Fixing some problems
Fixing some problems
12 February, 2006
The district technician was arriving at school as I was walking in during the week. He was about to install a new admin server. He remembered me from a past school and then I was able to run some of the problems I was having past him. He was very supportive and we were able to come up with the solution of putting the Alice PC on the admin network so it is then backed up to the tape drive. In the process the PC will be rebuilt to Window XP Pro (Much better) and I will have a secure logon and will have network drive to store info on. My library aid also needed a logon to do her Bookclub so that was arranged for her too. It will cause a problem for the staff as they will not be able to logon to use the PC at their will as before, but I will cross that hurdle next. It is something they will have to learn as the school networks and a curriculum server is put in place. Later the Alice database will move to the Curriculum server; the position now is just temporary. NAV will be installed and will run updates, so things are much better than they were last week. I was also able to get a printer. A laser printer was sitting in the office that they did not want to use. It was new and did not have a jet direct card (to allow network sharing), but it is better than the bubble jet I was using.
Getting things in order
I am still getting the books in order on the shelves. As I was waiting for the systech to build the PC I attached the Junior Fiction and put things in order. It was going to gave me a chance to see what was in the collection and I did a small cull of about 30 books while I was there.
The main criteria for a books removal were if it was:
There was a fair proportion of Dr Seuss books in the cull, but I left a couple on the shelves just to prove I was not anti Dr Seuss. Some of the Ezra Jack Keats books came close to the cull criteria, but they stayed because I like them – for now unless I can get some reprints)
Overall though the Junior Fiction collection in not too bad. There is enough for the classes we are catering for. The books look like they have been sourced from Australian Standing Orders and are mainly publications that Scholastic deal with. Improvements could be to add some diversity by purchasing from another supplier as well.
I made some new signs so the students knew where Junior Fiction, Fiction and Non Fiction were.
Aid time is a bit limited, although my aid gives as much as she is able to in any spare time she has. Both of us are not sure what time is allocated to the library just yet as classes are still having first allocations. It will probably be about 2 hours per week. She was able to get to the Non Fiction during the week and put that into order.
That only leaves the stuff still on the floor in the Teachers Reference area to deal with. I think a bit of a cull is going to happen there too. The Fiction section still needs a tidy up and a small cull as I go. I think I will apply a similar criteria there too for now.
What’s the budget?
I decided to be proactive here and draw up a budget proposal for my principal. So far the subject of money had not been discussed although I was aware that a focus for the year was to establish a curriculum network and server.
Indications were that the previous budget was $2000 so I went from there to come up with this outline:
Proposed Budget 2006
Book purchases
Australian Standing Orders
Picture Books $845 (all prices incl. GST)
Fiction $525
Shortlisted books $250
Aussie Bites/Nibbles (or similar) $300
Processing materials
(Plastic, contact, booktape, repair materials, spinelabels) $600
Resources to support
Art
HPE (All student/class materials)
SOSE
Science
(Art and HPE are the areas of the greatest need at present)
Teacher Reference/Class Programs (i.e. Newspapers in Education)
ALICE
Support Fee $289.30
Additional licenses TBA
Individual staff members look after Key Learning Areas (KLAs), although no one really wanted to look after SOSE. I am not use if they purchased resources to support students or bought mainly teacher reference. I offered to look after SOSE if no one else wanted to do it. I also left those areas blank for the principal to fill in and we can find out if these areas are budgeted for students in the allocation.
Where else to get funding from?
The library, administration and remodeled computer lab/classroom need air-conditioning. I am having a go at applying to the Gaming Fund to see if we can get assistance here. If we can demonstrate that these areas are also in use by the community we will have a chance. I am considering going for some resources as well, but don’t know whether that will jeopardize our chances of success. In any case if it is successful it will free up some of our funds for resources too.
12 February, 2006
The district technician was arriving at school as I was walking in during the week. He was about to install a new admin server. He remembered me from a past school and then I was able to run some of the problems I was having past him. He was very supportive and we were able to come up with the solution of putting the Alice PC on the admin network so it is then backed up to the tape drive. In the process the PC will be rebuilt to Window XP Pro (Much better) and I will have a secure logon and will have network drive to store info on. My library aid also needed a logon to do her Bookclub so that was arranged for her too. It will cause a problem for the staff as they will not be able to logon to use the PC at their will as before, but I will cross that hurdle next. It is something they will have to learn as the school networks and a curriculum server is put in place. Later the Alice database will move to the Curriculum server; the position now is just temporary. NAV will be installed and will run updates, so things are much better than they were last week. I was also able to get a printer. A laser printer was sitting in the office that they did not want to use. It was new and did not have a jet direct card (to allow network sharing), but it is better than the bubble jet I was using.
Getting things in order
I am still getting the books in order on the shelves. As I was waiting for the systech to build the PC I attached the Junior Fiction and put things in order. It was going to gave me a chance to see what was in the collection and I did a small cull of about 30 books while I was there.
The main criteria for a books removal were if it was:
- older than me (or looked like it was)
- came in the school development grants of 1978
- was mouldy
- was torn
- had print that needed a magnifying glass to see read it
There was a fair proportion of Dr Seuss books in the cull, but I left a couple on the shelves just to prove I was not anti Dr Seuss. Some of the Ezra Jack Keats books came close to the cull criteria, but they stayed because I like them – for now unless I can get some reprints)
Overall though the Junior Fiction collection in not too bad. There is enough for the classes we are catering for. The books look like they have been sourced from Australian Standing Orders and are mainly publications that Scholastic deal with. Improvements could be to add some diversity by purchasing from another supplier as well.
I made some new signs so the students knew where Junior Fiction, Fiction and Non Fiction were.
Aid time is a bit limited, although my aid gives as much as she is able to in any spare time she has. Both of us are not sure what time is allocated to the library just yet as classes are still having first allocations. It will probably be about 2 hours per week. She was able to get to the Non Fiction during the week and put that into order.
That only leaves the stuff still on the floor in the Teachers Reference area to deal with. I think a bit of a cull is going to happen there too. The Fiction section still needs a tidy up and a small cull as I go. I think I will apply a similar criteria there too for now.
What’s the budget?
I decided to be proactive here and draw up a budget proposal for my principal. So far the subject of money had not been discussed although I was aware that a focus for the year was to establish a curriculum network and server.
Indications were that the previous budget was $2000 so I went from there to come up with this outline:
Proposed Budget 2006
Book purchases
Australian Standing Orders
Picture Books $845 (all prices incl. GST)
Fiction $525
Shortlisted books $250
Aussie Bites/Nibbles (or similar) $300
Processing materials
(Plastic, contact, booktape, repair materials, spinelabels) $600
Resources to support
Art
HPE (All student/class materials)
SOSE
Science
(Art and HPE are the areas of the greatest need at present)
Teacher Reference/Class Programs (i.e. Newspapers in Education)
ALICE
Support Fee $289.30
Additional licenses TBA
Individual staff members look after Key Learning Areas (KLAs), although no one really wanted to look after SOSE. I am not use if they purchased resources to support students or bought mainly teacher reference. I offered to look after SOSE if no one else wanted to do it. I also left those areas blank for the principal to fill in and we can find out if these areas are budgeted for students in the allocation.
Where else to get funding from?
The library, administration and remodeled computer lab/classroom need air-conditioning. I am having a go at applying to the Gaming Fund to see if we can get assistance here. If we can demonstrate that these areas are also in use by the community we will have a chance. I am considering going for some resources as well, but don’t know whether that will jeopardize our chances of success. In any case if it is successful it will free up some of our funds for resources too.
posted by Ms. A at Sunday, February 12, 2006
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home