Agenda
September 9, 2010
Greenfield Public Schools Administration Building
195 Federal Street, Greenfield
NOTE: Meeting is in the Middle School Library, NOT the Admin. Building where we used to meet.
8:30 - 9:30 Mark Villinski, Kaspersky
9:30 - 9:40 Announcements
- Welcome!
- Financial report
- NComputing samples
- Microsoft Round Table - Cambridge, Sept. 17, 10:00 - noon. "affordable solutions for teacher-student collaboration tools"
9:40 - 9:45 Elections
- Elect Chairperson for FY11
- Elect Directors for FY11
9:45 – 10:00 Proposed guests/technical workshops/locations
- Speakers: N-Computing (10/7), Information & Communications Technologies Center (11/4)
- Workshops: TechTalk (10/21), Moodle (12/16), Superintendents' Luncheon (3/17)
- What else???
10:00 - 10:15
- DESE 170 Grants - Any interest?
10:15 -10:30 First Annual TEP Technology Conference - April 7, 2011, Holyoke
- Planning Committee?
- Keynote: Allan November?
Next Meeting: October 7, 2010 - Northampton
Minutes
September 9, 2010
Greenfield Middle School
195 Federal Street, Greenfield
NOTE: Meeting is in the Middle School Library, NOT the Admin. Building where we used to meet.
The meeting was called to order at 8:37 by David Greenberg
Attending: David Greenberg (TEP), Gary Bunker (Mahar), Zach Smith (LPVEC), Eric DeHays (Ashburnham-Westminster), Jerry Champagne (Amherst), Ann Morgan (Narragansett), Ed Skutnik (Mohawk), Bill Dornbusch (Northampton), Jim Walker (LPVEC), Jocelyn Croft (FCTS), Angela Burke (Gateway)
8:30 - 9:30 Mark Villinski, Kaspersky
Mark showed us an interesting 'factoid' type movie with all kinds of statistics about growth of the web and, of course, the growth of a myriad of threads to privacy and security. (Movie available by request; write if you would like a copy). for example, 1 in 150 web sites is infected with some sort of malicious code.Particularly at risk are poorly configured web servers and unpatched 3td party applications. Mark suggested that 3rd party apps be configured to auto-update whenever possible and that people be on top of applyiing patches in a timely fashion. Surprisingly, (at least, to me), is the fact that 77% of the web site that harbor malicious code are completely legitimate web sites. For keeping abreast of security threats, Mark recommended Microsoft's security site. Mark has made a six-month trial of their home version of AV software available to TEP and there are both PC and Mac versions. If you would like the software, write to Mark directly or let me know.
9:30 - 9:40 Announcements
- David welcomed everyone back to a new year and apologized for scheduling the meeting on the first day of Rosh Hashanah
- NComputing samples were distritubed to: Gary, Ed, Al Woodhull (Greenfield), Angela and Ann.
- Microsoft Round Table - Cambridge, Sept. 17, 10:00 - noon. "affordable solutions for teacher-student collaboration tools". For more information or to register, please contact Richard Trotta from Medford.
9:40 - 9:45 Elections
- Chair for FY11: In keeping with an old TEP tradition, the group elected someone who was not at the meeting to be the TEP chair for FY11. I have to say, however, that Carol Holzberg had a good excuse so the committee nominated/selected Jerry Champagne to take the reins if Carol is unable or unwilling.
- TO DO: Write to Carol and figure out who will be TEP Chair for FY11 - David
- Directors for FY11: Bill Dornbusch and Angela Burke, outgoing Chair, will join the new Chair on the TEP Executive Board.
9:45 - 9:55 Budget Discussion
David presented a preliminary budget that showed that TEP could end the year with a roughly $7,000 loss if other income was not generated. We discussed two options: one would be to see if could find a school district that would be willing to offer a home to TEP and charge considerably less than LPVEC does ($5,000) for financial operations. The other was to raise the dues, which people agreed we could not do before next year. Subsequent discussion of the TEP Technology Conference revealed that we could erase this loss through income generated by the Conference. No further action was taken.
9:55 – 10:10 Proposed guests/technical workshops/locations
David presented a list of upcoming guests and events and invited the group to suggest additional people and events to fill the gaps in the calendar.
TO DO: Send out the schedule for people to review - David
10:10 - 10:25
DESE 170 Grants - We discussed a proposal by David to revitalize an unfunded NSF grant that combined Project-based Learning with Service-based Learning through the introduction of geographical information systems (GIS) software into the curriculum.
TO DO: Talk to grant write and see if Gateway will be sponsor - Angela
10:25 -10:40 First Annual TEP Technology Conference - April 7, 2011, Baystate Conference Center, Holyoke
David presented a scenario for a TEP Technology Conference and the group was interested in pursuing this. Zach and Jim agreed to join David and Angela on the organizing committee and others said they would pitch in as needed. It was agreed that we would allocate registrations proportionately based on student enrollment and that roughly 180 seats would go to TEP and 40 would go to non-TEP participants. TEP participants would be asked to pay $10 to help defray the cost of the food; non-TEP members would be asked to pay $50 to attend. We realized that we do not have room for unlimited vendors and there must be a relationship between the attendees and the vendors. We need to determine exactly how many vendors can fit in the space and then come up with a list of vendors.
TO DO: Make an appointment to view the space and take measurements on Sept. 14 at 11:30 a.m. if possible - David
TO DO: Send out tentative vendor list and ask people to add vendors with whom they have a relationship - David
The meeting was adjourned at 10:40 a.m.
Next Meeting: October 7, 2010 - Northampton High School Board Room
