EDUCATION COUNCIL
of the
NEBRASKA INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY COMMISSION
October 24, 2008, 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Governor’s Residence Lower Level
1425 “H” Street, Lincoln, Nebraska
Minutes
VOTING MEMBERS/ALTERNATES PRESENT:
Mr. Clark Chandler, Nebraska Wesleyan University
Dr. Michael Chipps, Mid-Plains Community College
Dr. Terry Haack, Bennington Public Schools
Mr. Steven Hamersky, Daniel J. Gross Catholic High School
Ms. Yvette Holly, UN Medical Center
Mr. Jeff Johnson, Centennial Public Schools
Mr. Dennis Linster, Wayne State College
Mr. Art Tanderup, Tekamah-Herman Community Schools
LIAISONS/ALTERNATE MEMBERS PRESENT:
Dr. Kathleen Fimple, Alt. for Marshall Hill, Coordinating Commission for Postsecondary Education; Mr. Mike Kozak, Nebraska Dept. of Education; Ms. SuAnn Witt, Nebraska Dept. of Education
MEMBERS/LIAISONS ABSENT:
Mr. Arnold Bateman, University of Nebraska-Lincoln; Ron Cone, ESU 10; Dr. Eileen Ely, Western Nebraska Community College; Stan Carpenter, Nebraska State College System; Chuck Lenosky, Creighton University; Craig Pease, Ashland-Greenwood Public Schools; Mr. Kent Gydesen, Lexington Public Schools; Michael Winkle, NET
CALL TO ORDER, ELECTRONIC POSTING, LOCATION OF OPEN MEETING LAW DOCUMENTS, ROLL CALL, INTRODUCTIONS: Co-Chair
Dr. Michael Chipps called the meeting to order at 9:15 a.m. There were 8 voting members present at the time of roll call. A quorum existed to conduct official business. It was stated that the meeting notice was posted to the NITC and Public Meeting Calendar Web sites on 08/08/08 and the meeting agenda was posted to the NITC Web site on 10/24/08. A copy of the Open Meetings Law Document was available at the Co-chairs’ table.
Mr. Tanderup moved approval of the October 24, 2008, meeting agenda as presented. Mr. Hamersky seconded. Roll call vote: Chandler-Yes, Chipps-Yes, Haack-Yes, Hamersky-Yes, Holly-Yes, Johnson-Yes, Linster-Yes, and Tanderup-Yes. Results: Yes-8, No 0. Motion carried.
CONSIDER APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES FROM THE AUGUST 7TH, 2008 MEETING:
Dennis Linster moved approval of the August 7, 2008 meeting minutes. Art Tanderup seconded the motion. Roll call vote: Chandler-Yes, Chipps-Yes, Haack-Yes, Hamersky-Yes, Holly-Yes, Johnson-Yes, Linster-Yes, Tanderup-Yes. Results: Yes-8, No-0. Motion carried.
PUBLIC COMMENT:
There was no public comment.
NEBRASKA INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY COMMISSION UPDATE: NEBRASKA INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY COMMISSION 09/30/08 Meeting: Tom Rolfes
Mr. Rolfes stated that at the last meeting the Council expressed a desire to have meeting minutes sent from other advisory Councils to keep everyone updated. It was also suggested that the other advisory Councils’ IT managers attend an Education Council meeting to provide updates. Rather than send out minutes to all meeting members, Mr. Rolfes will send the links to the other advisory Council meetings.
Community Council meetings
eHealth Council meetings
GIS Council meetings
State Government Council meetings
Technical Panel meetings
TASK GROUP REPORTS:
Marketing – Mike Kozac. Mr. Kozac reported that the Network Nebraska marketing survey is being developed and is almost finalized. Plans are to send alerts via e-mail within the next 2-3 weeks. The survey will be available on-line through Survey Monkey. The survey will be distributed to Education Council members and the Collaborative Aggregation Partnership (CAP) for their input and recommended changes prior to it being released. Mr. Kozac reviewed some of the questions on the survey. The survey will be used to plan the future development of Network Nebraska. There are currently over 200 entities on Network Nebraska.
Funding / E-rate – Stephen Hamersky. The funding task group continues to research E-Rate and the ineligible cost allocations for PreK populations. Mr. Hamersky has sent out a few e-mails to schools and talked with Mr. Rolfes about the next course of action for changing the definition of school from K-12 to PreK-12. The plan is to eventually take this forward to the legislature. It is hoped that Senator Gregg Adams will introduce the bill to change the definition. It was recommended to consult Brian Halstead regarding whether the inclusion of PreK would affect state aid funding. It was noted that the Nebraska Department of Education rules already support PreK in school buildings at the federal level but not at the state level. E-rate applications ask for the definition of a school. In Nebraska, statutes define schools as K-12.
The Education Council recommended that the Nebraska Information Technology Commission support legislation to change the definition of a school from K-12 to PreK-12. It was strongly recommended to research and identify the possible financial return to the State of Nebraska, should PreK populations be declared eligible for E-rate.
It was agreed that the work group would draft the legislative resolution for viewing by the Education Council members for recommended changes and approval. Mr. Linster recommended that if need be, the Council could hold an emergency meeting for approximately one hour so as to discuss the resolution and take action on it.
Services – Clark Chandler and Jeff Johnson. This task group has not met since the last Education Council meeting. There was no report. Mr. Rolfes suggested the group get together with Mr. Hollenbeck to discuss the services that could be listed on the Network Nebraska website. More and more schools have joined Network Nebraska. There are three areas that the work group could be addressing: who is operating the network, the number of participants, and the facilities that support Network Nebraska operations. As of yet, there has not been any state funding requested to support Network Nebraska. Network Nebraska support has been added responsibilities to current full-time state and university staff. LB 1208 legislation states that schools will pay administrative costs. Mr. Linster stated there are some outstate Nebraska customers who have not been satisfied with Network Nebraska due to inadequate staffing for 24-7 support. It is hoped that the survey will gather more information as to these needs. Other issues that need to be addressed include routers and bandwidth of not only the customer but service providers as well. There have been discussions regarding Network Nebraska staffing and the need for an Executive Director.
It was suggested that the Technical Panel take the lead with Network Nebraska to analyze technical support issues. Mr. Rolfes stated that this would not be the Technical Panel’s responsibility. Their job is to develop standards, guidelines, and provide support to the Nebraska Information Technology Commission. The technical support issues would need to be addressed by CAP (Collaborative Aggravation Partnership) group who are responsible for Network Nebraska. Mr. Rolfes indicated that Network Nebraska’s goal is to eventually serve all statewide education entities. Although there have been concerns and issues with Network Nebraska during this growth period, the network has been very reliable.
Governance – Dennis Linster. There are three high level categories being addressed by the work group:
This leads to the next agenda item.
REVIEW AND DISCUSS FREQUENCY OF EDUCATION COUNCIL MEETINGS (2008 MEMBER SURVEY SUMMARY AND COMMENTS)
Mr. Rolfes distributed a copy of the survey results. According to the results, the members’ preferences were as follows:
Dr. Chipps requested moving three of the meeting dates to Thursdays to accommodate his and Dr. Ely’s travel to Lincoln for the Community College Presidents’ Meetings. Mr. Linster also commented on changing the meeting dates. Mr. Rolfes reminded everyone that the Council used to have meetings every month. It was commented that if you have meetings as infrequent as three or four times per year, it’s harder to maintain the continuity of issues and discussions. Dr. Chipps stated that meaningful meetings and agenda items increase the likelihood of reaching a quorum regardless of the meeting frequency.
It was suggested that the council review its purpose, mission, and future. Discussion of these items will ensue at the December 4 meeting.
Mr. Rolfes stated that the NITC Education Council is quite unique nationally because Nebraska is one of only a few states that has K-12 and higher education, public and private, all working together for the common good.
A 10 minute break was taken.
It was recommended that the Education Council meet with the Collaborative Aggregation Partnership group to discuss the concerns of Network Nebraska users, capacity, staffing, and 24-7 technical support.
Ms. Decker will be asked to attend the December 4 Education Council meeting. Mr. Linster will e-mail Ms. Decker the list of questions. It was suggested that the Council discuss with Ms. Decker the expectations and vision of the Education Council.
DISCUSSION: SOLICIT COUNCIL INPUT ON STATEWIDE HELP DESK, AUTOMATIC NOTIFICATION SYSTEM, AND TROUBLE TICKET SOFTWARE FOR NETWORK NEBRASKA
Mr. Rolfes indicated that there is an action item under the Governance Task Group to establish a network advisory group to provide input on operational decisions and network management.
Mr. Rolfes shared that there is a 24/7 help desk available at the University of Nebraska Computing Services Network to help all entities on Network Nebraska to identify and resolve problems and to originate trouble tickets. A c.Support trouble ticket system was piloted in Spring 2007 in northeast Nebraska but it wasn’t used. A lot of carrier-based outages have occurred. Mr. Hollenback stated that right now there is no clear communication flow to find out about and respond to technical problems. Funding for an elaborate software solution would be an issue within the Network Nebraska Participation Fee. It was recommended that the Council share all these concerns with the Collaborative Aggregation Partnership group.
DISCUSSION: SOLICIT COUNCIL INPUT ON STATEWIDE DIGITAL CONTENT REPOSITORY SOFTWARE – THE ORANGE GROVE DEMONSTRATION SITE
Mr. Rolfes advised the group to click on the Orange Grove link for a demonstration of the Equella digital content repository software. This software allows Florida teachers and students the ability to not only search their own State’s standards-based content but also the content of several federated databases. Similar initiatives have begun in Georgia, North Carolina, Oregon and Michigan.
INFORMATIONAL UPDATES:
Please refer to RFP 2664ZI, link in center of spreadsheet. The fact that nearly 60 K-12 entities are not joining Network Nebraska in 2009 means that there may be a “Phase IV” implementation in 2010. Also
a. Net Neb Phase III
b. Biennal Budget IT Project Requests
` c. State Education Portal – Is working on a prototype. Mr. Rolfes will get more feedback within the next 30 days. He will bring that information to the December meeting.
OTHER/ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Mr. Hamersky moved and Mr. Linster seconded that the Education Council urge the Nebraska Information Technology Commission to recommend to the Nebraska legislature that the state definition of a school be amended to be inclusive of PreK programs operated within state-recognized school districts.
Roll call vote: Chandler-Yes, Chipps-Yes, Haack-Yes, Hamersky-Yes, Holly-Yes, Johnson-Yes, Linster-Yes, Tanderup-Yes. Results: Yes-8, No-0. Motion carried.
AGENDA ITEMS FOR THE 12/04/08 MEETING, CONSIDER LOCATION FOR THE 12/04/08 MEETING, ADJOURNMENT:
Members are to get agenda items for the next meeting in to Mr. Rolfes. The next meeting will be held on December 4, 2008 in Lincoln, Nebraska. With no further business, Dr. Chipps adjourned the meeting at 12:00 noon.
Meeting minutes were taken by Candace Cruickshank and reviewed by Lori Lopez Urdiales and Tom Rolfes of the Office of the CIO/NITC.