An example of students using their own devices to work on a project in the Middle School Media Center.

Staff will find all of our support documentation that used to reside on this page by following this link: Support for Technology.

We in the Technology Department are pleased to announce our new Help Desk phone system.  For immediate concerns that need to be addressed, call the hot-line 401-315-1550.  For all other matters, please continue to fill out a help desk ticket.  We hope that this hot-line will better serve the district in meeting the more immediate needs of our staff.

As we start the 2011-2012 school year you may notice some changes. We have been working hard over the summer on several initiatives that directly impact end users at Westerly Public Schools. You may notice that most computers are running the Windows 7 platform (Windows 7/Windows 2008R2). The user experience is significantly better in this latest edition of Microsoft's flagship operating system and administration is also more streamlined.

You may notice that your default printer is offline if you were pointed to one of the old print servers. Chances are good that if you restart your computer additional printers will show up in Devices and Printers that you can choose from. If for some reason no new printers appear, you can always add one yourself using this tutorial.

Students are utilizing Live.EDU for their email. We will be upgrading Teachers and Administrators to Exchange 2010 by November 1st.

750 new computers have been deployed throughout the district over the past year, another 700 have received hardware and software upgrades, and we have even developed a solution to turn 150 older computers into thin clients to extend their useful life. We have also moved everyone's files over to new file servers and set folder redirections to decrease the likelihood of data loss.

Wireless is being deployed district wide as you read this with the goal being good wireless coverage for all instructional and administrative areas district wide. Security systems are also being upgraded at the Elementary Schools.

It has been a busy summer here at the WPS Technology Department. We hope that these improvements will go a long way towards enabling faculty members to utilize technology more effectively to enhance the learning experience for our students. We appreciate your patience as we continue to make improvements. As always, should you need to you can report issues or request assistance via the helpdesk.

In this month's issue of District Administration, Westerly Public Schools and our Pano Logic Zero Client Lab is highlighted.  See the link here.

Recently an Blog Entry / Article @ SmartPlanet by noted tech journalist Heather Clancy featured Westerly Public School's innovative use of technology and the Pano Logic zero-client solution.  More information and a link to the article can be found here.