyd.htm
We wonder if
the figures are any better, and how NY's figures compare. |
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