1. NEXT MEETING: April 7, 2000

EduTech Steering Committee
February 28, 2000
8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.
 
 

Members Present:
Joe Backer, Supt. Letchworth          Bev Ouderkirk, District Supt. GV BOCES
Gary Hammond, Asst. Supt. GV BOCES      Tiffany Phillips, Supt. Bloomfield  
Charles Kortz, Supt. North Rose-Wolcott      Bob Smith, Supt. Elba      
Chris Manaseri, Supt. Romulus        Camille Sorenson, Director of EduTech
Dr. Marinelli, District Supt. W-FL BOCES      Dr. Stephen Uebbing, Supt. Canandaigua
Jack McCabe, Associate Supt. W-FL BOCES     
     
Absent:
Yvonne Watkins, Supt. Geneseo
 
Guest:
Chris Saxby, EduTech Business Office Manager
 
Chris Manaseri introduced Chuck Kortz, NR-Wolcott as a new member to the committee. Chris has accepted the position of Superintendent at Wheatland-Chili Central School District.
 
  1. Pricing
    Camille Sorenson provided documentation as to how other RIC's price services and distributed information to be reviewed by committee members comparing services provided. Camille also prepared a price matrix comparing how prices are arrived at.

    F Chris Manaseri explained that we have been looking at pricing regularly over the past couple of years

and put it on hold this year waiting the outcome of legislation.

 F Lessons learned: pricing is all over the place and the RICs/SED apparently do not see the need to
standardize pricing schemes.

F Camille stated that it is more effective to compare the pricing scheme rather than the price
itself. We seem to bundle items more. Bundle fee versus per call/service fee.

 F Tiffany Phillips– Under student services would it be unfair to say the NERIC service per student is at
least half the cost of what we charge and therefore we should look at how they charge. Doesn't this
warrant getting additional information. Camille indicated that it is difficult to say because many of the
RICs charge core or base fees.

 F Steve Uebbing - looking at the data raises questions. What we did that really made sense is an ongoing
cost accounting. The cost is reflective of what people are actually doing. Suggest we do this on a
periodic basis.

 F Bob Smith - Is there any other way to compare? Can you do a gross comparison?


F Camille asked what is the next step? Steve - policy that we have a regular review of our pricing by a
cost accountant. Jack said this would be helpful. Bob said it lends credibility because it comes from an
outside person.

 F Two different issues : Is the way we price fair and are our business practices effective. Steve - do we
have the capacity to answer these questions ourselves.

 F Bob is interested in whether or not we are being fair and also reminded the committee that we are a
cooperative and not to focus on what is the best price for an individual school.

Steve Uebbing recommended having the cost study done now so (presenting the cost study as soon as possible) that we can consider making changes for the 2001-02 budget year. With the steering committee making a recommendation on where to go from there. Seconded by Tiffany Passed: 7-0
 
2. Legislative Update
Cost Effectiveness legislation: Camille shared information regarding timeframe (Quality Assurance document signed by May 1) Camille will be meeting with Superintendents to explain the process so that they understand what is expected every year.

Camille distributed copies of the forms she sent to state with EduTech's pricing.

Any services after January 15 have to have the signed form (by May 1) to receive aid. The form only needs to be signed once per year, not for every SAA.
 
The cost comparison for EduTech, State contract, and Vendor contract verified that EduTech has proven its cost effectiveness.

Information to be presented at CSO meetings, for time efficiency, Bob Smith and Steve Uebbing stated that they could present at DS meetings.
 
3. COGNOS Update
All 12 centers and the state have acquired COGNOS and the RICs are working together across the state. There are a couple of statewide committees sharing their work on COGNOS. Tracy Lindsay and Laurel Skellett from EduTech are heading up the pilot group. Camille passed around a training manual that was created by Tracy. This manual has also been shared with the other RICs.

Right now each district will see only their data and summary of regional data. Beyond that there has to be an agreement between the districts to share the information.

Discussion followed regarding the sharing of data. Need to have dialog at each of the CSO meetings about the need to be able to willingly share information. If you collect the data, is it public? We need to move on this quickly if it is to be valuable in a timely fashion. Would it be appropriate for this group to put out to the CSO to recommend a change in policy? We will share information with other districts, but will not do comparisons for the purpose of the media. Discussion at CSO meeting appropriate. Would it be worthwhile as a group to make the statement that as a group this is how we are going to handle it? Policy, regulation, and procedure on how we handle the data. Share with the CSO's , bring questions and concerns back to the committee.

Suggestion: Discussion at the CSO level and bring back to EduTech to discuss where we go from here.
 
 
4. Selection of Steering Committee Facilitator
Chris Manaseri will be leaving the committee as he has accepted the position of Superintendent in Wheatland-Chili. Tiffany has agreed to be the facilitator for the remainder of the year.
5. Miscellaneous Questions
 F   LAKENet some of the history and pricing. Initial pricing covered and multiple year.
Overall pricing for the past 3 years was reviewed. Tiffany asked if Erate is a bottomless well?
It is difficult to tell pool of funding and approach.
 
 F EduTech billing proposals. – The proposals have been sent out. If you have not received them, call
Chris Saxby.

 F Finance System Pricing: All Project Coordinators have pricing.

 F Computer Standards: HP, Compaq, Dell, IBM, MACs. Questions from districts who for whatever
reason have purchased another brand. For a fee we have done our best to connect them to the network.
We have been asked to support them long term. We do not support even for a fee.

 F Email availability: struggling with the increase volume and dealing with the growth of the
demand. Replaced the servers that the current system is running on. We are working on replacing the
email service. We are developing an online and phone mechanism for notifying scheduled and
unscheduled outages. Scheduling maintenance better than we have in the past.

F Target on repairs: At this point we do not have a target response time. Starting this week we are
looking at how the Customer Assistance Center is structured. Analyzing what works best.
 
Bob Smith asked if there is any chance of eventually putting something out there where a customer can
access the database. We are currently working on that. The server is in and we hope to have it
functioning by the summer or sooner.
 
6. Research & Development 
Camille passed out a handout as an update.
 
7. Project Accelerate Update:
Jack McCabe gave the committee an update on the Project Accelerate activities.
 
Future Agenda Item:
1. Training:
Getting information on the level of training that is going on
Districts accessing training.

NEXT MEETING: April 7, 2000
8:30 to 11:30 a.m.
Small Conference Room
Eisenhower Building, Newark
 

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