David Annese isn't pointing fingers, but wants everyone to know the schools in #MiddletownRI need help with their technology infrastructure, something that's a constant juggling act unfortunately. Visit https://mdl.town/NewSchool for more.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Matt Sheley at (401) 842-6543 or msheley@middletownri.com
TECH TROUBLES
MIDDLETOWN, R.I. (OCTOBER 11, 2023) – David Annese doesn’t want to be taken the wrong way.
As technology director for the Middletown schools, Annese is thankful to his colleagues, the town and its taxpayers for providing support over the years for his department — and public education overall.
But despite doing the best they can keeping the schools current with its computers and other technology, Annese said there’s only so far he and his staff can take things in 60-year-old plus buildings.
That’s because there’s no more space and the room that’s allocated to technology infrastructure doesn’t come close to meeting current standards, issues Annese said costs the district too much money and downtime already.
“Middletown was actually at the fore of today’s approach to education with the Learning Center (at Forest Avenue School) and other projects like that,” Annese said. “Less than 20 years ago, we had people from around the world visiting to see what we were doing with our schools. We have to get there again and not be thinking about the school of 2023 or 2024, but where things are heading in 2055, 2065.”
Under the district’s technology program, Annese said there are more than 6,000 devices being actively managed.
That includes iPads, Chromebooks, laptops, desktops, iPhones, document cameras, intercoms, security cameras, various peripherals, network switches, access points, servers, and more.
While the hardware like iPads, laptops and screens in classrooms were what most people think of when it comes to tech, Annese said it was much more than that and far, far more complicated than anyone’s home or small business.
The tech team is also responsible for the renewal, implementation and maintenance of more than 50 software licenses from our student information systems and operational software to our numerous educational resources.
Then there’s the upkeep and maintenance of the computer network itself, much of which runs through WiFi connections and wiring that’s been added over the past 10 to 20 years wherever it fits.
Annese said it’s a huge problem is that none of the schools were designed to accommodate the amount of basic technological infrastructure that’s required for a school in 2023 — and what’s in place has literally been wedged in wherever possible.
Nowhere was this more obvious than the main backup computer server room for the district, the place where computer records were stored off site if something went wrong at the Oliphant administration building, the hub of the entire network.
Located by the school’s main office, Annese opened the locked door one morning and went inside and tried not to react to the mess he was welcomed to.
Although the room itself was noticeably cooler than the hallway outside, he noted the main rack holding different servers was a closed case that didn’t allow air to circulate freely. As a result, the heat put out from each of the units can cause the entire system to become too hot, shut down and potentially cause lasting damage.
One of about a dozen such spaces across the district, Annese said fortunately this room has air conditioning because most don’t, leaving the computer network constantly on a perilous edge.
Wires of every color and gauge were tied into the racks, providing a connection to the rest of the building — and the district. The problem was it looked like they were installed over time by a group of people in a serious rush and with diminished organizational skills.
The result, Annese said, was that should something go wrong with the servers or other gear, it can take a long time to sort out where, why and how to prevent it from happening again.
“When students are in the building, we (the network) can’t be down,” Annese said. “The days of notebooks and paper are still here, but not nearly as much as before. If you walk into most classrooms, you’ll see a sea of laptop computers and the students and teachers all using them. That’s a large part of what education is today and we’re responsible for managing it.”
The rough-and-ready situation with other network servers located throughout the building wasn’t any better — and likely far worse — a story true in each of the other schools.
In the northwestern part of the high school, Annese opened the door to a custodial supply closet and strode in.
He pointed out how the server rack was in the same closed box as the troublesome one by the main office, lending itself to more overheating problems. Add that to the fact the unit was buried behind stacks of cleaning supplies and other goods and there’s no air conditioning and Annese said it was a disaster waiting to happen.
“This was designed as a custodial closet, not for today’s technology,” Annese said. “This is the only space we had here to do this and it’s the best we can do with what we have. It’s like that all over the district and everyone is making do with what we’ve got.”
In another server room in the northern part on the second floor of Middletown High, the story was the same. Annese flipped the switch in the extremely warm supply closet filled with textbooks and other classroom supplies, but no overhead light goes on because there wasn’t an outlet for one.
“The worst part about all of this is that each of these (racks) is extremely difficult to get to,” Annese said. “It’s hot, the racks are very sensitive and we don’t have any way of protecting them here and if something was to go wrong and we have to access a security camera or some other piece of equipment quickly, that’s next to impossible here.”
Asked how much it would cost to rewire the high school properly, off the top of his head under the best circumstances, the price tag would likely be at least $200,000 for the Valley Road school alone and two summers of work because of the extent of the project.
“We can keep doing what we’re doing and I don’t want to come across like we’re not committed to keeping our technology fully operational. We are — 150 percent,” Annese said. “But at some point, how much sense does it make to continue to spend money on something that’s clearly well past its due date?”
Just so taxpayers didn’t get the wrong idea, Annese said wherever possible, he and his team would reuse the existing school hardware and software in the new middle-high school, should the bond be approved at a special election on Nov. 7.
Voters are being asked to weigh in on Question 1 on the ballot to build a new 200,000 square foot school on property that was once the Starlight Drive-In. The state Department of Education (RIDE) is expected to reimburse Middletown 55 percent of eligible costs — or 55 cents on every dollar.
For the median local homeowner, the project is expected to cost about $2 a day, or the price of a cup of coffee. To see a detailed report on the projected tax impacts, visit https://mdl.town/TaxImpact online.
HMFH and DBVW architects and project leaders Colliers International designed the school to maximize shared spaces, but in a way to keep the grade 6-8 and 9-12 student populations completely separate in the same structure.
Project leaders have said mistakes made in other communities will not be repeated and Middletown will deliver on everything pledged in the school construction project.
Contrary to the thoughts of some, the School Building Committee is leading the school building effort for Middletown — not the school administration — an arrangement that will remain should the bond be approved.
That volunteer board has decades of experience in the field and meets bi-weekly with HMFH, DBVW and Colliers to guide the latest with the project. The building committee’s next meeting is Oct. 11 at 5 pm in the Oliphant administration building.
The new middle-high school is the centerpiece of a multistep effort to remake the Middletown school system and its facilities. That includes:
- Remodeling Middletown High into a grade 2-5 learning center, with more space for teachers along with new offices for the school district administration and maintenance staff.
- Renovations to the Forest Avenue School, transforming that building into the prekindergarten through first grade early learning center for the community. It would be the first time Middletown offered prekindergarten as a town, something now handled by private services or in the home.
- Making the Reservoir Road building now home to Aquidneck Elementary School a community center, something Middletown presently lacks.
- Closing the Oliphant administration building and bringing affordable housing to that Oliphant Lane site.
While project backers have said they’d love to redo all the town’s schools at once, Middletown’s independent financial experts — Hilltop Securities — have said there’s not the bandwidth to make that happen. See https://www.middletownri.com/DocumentCenter/View/9044/NYCU-55 for more about that report.
Besides the additional expense of “Band Aid” repairs to Middletown’s schools should the bond not be approved, the architects have said there would be major disruptions to learning. That’s because students would be displaced to temporary classroom trailers while remodeling work was under way.
November 2021 independent findings said about $190 million in repairs were required to Middletown’s schools before a wall or ceiling was opened to bring them to current educational standards.
Problems identified included outdated systems, poor air circulation, asbestos tiling removal, Americans With Disabilities Act improvements and other issues. To view that information, visit https://mdl.town/Report online. A subsequent report from the state backed that study. Go to https://mdl.town/FCI to check out that document.
If all goes according to plan, groundbreaking for the project would be in the spring of 2025, with opening planned for the fall of 2027.
The council has an informational forum scheduled for Oct. 16 at 6 pm in Town Hall, with the a similar session planned by the School Committee on Oct. 19 at 4:30 pm in the Oliphant administration building.
“We’re going to continue to do the best we can with what we’re given,” the school tech Director Annese said. “In recent years, the Town Council has been very generous with us and we’ve stretched those dollars as much as we can, but there comes a time we need to do something different here.”
Document Link: https://www.middletownri.com/DocumentCenter/View/9582/NYCU-Tech