February 2001 
ECSnet helps prepare students for their future By Ben Curatolo, Director of Technology
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T his year, technology continues to be deployed and developed in Eureka City Schools. The process of learning to use technology takes time. Typically it takes three to five years for an organization to begin to use technology in ways that make a remarkable difference. Much of this time period has to do with developing the capacity within the organization to use the technological tools. ECSnet, our Intranet, has been online for one and a half years. As we move into this new year with the ability to provide better support and the foundation having been laid, we will look to the users of the system to help us improve service. The Technology Advisory Committee, made up of staff and community members, produced guidelines for the use of I-Gear, the Internet filtering system. By way of these guidelines we have provided all employees with the ability to get unfiltered access. This will ease the use of the Internet for employees especially when researching and preparing curriculum. This year we expect to receive a $100,000 discount from the federal government for telecommunications and Internet access under the E-Rate program. Services will remain the same as last year except for connecting to Corporation for Education Network Initiatives in California (CENIC) sometime this year. CENIC, is working on the Digital California Project, a multimillion dollar effort designed to build the necessary network infrastructure needed to prepare California's schools to take advantage of tomorrow's advances in network technology. ECSnet is an ongoing project. The task of setting all the resources in place to provide services is enormous. Our goal this year is to improve the reliability and performance of our information technology system. We have made great strides and will continue to do so. The technology we use today is on a continuous path of change; this change is expected to continue for at least another fifty years. The goal of ECSnet is to provide access to information technology that will enhance the educational process so that we may better prepare our students for their future.
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