Charlie Barr, the Technology Coordinator for the Whitewater Schools, recently presented at the school board meeting on the status and goals for computer technology in the district. Where to begin? Barr has done more to tie the district to a single operating system (any possible iteration of the Microsoft OS) and single hardware vendor (a local vendor of conventional products). In a market of innovation and extraordinary development, Barr has shut students off from Apple, the Mac OS, Linux, open source, and any number of other good, innovative, market choices. See, for example, the link to the WUDS’s current, tired, conventional, dull inventory.
When Barr pushes for high speed internet, ask him: high speeds from what, to what? Students at home will experiment more, and their parents will purchase better equipment, than Barr will ever advocate or purchase for them with public money. When they leave the district, they will experiment more, and use better equipment, than Barr advocated or purchased with public money.
Our district deserves more than a Windows-only approach. How do I know? Because countless businesses, and millions of people — many of whom earn far less than Charlie Barr is paid as a Technology Coordinator — know that there are better alternatives in the Mac OS, Linux, other open source clients, and diversified hardware. Barr has left students with fewer and poorer choices than America offers, and that’s an embarrassing, unworthy legacy, indeed.