Technical Services ESP --
Building a Quality Workforce

A Technology-Rich School . . .

 . . . A More Sophisticated Technology User Community

For the most part, the public school environment reflects the community in which it exists. What is going on in the community will also be found in the hallways, classrooms, gyms, nurse’s office, library, cafeteria, school bus, and athletic field. And it will most definitely be found in detention.

If the community is awash in drugs and alcohol, so is the school. If gangs have established themselves in the community, their violence will spill into the school system. If an epidemic disease or even an isolated biological threat exists in the community, the school district is automatically a part of the plan to deal with it. In some instances, the school becomes the frontline for detection, treatment, and deterrence. The school most certainly partners with the community emergency responders to identify and remediate a crisis. In many situations, the best resources and the most qualified people can be found on staff at the district school. Certainly, the school becomes one of the best providers of information and networking for first responders and emergency efforts involving children.

And in this age of terrorist threats and a color-coded alert system, the public school has been transformed into a safe haven for students and staff. Many schools throughout the country now have what is known as "shelter in place" plans. Students and staff are "locked-down" where they are on the school campus. The shelter is equipped with everything they might need for survival and safety: food, water, sanitary supplies, communication equipment, blankets, first aid, medical provisions, and so forth. In some Arizona schools, the "lock-down" areas include computer links to police departments and fire and rescue stations.

While the school is a mirror of the community for most issues, the reverse is true in regard to technology -- the community reflects the school. The more current and technologically sophisticated the schools are, the more technology can be found in the community. Technical Services ESP have discovered that "wiring" a school immerses the entire community in the excitement, expansion, and knowledge of state-of-the art information.

As always, more affluent and sophisticated communities are better able to provide the "very best" for their kids. But even in poorer communities, "wiring" the schools increases knowledge and familiarity about computers at home. When kids use computers and sophisticated art, science, photographic, printing, word processing, internet access, and web development equipment at school, their greater sophistication and excitement spills over at home, causing more technology to permeate the neighborhood.

One other reason for this phenomenon is that learning with technology is a 24-hour process. Fifty years ago when children had a reading assignment, they would read the book, put it down, and not consider it again until they got to school. In this Internet age, much learning happens during browsing and investigating the many resources on the Internet, with or without a book, and in or out of the classroom. Home schooling and distance learning have also expanded the parameters of the "classroom."

Technical Services ESP in our public schools provide the expertise and technical support for schools and communities to use the educational possibilities of the worldwide web. Computers and sophisticated technology equipment expand students’ horizons both in and out of the classroom.

To Section 7: 21st Century Challenges for Technical Services ESP