POULSBO — As the world’s technology advances into iPods, pocket-sized personal computers and cell phones with video image capability, the North Kitsap School District is beginning to harness the techno-efficient benefits of comprehensive communication.

Today, teachers have instant access to each of their student’s profiles through a student management system called Skyward, but tomorrow they may well be immediately connected to their students through e-mail. Moreover, today, each school in the NKSD is connected to every other school by a districtwide phone system while tomorrow they could possibly be linked to every other school in the county via video conferencing.

Tomorrow’s technology is being hardwired today. While today’s advancements are providing a hearty testament for the NKSD, its technological quest began less than 10 years ago.

Beginning with the 2004-2005 school year, the NKSD got its fiber optic legs underneath itself as it became the first school district in Kitsap County to attain the telecommunications connections. Now, the immediate access to information and communication which the fiber lines have provided are allowing the district’s technology department to think beyond, said NKSD director of technology and information services Bill Every.

“Going from 56K to T1 (connections) we saw remarkable improvement, then as we saw growth, we began to bottleneck because we couldn’t transmit data the way we needed to,” Every summed up the district’s systems charge up to 2003 since coming on-board as tech director in 1998. “So then the next level was to put in the fiber program … in terms of efficiencies it began to allow to us to think differently.”

In addition, the fiber connections have also allowed the district to think collaboratively.

“One of the biggest benefits of the fiber optic network is the multitude of data it can handle and the access which educators and administrators can log onto almost instantaneously,” Every noted.

Improving student

management options

Each student in the NKSD is identified on the district server with an account which teachers and administrators can access. Those accounts contain important student information such as profiles, parent contacts, medical information, major test scores and attendance and discipline records in addition to their portrait.

Through the NKSD’s networking system, developed by district network coordinator Alan Silcott, NK teachers have access to each of their student’s profile accounts as soon as they get to their desk to begin the school year. The accounts are specific to each student and follow that student if he or she changes schools.

“That is an efficiency in terms of student management that is bar none, probably, tops in the state,” Every said. “A teacher now has, at their fingertips, all of the information on their students.”

That ability matched with the district’s electronic gradebooking software, Skyward, should not only allow teachers more efficiency in managing students’ grades and reports but also to better know each of the individuals in their classes.

Staff communication

capabilities increase

Over the course of the summer, the NKSD technology staff has been preparing a personal management system for its staff, called Microsoft Outlook Exchange, which should effectively link teachers and administrators at the click of a button through such facets as shared calendars in addition to the requisite e-mail.

All of the NKSD schools are also vocally connected by voice over Internet protocol phone lines, which allow more traffic than traditional phone lines in addition to specific voicemail accounts for every staff member, Every said. And, he added, its saving money.

“(The system) can handle up to 46 simultaneous in- and outbound calls,” Every said, noting about seven lines for each school building. “The biggest benefit of that is it can have some great savings … we are paying less for better service.”

The fiber optic hardware which made those savings and connections possible came with a $23,000 price tag, Every said, however, the benefits have only just begun.

“The North Kitsap School District has built the most sophisticated information structure (of school districts) in the county,” said volunteer NKSD tech consultant and author of “America at the Internet Crossroads” Mike Bookey. “The challenge is: we’ve got all this wonderful technology, how do we use that to actually transform the learning process?”

While the current state of technology in the NKSD is producing time efficiency, cost savings and increased student management, the ultimate goal is to enhance students’ education.

Just as the NKSD has connected itself through fiber optics and software, the other school districts in the county are doing the same or are moving toward implementation, Bookey said. As each is completed, inter-district communication will become available, presenting a multitude of opportunities including things like the sharing of resources and video teleconferencing.

“The capability is here in Kitsap, and the challenge is now how do we use this stuff and begin to change things and that’s not easy,” Bookey said. “We’ve got to sort through all those possibilities, and if you can’t do them all at once go after them a chunk at a time.”