Our original article, “Poor school district considers turning down $43,000 PC grant because it’s for Macs,” from June 10, 2003 went like this:
“Some Foster High School teachers are balking at the idea that the school board could refuse to let them accept $43,000 worth of new computers the school was recently awarded through a grant program,” reports Nora Doyle for The King County Journal.
Doyle continues, “Earlier this year, teacher Jeff Heiman applied for a grant from a nonprofit organization offering 30 new Macintosh computers and six laser printers to a school in an economically challenged community. The Tukwila School District, with a high number of students who qualify for free and reduced lunch, fits the bill.”
“Heiman thought he had found an answer. When he found out in May that Foster won the grant, the math teacher was elated. The extra computers would give the students he’ll teach next year daily access to a computer, which they need, he said,” reports Doyle.
“But according to the school technology plan created in 2000, Tukwila schools will move toward using only personal computers, not the Macintosh, for financial reasons, Superintendent Michael Silver said. The district has a six-person technology department staffed with people expert in PCs, Silver added. Having only PCs allows the district to better maintain, repair and replace computers in a cost-effective way, he said,” Doyle reports.
“It’s silly to turn down the offer of free Macs when the school district has to provide technical support for the Macs already at the high school, said Heiman, who said he didn’t know about the Mac rule in the technology plan when he applied for the grant,” Doyle writes. “‘My job as a teacher is to do everything I can to improve the education of kids. In my professional judgment, we need these computers,’ he said. The superintendent said the district should stick to its plan. ‘At this point … going with one platform for a small school district seems most prudent,’ Silver said. The matter will be discussed at tonight’s school board meeting, when Heiman said he and other teachers will ask the board for a one-time exception to the technology-plan rule prohibiting new Macs.”
“‘In a time of serious budget crunches in the schools, for them to turn down a gift of $43,000 just seems asinine … Policy is a nice idea, but reality is that they’re going to have Macs and they might as well take the free ones when they can get them,’ he said. A school board decision on the new computers is not expected at tonight’s meeting,” Doyle reports.
“A caveat of the technology plan allows teachers to keep their Macs at their desks instead of getting a PC if they wish. In addition, the library and a graphics classroom can keep their Macs,” Doyle reports.
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: While we realize that Tukwila is an economically-challenged School District and might have a hard time attracting the very best and brightest, but that does not grant license for their six-person technology department and Superintendent Michael Silver to be complete fools. Perhaps Superintendent Michael Silver would like to hear your reasoned thoughts regarding this matter? His email address is: silverm@tukwila.wednet.edu. We already sent him this link: http://macvspc.info/
Friday, June 27th: Today comes word that at this past Tuesday night’s school board meeting, “Silver said the changes or exemptions to the technology plan should only be made after a proper review. He then offered the teachers 30 PCs obtained through Boeing, which annually donates surplus computers to local school districts. The school district would pay $3,000 for printers supplied in the original grant but not provided by Boeing, Silver said.”
“The offer came as a surprise to teacher Jeff Heiman. ‘I’d rather have 30 PCs than nothing,” he said, although his first choice would be to have new Macs rather than used PCs. He’s still hoping the board will consider accepting the Macs as well as the Boeing PCs. Just because his students will have adequate access to the computers doesn’t mean the Macs couldn’t be used somewhere else in Tukwila schools, he said.”
“At the July 8 school board meeting, board members will listen to a presentation on the cost of maintaining the Macs, using the numbers as a factor in determining whether to accept the grant for the Macs.” Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Basically what’s going on here is Superintendent Michael Silver will do anything to keep Macs away from his students and teachers, even stooping to buying them off with 30 “free” Windows PC’s and $3,000 worth of printers. Obviously, he’s never used a Mac. Silver thinks he’s solved his “problem.” Do you? Again, Silver’s email address is silverm@tukwila.wednet.edu.
This is is Micro$oft’s backyard, what else would you expect from an education “professional” within spitting distance of Bill Gates’ house. They cannot teach children how to read, write or compute, but they can push PC’s and P.C.
Forget it. This is a lost cause. Apple should tell them to fick off and give the computers to another school district that would appreciate free computers, no matter who the manufacturer is. This superintendant has a serious problem with recognizing the needs of his students and capitalizing on a wonderful offer. He now has the chance to get 30 free PCs and a shitload of Macs, but is still not stepping up and doing the right thing for the STUDENTS.
Apple, move on, find another school district in desparate need. There are plenty more of them.
The is in my opinion is extremely dumb. Our school, we took anything we could get free, and any grant money we could get. We bought mainly macintosh based computers because they are EASY to maintain. The few pc labs we had alone took so many people to maintain, and we only had 2 or 3 in the whole school district. We only had 1 person maintaining the macintosh based computers, which were on ever teachers desk and several multimedia classrooms with 25 to 30 computers not to mention also 4 or more computers in EVERY classroom. I don’t understand why they need 6 people, if you go to the mac cut out 4 fo your 6 technicians, maybe then the school wouldn’t be so poor. I agree with rageous, it’s a lost cause, but maybe there will be one teacher that will get it done… if not i’ll take them
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Sad really cos’ the teacher and kids are the ones who will lose out. Using a mac is not that hard, and if the technology group is somewhat decent, they should be able to buy a few extra books to figure it out
Look. We all know the guy’s a Windows biggot in the shadow of Microsoft and also an idiot. What’s left to be said?
Thirty used PC’s. This may be more trouble than it is worth. Not only will the students remain in a financially (poor) strapped school system, they will have to suffer with technologically challenged PC’s. It seems like a nice gesture to donate used PC’s to schools, but these should not be used as educational tools but rather administrative resources – word processors, network clients, etc. Computers used in the educational process should be up-to-date with respect to technology. Way to go “Super”. In addition to everything else, the students will have to put up with hand-me downs. I’ll bet the state of the art stuff goes to the administration. I say fire the moron.
Let me see if I understand this!
First he refused to take brand new computers and printers. Then they are going to take “surplus” equipment, on top of that, they have to invest $3000.00 in new printers.
And we wonder why our school systems and our children education are going down the drain!
Last time I checked “surplus” equipment, really means, used systems, out of warranty equipment. Potential repair expenses that a school district with funds shortage (and some brain cells left), should’nt want to have. Brand new systems have warranty, all repairs cost are covered by that. Also it’s easier to get extended warranty on those, due to the fact that they’re still under warranty.
New Computers+Warranty=Savings
Surplus+No warranty= Expensive repairs
One probable source for this ill advice behavior, is that these professional support guys they have are only MCSE or experienced in Microsoft products only. These kind of kids, with no crossplatform experience are the worst source of support a school district could have.
They are going to recommend what they just learned in the MCSE course. And they are going to reject anything not covered in those few days of Microsoft indoctrination.
My recommendation to this school district. Get some one with experience in this area. Some one that would give you objective advise, that way you will really save some money. Macs save money in the long run, they cost less to maintain, need less support personnel.
This Mr.Silver should not be running this school. There is no financial reason especially in his case that he should not accept this grant. He would rather take someones used up PC’s for brand new Macs and printers. I really don’t get it. I think the parents of this school should really question this big time! They should really look at replacing him and finding someone with a little more common sense.
Anyone doubting the judgement and intelligence of the average Windows biggot need only look to this story for evidence of the lack thereof.
Pathetic and sad for the students who stand to lose big on such a moronic policy.
John Horvatic, I just sent Mr. Silver an email saying that people like him don’t belong in the educational system and that he is a perfect example of what is wrong with education in the U.S. today. Why don’t you write him also!
I don’t know that posting Silver’s e-mail address is necessary. You really think a bunch of Mac fanatics spamming this guy will produce a change of heart?
The stupidity of this decision is obvious, but filling up his e-mail box will probably serve to steel his Mac apartheid stance.
Instead why doesn’t the “author” of this story rally Mac (i.e. voters, tax payers) users in the Tukwilla area to show up at either the school board meeting (if public) or start a petition.
I wrote him with the following:
“I found the following comment interesting.
“The district has a six-person technology department staffed with people who have expertise in PCs, Silver added. Having only PCs allows the district to better maintain, repair and replace computers in a cost-effective way, he said.”
We have Macs here in our state office which are maintained by our graphics staff and have never had to place a service call to our IT department which “officially” doesn’t support them. We run Mac OS 10.2.6, the entire Adobe suite, Freehand and MS Office and Outlook 2001 (classic mode) Mac edition. Things just work. Networking with PCs is now a piece of cake running OS X. We also house Dell machines in our department and have found files send to printers from the Mac faster then the PCs.
I think most IT professionals feel Macs are back in the OS 9 technology days or have never even touched one and are therefore scared of the unknown. The IT staff here that has opened their mind to these new Macs have trully been impressed with their capabilites.”
Surplus PCs? Does this guy know what he’s in for? Where I work, engineers get the newest fastest stuff. Their old systems become test and build machines. Displaced test and build machines go to the secretaries. Their old systems go the “boneyard”, where they are scavenged for parts. From the boneyard, picked over computers are donated as “surplus”.
I had written the teacher who applied for the grant weeks ago. I sent him a couple of links from the Apple site as well as arguments of the long-term costs of each platform. I didn’t get a response. I assumed he was inundated with email.
That $3000 is being taken from the budget someplace else–that’s worse than nothing for a tight budget!
How many Macs does $43,000 buy? More than 30, and not used, old, half-dead machines.
How about B. F. Yancey Elementary where the average age of their tech support staff (iKids) is 8, and they run just great–with all Macs! (Story no longer on apple.com though.)
It’s especially absurd when keeping existing Macs is already a given–so there will be no “standardization” on ONLY Windows no matter what. It’s just a question of more Macs or fewer.
The anti-Mac folks may have the power to win despite what would be best for the students, and despite what teachers and parents want. But I don’t think they will win and come through looking very good. Especially when those 30 PCs aren’t much use.
Link:
http://www.apple.com/education/profiles/
PC bigots, such as IT personnel, are all afraid of competition and giving the end user a choice because they know what that choice would be! So they resort to intimidation and outrageous claims to instill fear so they will not lose their jobs. Let’s face it folks, if all the PC’s in the world were replaced by Macs, the unemployment lines would be filled with IT people.
The fact that the superintendant is unwilling to take a $43K donation for his schools proves that he is not qualified to be in that position. He should be fired immediately.
What a shame. I agree with rageous; refusal of this offer is NOT in the best interest of the students. Surely the school district can find SOME use for the computers. If nothing else (i.e. the IT staff is too boneheaded to find a way to integrate them, or they just really DON’T fit well into the infrastructure, let’s just give them the benefit of the doubt), they can put them in the library, and connect to the internet. Can never have too many inter-net machines, I always say.
I guess it’s time to make a few potentially constructive suggestions:
1. The superintendent says that “having only PCs allows the district to better maintain, repair and replace computers in a cost-effective way”.
So, then, it should be just a question of somebody paying the maintenance, repair and replacement bill… If I lived in the vicinity of that school, I would immediately offer to provide the tech support at no charge. It is one thing to tell PC users that Macs need virtually no tech support. But, it is an entirely different thing to expect them to ignore their personal past experience of horrible tech problems with their PCs and to also expect them to make a blind leap of faith to the Mac, which to them is just another computer. Just provide the support free of charge, or pay the bill for a third-party service rep to cover the Macs. Actions always speak louder than words.
2. If the school absolutely refuses to take the Macs, attempt to shift the donation to a community center near the school where not only the kids but other members of the poor local community could use the Macs. A library, YMCA, Internet cafe or other such facility could make the computers available to the students and community. After seeing the computers in action, with no tech hassles, the school board would have the grounds to change its policy. The computers could then be picked up and transported over to the school.
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3. For Mac users in the local community, or living nearby, this is an ideal opportunity to do a little grassroots organizing. Produce an attractive pamphlet summarizing the matter and listing the public contact phone numbers and official mailing addresses of all members of the school board (the superintendent’s boss). Focus not so much on the “Mac” but on the waste of public money to replace a freely offered donation. Place the leaflets in the mailboxes of all neighborhood homes and on the windshields of all cars at the local mall. The front image on the pamphlet should be a photo of 40 new Mac computers piled into the back of a garbage dump truck (a good opportunity to play with Photoshop). A title like “What is our school board doing?” would probably do the trick. Let the ball roll from there by setting up a committee called something like “Computers for our Kids” with a web site and contact number to coordinate meetings etc.
The above steps could probably be taken in less than one week of part-time activity. Telling the superintendent that he is stupid does not strike me as an effective approach. I think that lobbying his employers (the school board) is much more likely to be successful. Providing them with an alternative professionally printed report to hold up against the “school technology plan created in 2000” would also help. A lot has happened in the IT world since 2000…
Good luck to those of you who live near enough to the Tukwila School District to be able to resolve this matter properly. It should be an enjoyable and empowering experience for your community.
“Think Different”.
Patience is a virtue my friends. Time will show the bad decision that Mr Silver has made. He is digging himself into a hole at the expense (both literally and figuratively) of the students in the District.
It is unfortunate that he will only realise his mistake in hindsight (or will he…?), when he is removed/forced from his position by either the people above him (who will realise his massive shortcomings), or through the conviction and efforts of the community below him (who also will realise his massive shortcomings). All in all, this poor chap is not a good leader. Certainly not they type I would want making decisions that effect children.
I couldn’t help myself. I had to send him my story.
Dear sir,
I recently read a story that claims that you are debating whether to accept free macintosh computers for your school district. I use PCs and Macs in my work as head of a biotech research laboratory, but back in 1986, my attitude was much like yours today. I was complaining to my wife how the PC at work was buggy and making a mess of the manuscript I was writing. She suggested that I try one of the computers in her department. I was horrified at the thought of learning how to use a new type of computer, but she just laughed at me and said it would only take 5 minutes to learn how to use it. She was correct! I have been a fan of Mac computers ever since – not because I am the type to remain in a rut, but rather because Mac computers are more fully integrated, less prone to problems and require much less trouble shooting. Things just work on a Mac.
I have a PC at home, but just because I wanted the challenge of building my own computer. It is very fast, but now that I have a laptop at work, I bring it home and work on it, even though the processor is only half the speed of the chip I put into the PC. The Mac is an absolute joy to use and it doesn’t crash like the PC. I’m not saying that it crashes less often. It simply doesn’t crash.
So, if you are worried about your staff having to learn how to maintain another type of machine – don’t worry. Having Macs around will reduce their workload. I do hope that your school district does decide to accept the free Macintosh computers. In all sincerity, they are a pleasure to use.
Regards,
I suggest that anyone concerned send a polite e-mail to the local Macintosh User Groups to encourage them to get involved. Maybe they can show up at the school board meetings and ask to present a case favoring the Macintosh grant.
The Seattle dBUG user group is one that I am aware of being in the area.
If this guy is a superintendent, I wonder how dumb the “normal” intendents are in Tukwila.
Apparently GW Bush’s brother is one of the board members.
I am the teacher involved. And yes, I have been inundated with emails! Thanks for all your support. I agree with smacky that negative hate mail to the superintendent does not help (although it can feel good). In any case, the decision is now up to the school board and will be based on networking costs. Apple is working with us to ensure that costs will remain low, and it is still possible that the board will override Dr. Silver’s plan and allow us to take the Macs. By the way, the article got several things wrong. I did not write the grant, a colleague of mine did. Also, I never said that we would take the PCs and someone else could use the Macs. I said, I would prefer that we take both grants, and my academy would use the Macs (the grant was written to give us the Macs) and the PCs could go to other users in the school (I think there are great benefits to training kids to be multi-platform).
Again, thanks for your help, and please write educated, polite, and well-reasoned emails to the school board. You can get hold of them through the Tukwila School District office. (tukwila@wednet.edu)
jeff