By Carol Anders Staff Writer
PLYMOUTH — Parts of the computer system at the Plymouth Schools could be changing.
During the Plymouth School Board meeting Thurs-day night, Technology Dir-ector Jon Shultz presented a seven-page summary of the department’s activities during the last year. Shultz said he and his staff members plan to learn the migration process needed to move student PCs at all schools to Linux operating system (to replace Windows) and OpenSource software.
He said the switch could potentially save the corporation between $50,000 and $100,000 in annual Microsoft and other software licensing fees.
Assistant Superintendent Dan Tyree said, “The state is definitely pushing in that direction (Linix).”
Shultz said they are also striving to learn the Novell Linix Desktop operating system to install and integrate 160 PCs in five Plymouth High School English classrooms. During the summer months, the school received a grant to cover the cost of the computers and the furniture to house the computers.

Board member Larry Pinkerton asked if the computers had been delivered yet and if they were orderd in time. Shultz said they received a better price for the computers in September than they would have found in June. He said the target date for installation is Nov. 12
There were several questions from board members on how the switch to the new system could affect students. Shultz said in his discussions with educators, he found that teachers say they need to be teaching concepts, not a particular product.
Shultz also said they have added the NetStorage feature of Novell and a refurbished server at PHS to allow students and staff to access their personal files from home using an internet brower such as Internet Explorer. He said that work required the creation of user accounts for all PHS students.
In his list of major accomplishments, Schultz said he had applied patches to all servers and PCs throughout the corporation needed due to the extension of Daylight Savings Time.
He said the department was also able to trace two student hackers and presented irrefutable evidence to PHS principals for disciplinary action. He said the department has made adjustments to servers and students PCs to prevent further abuse.
The client AntiVirus agent was replaced, he said, with web content and e-mail filters with a new system from Lightspeed. According to Schultz, this new system has improved results in each of these areas and saves $7,500 per year in licensing costs.
As of October, 2007 there are 1,807 computers in service in the corporation. By comparison, in January of 1998, there were 600. By September of 2000, that number had grown to 900. Continued growth pushed that number to 1,565 in October of last year.
He said currently 1,297 of the computers are designated as student PCs.
He said, “This puts us at approximately a 2.7 (down from 3.1) to 1 ratio of PCs to students corporation wide.” According to Shultz, the national average is a ratio of 4-1.
Shultz ended his report saying, “At the end of the day, it’s not about production figures, or how much spam we are blocking, or how many computers we have. It’s all about us making the right decisions and doing our part to add to the bottom line of educating and preparing out students for life.”