Davis County School
Denver Public Schools
Native American Reservations
State of Wyoming
Utah Education Network

Davis County School District

Overview

The Davis County School District in Utah serves over 58,000 K-12 students, with more than 6,000 faculty and staff at over 90 locations. Davis County School District is the third largest in the state and the fourth fastest growing.

The District covers a wide geographic region, so data services are a crucial component in the District's strategy for serving the community. While the District has had limited online connectivity since the mid-1980s, Superintendent Richard Kendell never wavered from a vision of bringing a computer into every classroom, and the classroom into every home.

Qwest stepped up to the challenge of designing a comprehensive network including Internet access, Web hosting, collaborative computing and electronic commerce. The goal is to connect the District's 147 file servers and 12,000 PCs, and give students and educators from the region fast, easy access.

"Three years ago, people thought what we have now wasn't doable in a district like ours," explained District Superintendent Richard Kendell. "Students are changing the way they learn, taking on problem-solving, research and analysis more readily. We have students participating in more active learning and taking more responsibility for their own work. We're proud of what we're doing, and now the Internet will bring parents even closer to the processes."

What it does

Parents and students can now access the District's network using home Internet accounts to check homework assignments, to send and receive email and to explore the Internet. They can also call up the Student Individual Education Plan (SEP) to review their child's stated areas of interest, courses available to support them and their progress. "Each SEP is unique to each student, and SEPs are now used throughout the state," Kendell explains. On the other hand, "we've learned that if you put computers in front of teachers, they'll take you farther than you imagined or planned," Kendell says.

Conclusions

Qwest makes the impossible possible by extending the Internet services in Davis County to build new solutions. One idea we would like to implement using the Internet is to create an e-commerce program that will manage transactions such as student fees, buying lunches and even fundraising.

"Eventually, I'd like to see interactive classrooms without walls," Kendell says. To do that, technologies like DSL are being considered. "In the meantime," says Kendell, "we've got a great solution that opens doors of learning and communication, and still provides us with room to grow."