Pinellas County, Florida students and teachers to lose their...

[MacBytes]

Category: News and Press Releases
Link: Pinellas County, Florida students and teachers to lose their Macs (http://www.macminute.com/2003/09/13/floridamacs)

Posted on MacBytes.com (http://www.macbytes.com)

Approved by Mudbug

[Jerry Spoon]

2 out of every 3 computers is an apple, but they're replacing them as they become obsolete to move over to pc. :confused:
Wonder how big this district is. Can't imagine his reasoning (so everyone can be using one system) is really relavant unless you don't have the manpower to keep up the systems. Since it takes less manpower to keep the mac systems running, it seems strange that you'd choose to move to pc.

[Nermal]

My thoughts too. I don't see why they're moving to PC if the majority of their current machines are Macs. Surely it would make more sense to switch the remaining third over to Mac?

[KCK]

You would think with all the worm and other security problems going around people would wise up to the benefits of a mixed platform environment. Switching to a single platform environment is asking for problems when the next security hole is found and exploited.

[MrMacMan]

Yeah thats kind of dumb.

I bet some Mac Fans will install some nice Windows Virus's and Worms...

Hehe.

[awinn233]

I can't believe that the superintendent is doing this. I live in Pinellas county and attend high school in ths district. I'm not suprised that some of the teachers are upset, there are definately some diehard mac fans in my school. I personally can atest to the significant amount of Macs that we have in my school, and the classes that use iMovie and iTunes, I just can't imagine them using WMP or Windows Movie Maker, cringe. The PC's that we do have are old and running like WIN 95, we even have a black & white monitor in the library.

[twinn233]

Well i am a Junior @ SHS in pinellas county and of course i am more than upset, many of us use iMovie and what will the future classes use when they make the switch to pc's, windows movie maker? I hope not...

It will cost more to maintain too, lovely it's not like we need to hire janitors to clean the school but can't because we have a hiring freeze. But lets switch 2/3 of all of are computers to pc's, lets have to buy new licenses for all of the software we use. And when the teacher is putting the grades into the computer and gets the blue screen of death, the superintendent will finally see the error in his ways.

[MrMacMan]

Guys, write letters to the superintendent.

Seriously it makes a difference.

I got a few things fixed at my school by doing that if not going to a non 'important' school PTA meating w/me and 10 friends, there we no important issues so I brought my own to the floor.

I acually woke the people up, haha.

:rolleyes:

[Stella]

One word -
Retards

They think the initial up front cost of PCs make them cheaper. However, this is short term - Windows takes more maintenance - ie, patching and Windows machines typically need replacing often - especially when a new OS is installed.

Once a Mac is running - it keeps going and going.

I've lost count the number of times people at work have needed their Windows machine re-os-ing because Windows has f??ked up and performance has significantly degraded.

Originally posted by KCK
You would think with all the worm and other security problems going around people would wise up to the benefits of a mixed platform environment. Switching to a single platform environment is asking for problems when the next security hole is found and exploited.

[ladykitty]

I went to Seminole High School in Pinellas County. It's a pretty big school district...13th largest in the nation, if I remember correctly. Hinesley has already had a lot of problems and has made some stupid decisions, like when he tried squeezing exorbitant retirement benefits from the school board and then announced his decision to quit right after receiving them.

Let's hope that his soon-to-be successor will reverse this decision.

[bousozoku]

You wonder why I call it Floriduh?

Early this year, Osceola County decided that the schools in Celebration, Disney's theme town, should go to PCs because it would be a better choice. They don't have any PCs for students, so they're replacing everything they have.

Of course, Disney helped them get their Macs in the first place, probably against the wishes of the county school board.

[machinehien]

We need to bombard this guy with letters and stuff. I get sick of people who arbitrarily change things up just to be an autocrat. You'd think after Blaster and Sobig people would be more skeptical of of a pure PC environment. Also with the number of viruses out there I have always treated any institutional PC as suspect when it came to transferring files and such.

[Daveman Deluxe]

I've always thought that compulsory platform choice for the sake of platform uniformity is silly for the plain fact that it's NOT hard to get Mac, PC, and Linux/Unix to play nicely on a network. Toss in security issues, add TCO and you have a good reason for a mixed-platform environment with a bit of an emphasis on *nix and Mac.

My God, if only our schools were accountable financially like publicly held corporations (ignoring Enron, et. al.) are. Boneheaded decisions like this would largely go the way of the mastodon. Sound fiscal policy is to reward those who save money. Government fiscal policy is to slash their budgets even more. :mad:

[Fender2112]

You folks in this school district (and others in the same situation) really need to speak up and hold the officals accountable for their actions. They ARE public employees who's salaries are paid buy public funds. You do have a voice but it's up to you to speak what's on your mind.

Make this guy state his case and for each reason he gives for choosing Windows, give him two reasons not to. I would really question his motives behind this decision. Based soley on cost, it has been shown many times that over the long run Macs are cheaper to own. My guess is that he is getting some kind of kick back that only he will profit from. It has nothing to do with choosing what's best for the students and teachers. Unfortunatley, this is how a lot of decisions get made.

The key here is that you have to speak up against these kinds of actions. The superintendent may not care, but school board members that hire him will REALLY care when election time rolls around. I live in Charlotte, NC and have two kids attending school. Trust me, the wheel that squeaks the loudest and the most will get the oil. Take a stand and be heard.

[dukemeiser]

If you guys really want his email, it's not that hard to find. Just search for Phinellas County Schools on google. His email is on the website. Go nuts, or post it here if you want.

[Dont Hurt Me]

just another example as how far behind govt is all the time. i guess they want to expand their IT dept. computers should be easy for everyone yet the pc crowd still dont get it. perhaps howard should get off his ___ ___ and do a lil research and he will find macs lasts longer,are easier to use,and dont need so much Attention from the IT dept.

[Jerry Spoon]

Besides cost savings, it sounds like students are teachers in this district are doing a lot of mac-specific technology integration into their curriculum. It should be made known to the school board (forget the superintendant, b/c he's not the final word and he's already made his decision) that there are things that are difficult, more costly, or impossible to do on a pc that can and are being done on macs. Invite them into the classrooms to see it in action. If you win over just a few of them, that can make a big difference in what comes to be in your district.

A lot of other people posting here are right. If enough people speak up (and state reasonable points-not yell and scream) you can stop this. This isn't a done deal at this point b/c the macs aren't gone yet!!!

[gerardrj]

Quote:
"...Hinesley said the Macs will be replaced by PCs as they become obsolete...."

So they are going to replace existing Macintosh computers with obsolete PCs? I don't get it. Shouldn't they at least use NEWER PCs?