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Technology Plan
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A LETTER FROM Chief Information Officer, OLUFEMI AINA
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The education sector is one of two areas (Healthcare being the other) that has not experienced any significant disruption over several decades. The pandemic, however, changed that for K-12, as technology became a focal point in the scramble to transition to either full-time remote or hybrid instruction. Whatever the option, technology departments had to quickly provide devices, connectivity, and collaboration tools (i.e., Zoom, Teams) to aid educators in teaching effectively. The importance of technology prompted the influx of significant funding to schools to support these needs.
In August 2020, Atlanta Public Schools (APS), with support from the Board of Education and the Superintendent, Dr. Lisa Herring, invested in APS students by entering into a contract to provide HP Chromebooks to all students in the traditional schools. This allowed the district to be fully 1-to-1 and to move closer to 21st-century teaching. As part of our Digital Bridge program, these 40,000 additional Chromebooks were fully deployed to APS students in August 2021.
With the significant increase in technology on the network and in the classroom, the district must evolve to enhance the backbone of the infrastructure to support the system. We must upgrade our wireless, internet & intranet bandwidth, data center servers, storage, and more, to meet these new demands. Especially for urban school districts covering traditionally under-served neighborhoods, K-12 districts are increasingly responsible for ensuring that students are provided with connectivity tools (i.e., hotspots, broadband, etc.) even when they are not at school.
This strategic technology plan aims to look at the next five years through the lens of equity and ensure that all APS students are “ready for college, career & life.”
Olufemi “Femi” Aina
Chief Information Officer, Information Technology