The Monroe City Schools Technology Initiative was instituted in the fall of 1993 by the newly appointed Superintendent, Dr. George Cannon. At that time, the district had no MIS department, no Instructional Technology department, no technology plan, and only limited technology in instructional areas. Dr. Cannon took immediate steps to alleviate this problem by creating the Instructional Technology and MIS departments to fulfill his vision of a district committed to preparing its students for the twenty-first century.

Considering this humble beginning, MCS can surely boast its accomplishments. A partnership was formed between the Instructional Technology and MIS divisions. The combined efforts of these two divisions became known as the MCS Technology Initiative. A District Plan for Educational Technology was developed which combined both administrative and academic needs, including a shared network, mutual standards development, shared support responsibility, and integration of all technology components and budget sources. The network was designed to allow any computer in any school to have access to resources at the school through a local area network, access to resources at other schools and the district through a wide area network, and access to the world through Internet. Due to the passage of a bond referendum, all classrooms were wired for computer networking, cable television, and telephones.

The successful partnership of Instructional Technology and MIS has facilitated the speedy progress of the district. All schools are directly linked to Internet and to a central Student Information System (SIS) to process information for student records and related services. Class scheduling, grades, absences, discipline, and other records are all completed through the on-line system. All state SIS required reporting is extracted from the system in addition to required School Food Services, Special Education, and Title student information. The district can also process and report the California Achievement Test internally utilizing SIS services.

Thirty station instructional computer labs were installed in each of the elementary and junior high schools. The labs have network connectivity within the district and to the Internet over high speed service lines. Internet central services have been upgraded with direct T1 Megalink service, representing a 24-fold improvement in service speed to schools. These labs are primarily dedicated to student use of the integrated learning system, CCC's Success Maker, and INTECH activities.

A committee of secondary teachers was formed to determine the objectives, configurations, equipment, and software desired by the high schools. The committee identified 3 objectives: 1) improve graduation rate (LEAP readiness); 2) improve college and professional admission test scores (ACT, PSAT, SAT, ASVAB, etc.) and 3) enrichment and enhancement of instruction and student learning. The committee determined that no one hardware configuration would enable the high schools to meet these objectives and therefore, recommended three: a 25 station general purpose multi-media lab; an instructional multi-media cart (work station, TV, video disk, VCR, Internet connectivity, printer) for each department; and mini labs (total of 30 workstations per school) to be assigned to academic departments.

Placing equipment (workstation, age appropriate software, and Internet connectivity) in individual classrooms has been addressed by state grants and the district INTECH program. The classroom of any teacher who completes Louisiana INTECH training is provided with a new computer, printer, and INTECH software.

And to help spread the word about the initiative, the newsletter, news@monroe.k12.la.us, was created. Published 3 times each year, it informs the district and community of the latest developments in the district's technology efforts as well as training tips for personnel and recommended sites for curriculum use.