Alliance Schools' tech chief: District has top equipment

Special to The Alliance Review
·6 min read

Technology permeates every facet of operations within Alliance City School District.

So it has to be consistent over the district’s eight buildings – Alliance Early Learning School, Alliance Elementary, Alliance Intermediate, Alliance Middle School, Alliance High School, Parkway Learning and Development Center, the bus garage and Glamorgan Castle, which houses the administration offices.

The person responsible for that is Alliance City Schools Director of Technology Chad Morris, who shared several fun facts and insights into his position during a recent meeting of the Alliance Rotary Club.

Team effort

Morris, a graduate of Alliance High and Mount Union who has been with the district for 20 years, stressed that keeping Alliance City Schools operational from a technology standpoint is a team effort.

“It’s not just me that keeps everything running,” said Morris. “We have several individuals that work on our team.”

Morris’ team also includes Rich Fraser, a Kent State graduate who has worked with Alliance City Schools for 36 years in the IT support staff department; John Marchick, a graduate of Averett University who has worked as a network technician in the IT Department for six years; and Misty Sampson, a Malone graduate who has been with the district for 27 years as a technology resource teacher and trains and supports staff on the use of technology and also works on the IT help desk.

In addition, each of the district’s six educational buildings has a library resource clerk who helps guide operations at their respective school.

The IT department is tasked with repair of all computers, iPads and printers, swipe card access, alarm system management, network and wireless issues, server updates and maintenance, and servicing the district's numerous projectors, televisions and smart boards.

Fun Facts

  • With every student receiving some sort of device – those in kindergarten through grade eight receive touchscreen Chromebooks, while those in grades nine to 12 are issued iPads – the IT team oversees more than 3,500 computer devices, which also includes Macs and Windows PCs.

  • The district also has more than 150 printers and copiers.

  • At any given time, the district can have more than 4,500 devices connected to the wireless network.

  • There are 300-plus security cameras in use across the district, which are all accessible from anywhere with an internet connection. There are also more than 60 cameras on the district’s school buses.

  • There are more than 400-plus Voice Over IP phones in the district.

How they connect

Alliance City Schools connects to the Stark/Portage Area Computer Consortium, which is housed at Stark State.

The district uses its own fiber connection directly to the data center at SPARCC, one of 18 information technology centers across the state.

“We own all of our own fiber in the district,” explained Morris. “The initial cost of running all of our own lines was somewhere around $250,000. But since we own the line, we have no cost for that, so that initial investment has paid for itself.”

SPARCC provides the district with filtered internet access, hosted services such as the district’s student information system and fiscal management software, and group purchasing opportunities.

Organization, communication

In addition to the numerous educational tech apps that teachers and students use as part of classroom instruction, the district also utilizes technology to stay organized and communicate with parents.

Alliance City Schools uses eSchoolPLUS to keep track of information on each student, including their scheduling, attendance, behavior records, grade reporting and state reporting requirements.

It also uses FinalForms, which helps with registration and keeping track of all emergency medical forms and other compliance forms such as media releases and acceptable use policies.

With FinalForms, coaches and teachers have access to vital information about each student that can be accessed from a mobile device while attending athletic events or field trips.

As far as communication is concerned, the district uses ParentSquare, a unified messaging platform for staff, students, parents, and teachers that sends messages via text, email, and app notifications.

New voice-over-IP phones also allow teachers to make a call home to a parent from their cell phone but makes it look like it is coming from the district, so they don’t have to give out their personal phone numbers.

Even athletics are starting to get some technological advances as the district has started using hudl, a tool that allows coaches and athletes to review game footage. The technology also allows game film to be shared digitally and can be livestreamed.

Safety first

“Besides the education for our students, safety and security is one of our major focuses,” said Morris. “We use several different pieces of technology in that regard.”

Morris briefly spoke about six different vendors the district utilizes regarding safety and security, including:

  • Alertus, which allows principals to send out an alert that will lock down a building at the push of a button.

  • exacq, which manages the district's security cameras.

  • Total Connect, which allows school personnel to arm and disarm alarms at each building at any time from anywhere.

  • Kantech, which allows personnel to grant or deny access to any buildings and set schedules to lock and unlock specific doors for special events.

  • Raptor, a system that scans the driver’s license of a visitor to any building and conducts a series of checks to make sure the individual is not on any sexual predator lists or any list created by the district that would alert personnel that the individual is restricted.

  • Here Comes the Bus, an app that tracks a child’s school bus. Each bus in the district is equipped with a GPS receiver. The Here Comes the Bus app allows parents to follow the bus until it gets to their house and will send an alert when it gets within a certain radius around a child’s home. Each child has a bar code, which is scanned and can pinpoint when a child gets on and off of a bus.

How is all of this technology funded?

“The Alliance City School District has always been a tech-forward district and has always invested well, including in some of our ESSER (Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief) funds,” said Morris. “The other really big help for Alliance City Schools in particular is something called the eRate program.”

Morris said that because Alliance is designated as an impoverished district, it receives a 90% discount on any of its internet access or networking equipment.

“It’s been like that for the last 20 or so years,” said Morris. “We have really benefitted from that federal program a lot.”

This article originally appeared on The Alliance Review: Alliance Schools' tech chief: District has top equipment