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Virginia school for deaf, blind in IT squeeze | Richmond Times-Dispatch
The Virginia School for the Deaf and the Blind plans to eliminate more than half of its computers and consolidate most of those left into labs for teachers and students to share, in an attempt to shrink its annual information technology costs of $330,000 to more manageable levels.
It's a drastic step for the 173-year-old Staunton school of about 115 students with deafness, blindness or hearing or visual impairments, but one that school officials say is necessary to stave off cuts in other areas.
"It's like a slow-motion disaster," said Doug Wright, the school's IT manager. "Computers were bought as an asset. Well, now they're a liability."
The school will winnow its computer stock from about 200 PCs to about 80 that will be located in computer labs around campus or remain in some offices, including the budget office and administration. Most of the computers being removed are the ones that teachers use in their classrooms.
The topic is likely to come up today as the board of visitors meets at the school, which serves students who range in age from preschool to the early 20s.
It's an unusual situation brought on by the school's unusual status.
While public K-12 schools and colleges and universities do not fall under the purview of the Virginia Information Technologies Agency — which contracts with Northrop Grumman to run the state's computer network with set services and prices — the Virginia School for the Deaf and the Blind is technically an agency.
VITA services the executive branch agencies, so the school is paying VITA prices for its computers and services. The school's bill is more than $27,000 a month.
"Our school should have never ever rolled under VITA, and when we continue to bring that up it's like nobody's listening," said Superintendent Nancy C. Armstrong.
"We've got to be fiscally sound, so it's my job to make sure the agency is ... coming out in the black. There's no way that we can continue to do what we're doing and meet all our bills."
The school's IT bill has gone from nearly $500,000 several years ago to about $335,000 this year. Even at that rate, school officials say, the bills were forcing decisions about instructional spending versus IT bills. They hope this latest round of cuts will bring the bills into the neighborhood of $100,000.
Samuel A. Nixon Jr., the state's computer chief and the head of VITA, said he's sensitive to the school's special circumstances and that his agency has come up with a couple of options that could help with costs.
Communication has been an issue, however. Email exchanges between Nixon and Armstrong, dating back to March, show that Nixon has offered to travel to the campus and told Armstrong to contact him directly with concerns. For one reason or another, those meetings have never happened.
At one point in the exchange, Armstrong tried to get the school out from under VITA's oversight as of June 17 and asked that VITA remove its equipment then. Nixon noted that it would take a modification to the state law or the state budget to declare such a thing.
She replied by questioning why the school would be covered by VITA in the first place, saying "our primary mission as a K-12 school is to serve students with sensory disabilities" and "we continue to encounter difficulties with VITA which inhibit our mission."
Nixon said the options his staff has devised would allow the school to take the faculty or student computers away from VITA control, but warned that that comes with additional considerations.
Northrop Grumman owns the computers. So if the school chose to get out from under VITA and manage its own computers, it would basically start from scratch.
"Yes, they can cut their VITA bill, but can they really reduce their IT costs? I don't know," Nixon said.
He says he's willing to work with the school and make some accommodations.
"Some reasonable discretion is possible and in order in this case," he said.
The school has yet to pay its VITA bill for fiscal 2011, according to VITA, and while it's getting some help from the state, Armstrong says she still owes about $170,000. The school receives about $10.3 million a year for its program, including day students and those who sleep in the dormitories.
"The bottom line is, we don't have the funding," Armstrong said. "We just don't have the money to pay our bill."
On top of its regular IT bills, the school pays an additional $40,000-plus yearly for special software for its students, including screen magnification programs and a program converting text into Braille.
"This is the most depressing job I've ever had," Wright said, lamenting the effect on the students and teachers.
"What do I do for a living? I take away computers from people," he said.
The Virginia School for the Deaf and the Blind plans to eliminate more than half of its computers and consolidate most of those left into labs for teachers and students to share, in an attempt to shrink its annual information technology costs of $330,000 to more manageable levels.
It's a drastic step for the 173-year-old Staunton school of about 115 students with deafness, blindness or hearing or visual impairments, but one that school officials say is necessary to stave off cuts in other areas.
"It's like a slow-motion disaster," said Doug Wright, the school's IT manager. "Computers were bought as an asset. Well, now they're a liability."
The school will winnow its computer stock from about 200 PCs to about 80 that will be located in computer labs around campus or remain in some offices, including the budget office and administration. Most of the computers being removed are the ones that teachers use in their classrooms.
The topic is likely to come up today as the board of visitors meets at the school, which serves students who range in age from preschool to the early 20s.
It's an unusual situation brought on by the school's unusual status.
While public K-12 schools and colleges and universities do not fall under the purview of the Virginia Information Technologies Agency — which contracts with Northrop Grumman to run the state's computer network with set services and prices — the Virginia School for the Deaf and the Blind is technically an agency.
VITA services the executive branch agencies, so the school is paying VITA prices for its computers and services. The school's bill is more than $27,000 a month.
"Our school should have never ever rolled under VITA, and when we continue to bring that up it's like nobody's listening," said Superintendent Nancy C. Armstrong.
"We've got to be fiscally sound, so it's my job to make sure the agency is ... coming out in the black. There's no way that we can continue to do what we're doing and meet all our bills."
The school's IT bill has gone from nearly $500,000 several years ago to about $335,000 this year. Even at that rate, school officials say, the bills were forcing decisions about instructional spending versus IT bills. They hope this latest round of cuts will bring the bills into the neighborhood of $100,000.
Samuel A. Nixon Jr., the state's computer chief and the head of VITA, said he's sensitive to the school's special circumstances and that his agency has come up with a couple of options that could help with costs.
Communication has been an issue, however. Email exchanges between Nixon and Armstrong, dating back to March, show that Nixon has offered to travel to the campus and told Armstrong to contact him directly with concerns. For one reason or another, those meetings have never happened.
At one point in the exchange, Armstrong tried to get the school out from under VITA's oversight as of June 17 and asked that VITA remove its equipment then. Nixon noted that it would take a modification to the state law or the state budget to declare such a thing.
She replied by questioning why the school would be covered by VITA in the first place, saying "our primary mission as a K-12 school is to serve students with sensory disabilities" and "we continue to encounter difficulties with VITA which inhibit our mission."
Nixon said the options his staff has devised would allow the school to take the faculty or student computers away from VITA control, but warned that that comes with additional considerations.
Northrop Grumman owns the computers. So if the school chose to get out from under VITA and manage its own computers, it would basically start from scratch.
"Yes, they can cut their VITA bill, but can they really reduce their IT costs? I don't know," Nixon said.
He says he's willing to work with the school and make some accommodations.
"Some reasonable discretion is possible and in order in this case," he said.
The school has yet to pay its VITA bill for fiscal 2011, according to VITA, and while it's getting some help from the state, Armstrong says she still owes about $170,000. The school receives about $10.3 million a year for its program, including day students and those who sleep in the dormitories.
"The bottom line is, we don't have the funding," Armstrong said. "We just don't have the money to pay our bill."
On top of its regular IT bills, the school pays an additional $40,000-plus yearly for special software for its students, including screen magnification programs and a program converting text into Braille.
"This is the most depressing job I've ever had," Wright said, lamenting the effect on the students and teachers.
"What do I do for a living? I take away computers from people," he said.