Roger Quarles, deputy superintendent of the Idaho Department of Education, says Schoolnet is working much better now — but he’ll have to convince local districts. But while many teachers effusively praise Discovery Education, it’s a system that doesn’t actually require Schoolnet to work. Meridian, at least, is heading in a new direction. It’s abandoning the statewide system and using a separate instance of Schoolnet only within its own district. After all, that what Schoolnet was originally designed to do. “Basically, what we’re doing now is we’re building our own version of Schoolnet,” says Sisson. “It might work much better as a district solution rather than a statewide solution.”
RESELLING SCHOOLNET
Last Friday morning, Roger Quarles, the recently hired Deputy Superintendent of the Idaho State Department of Education, drove about an hour south of Boise to Melba, to a tiny school district of about 300 students, and talked to 50 local teachers.
“We had a bunch of teachers all excited, ready to jump in and it didn’t work.” His pitch: Schoolnet has improved by leaps and bounds since the report was issued in May. “We have really, really worked hard to make sure that there’s accurate data uploaded in the system for classroom teachers,” Quarles says. “We’re probably 90 percent of the way there.” The fact remains: There’s been substantial investment of both time and money in Schoolnet. The $16.5 million the Albertson Foundation has already spent on Schoolnet would have been enough to pay the salaries of nearly 175 first-year teachers over the past three years. On top of that, the state has spent over $1 million. The Albertson Foundation has agreed to pay an additional $4.5 million, but only if the software can meet several milestones. After that, the entire cost will be picked up by Idaho. Quarles remains committed and optimistic, even enthusiastic. The IEBC report concluded the software still had potential. It showed many districts weren’t necessarily opposed to Schoolnet — they just wanted it to work. But considering how many teachers have already tried the system and found it wanting, convincing them to try again may be difficult. “If it did what they said it could do, it would be great,” says Lakeland’s Taggart. “Once you roll that out and it doesn’t work, and you fix it — you’ve [already] lost confidence.” danielw@inlander.com
JANUARY 16, 2014 INLANDER 15