Technology sits idle at Sisters High School

One of the school district's main computers is growing so popular with students that it can no longer handle the traffic. It crashes once or twice a week, cutting the middle and elementary schools off from the rest of the district.

For $350, the 200 MGz Pentium computer "server" could be upgraded to a 450 MGz Pentium III. For $600, technology specialist Jon Renner could build a computer using dual processors running Linux.

But the money just isn't there.

Renner already has the new processors, the "chips" that lie at the heart of the computer. They came from Intel through the Students Recycling Used Technology (StRUT) program. In fact, he received more than 100 new processors about two weeks ago. Unfortunately, they may not do anyone any good.

"I have XEON processors. That's Intel's ultra high-end processor that is mostly for use in server applications or graphic workstations," said Renner.

"We didn't get any mother boards for these (they require a special PC board), so if we are going to use them we have to buy the boards. The cheapest I could find is $400. We would have to add the peripherals.

"I don't even have the money to buy cases or memory for these things," Renner said. "So while this is a wonderful donation by Intel, if we don't have the funds to provide the other pieces, they don't do us any good at all. And we can't sell them and can't give them away. That is part of the donation agreement," said Renner.

The main server for all the high school administrative services has been built out of bits and pieces donated from one source or another, according to Renner, plus a few parts purchased to glue the system together

"Right now, for our high school server, we are using a machine that is not half the performance of one that Costco sells for $599," Renner said.

Two things are frustrating for Renner. One is watching the wonderful donations drift off into technological oblivion without being put to use because there is no money for the peripherals.

The second is recognizing that, with a few more dollars, the district's system would run so much better.

One of the servers in the school system is the primary router for the middle and elementary school. It's starting to crash because it is being overloaded by high school students who are starting to really use the server.

Renner supports the use of the server by students, many of whom are in classes he teaches.

"Whatever classroom they go to, they can log on to the system and get to their work file through the network. They don't have to go back to the same computers (they used to create the work).

"Right now, I have 60 seniors in a class where the project has a requirement of 40 slides minimum, and some have 200. They are using lots of server overhead to manage this stuff and the server is just not up to it.

"Last week it crashed two or three times," Renner said. "That cuts off the elementary and middle school until I get back and tidy up and get them back on line."

Renner says a short-term fix is possible, where he could increase the amount of memory.

But I would rather fix it in a way that is going to last longer than that," he said.

Renner has a lot of the pieces he needs right there in his office. He's willing to put in even more of his time to get it running (he has donated thousands of hours to the district in technology assistance).

But the few hundred dollars just aren't in the budget.

So the new high-end processors may lie around until they are no longer supported by an industry that moves just a little faster than public education.

In a couple of years, they will be worthless.