Computer issues in DCSD

unedited 2/09 Tahoe Mt. News

By Kathryn Reed

For three days in early January the entire Douglas County School District computer system was under attack by users on the outside.
“This firewall saved our bacon,” Eric Ristine, computer service manager, told the school board Jan. 13.
The seven elected officials were visibly relieved to hear there was no breach in the system the week of Jan. 5. It is not known if a disgruntled student tried to breakdown the firewall or if bored Internet users started bombarding the system. Either way, the firewall that was put in place just this school year did what it was supposed to do.
“When the firewall is down, we are cutoff form the outside world. It is the kingpin in the whole network,” Ristine said.
In addition to the firewall, DCSD has doubled the size of its network operating system.
The district’s auto-dialer system was improved so on snow days it takes 45 minutes to call all households at the Lake, compared to two hours like last year.
All of Whittell High’s computers were upgraded before the school year started. In all, 330 computer upgrades were made districtwide. The district paid an additional $20 each for more energy efficient models. Ristine said this will save the district $30,000 a year in electricity costs.
High school campuses should be wireless within two years. That expense will be covered by November’s bond.
Money is being saved by eliminating most fax lines at all campuses. Technology will allow computers to receive faxes, route them to the intended receiver and that person can read the fax as an email.
Last year the feds said all government entities, including school districts, must archive incoming and outgoing emails. DCSD is now in compliance.
This is also the first year the district has proper backups in place. In the future Ristine will tie that mechanism into the district’s disaster recovery plan. He has also worked out a deal with a high school district in the Bay Area where each stores the others backup at no cost.
Expect a redesigned, user-friendly website to be online in June. A month later the tech team expects to have videoconferencing technology in place.