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INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY ADVISORY COMMITTEE
The Information Technology Advisory Committee (ITAC) serves at the request of the Board of Selectmen but also acts as an advisor to specific Town departments and other Town committees on an as-needed basis. In this capacity, ITAC provides guidance on a variety of information technology (IT) issues. The Committee concerns itself with matters of information delivery; ensuring access to appropriate communications technology; increasing the efficiency of transactions involving the Town departments; and working to ensure the proper deployment of infrastructure and technology for the Town departments and citizenry. In addition, ITAC provides, as necessary, strategic IT planning advice for the Town’s departments and committees.
Changes in Membership
The ITAC consists of 9 members, 4 of whom are appointed by the Board of Selectmen, 4 of whom are appointed by the School Committee, and 1 of whom is appointed by the Board of Trustees of the Belmont Public Library.
At the end of June 2005, the terms of Myron Kassaraba, Guy Parsons, and Martha Gallagher expired and these members chose not to seek re-appointment. They were replaced respectively by Elizabeth Firenze (appointed by the Board of Selectmen), David Goldberg (appointed by the School Committee), and Matthew Berube (appointed by the Board of Library Trustees). Continuing on as Committee members were James Berets (elected as co-chairman), Kent Carlson, Simson Garfinkel (re-elected as Clerk), Jonathan Green (re-elected as co-chairman), Julie Meringer, and Charles Smart.
Summary of Activities
ITAC meeting participants also include Dr. Lee McCanne, Director of Technology, Belmont Public Schools; Mr. David Petto, Manager of Information Technology, Town of Belmont; and Mr. John Bowe, member of the Belmont School Committee. Dr. McCanne and Mr. Petto regularly update the Committee on IT issues facing the school system and Town respectively, and solicit feedback on issues of concern.
Throughout 2005, Dr. McCanne presented to the ITAC various matters impacting the Belmont Public Schools. These matters included, among others, discussion of Dr. McCanne’s proposal to establish a Technology Asset Renewal Program (TARP), so that the Town and school’s IT systems can be regularly refreshed on a rotating basis every 5 years. Dr. McCanne estimated an annual expenditure of $400,000 would be needed to refresh systems at this rate. The ITAC also reviewed a draft of and provided feedback on a survey Dr. McCanne conducted about technology in the schools.
Similarly, Mr. Petto presented Town-related technology issues, including the Town’s fiber network (particularly the need for redundancy), the purchase of a Geographic Information System (GIS), a new telephone system, and other topics.
In October, based on information received from Mr. Petto, the ITAC sent a letter to the Board of Selectmen and Ms. Vickie Alani, Chairman of the Belmont Center Planning Group (BCPG) regarding the former Belmont Municipal Light Department building at 450 Concord Ave. Together with other issues, the Committee wanted to ensure that the Selectmen and the BCPG were aware of the potential costs of moving the BMLD substation and the hub for the Town’s fiber network should 450 Concord Ave. be disposed of or put to an alternate use.
In November, Dr. McCanne reviewed the state of IT in the Belmont Public Schools for the Committee. Dr. McCanne summarized the technology infrastructure (servers, network, etc.), the applications in use and their purposes (email, telephone, payroll, purchasing, student databases, etc.), instructional resources (educational applications, labs, workshops offered, etc.), and teacher/student use of technology as an integrated curricular tool. The ITAC provided Dr. McCanne with suggestions for refining the presentation for other audiences.
While the Department of Educational Technology has accomplished a tremendous amount with limited resources, and there exist within the school system areas of significant use, Dr. McCanne reported that information technology use as a teaching tool is sporadic and few technology-based educational activities are done consistently within grade levels or subjects. According to Dr. McCanne and the Massachusetts Department of Education’s 2004 Educational Technology Report, with 5 ½ students per computer, Belmont’s rank is 317th out of 352 with respect to computers per student available in the system. Furthermore, the Belmont Public Schools have no Educational Technology Integration Specialist on staff, ranking it in the bottom 13% of communities surveyed; the Mass. DOE sets a goal of one per 60 staff so
Belmont should have four by this measure. Educational Technology Integration Specialists assist teachers in leveraging technology to enhance their teaching activities.
During the fall of 2002 and the winter of 2003, the ITAC conducted a survey of Town and school IT needs through a series of interviews with departmental staff, and identified a number of areas for operational improvement. One of the most commonly cited issues was the challenge that departments had in using Systems & Software, Inc.’s (www.ssiutilitysuite.com) financial management system to run the Town and school’s financial operations, principally because the software was intended to support the operations of a municipal utility rather than those of a Town or school
system. In mid-2005 the ITAC learned that Ms. Barbara Hagg, the Town Accountant, had begun an initiative to explore alternatives to S&S by hiring a consultant to determine the Town and school’s requirements for a financial management system. Toward the end of the year, the ITAC was requested by Mr. Angelo Firenze, Selectman, to provide input and feedback during the process of replacing the financial management system.
Respectfully submitted,
James Berets & Jonathan Green, Co-Chairmen
James Berets, Matthew Berube, John Bowe, Elizabeth Firenze, Simson Garfinkel, David Goldberg, Julie Meringer, Charles Smart
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