Panther Press
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Trying to keep up with technology at M-CHS Sara Christian, Staff Reporter
The computers at M-CHS have been around for many years; some as long as fifteen. In spite of the school's aging technology, our IT department works miracles to enable students to use state-of-the art software such as Microsoft Office 2010 and Adobe Photoshop CS5 products in many classes. However, the limited capabilities of our machines could soon be too much for even them to handle. A large majority of computers at this school are far behind the current standards for processor speed, memory, and software, as evidenced by the complaints of students and staff alike. Kim Olson, the computer liaison for M-CHS, said She added, “Sometimes students have problems saving their work.” Sophomore Dakota Roth added “They pretty much suck, and they’re old.” As far as numbers of computers go, M-CHS is fairly well stocked. Two labs are reserved for teachers to bring their classes to, as well as for MAP testing. Several classrooms are stocked with their own computer banks; some of these rooms are the journalism room, Mrs. Brewer’s room, and the Cortez Options room. The library also has computers available for classes to use. According to Ms. Olson, all of the library's twenty-eight computers
were replaced this year with newer machines, although there are some changes she would still like to see: “Getting new monitors for the ones that aren’t flat screens would be nice, and if the computers in the library and all the labs were updated to Microsoft Office 2010.” The library desktops are not the only new computers to come to M-CHS.
labs are not always advanced enough to deal with the technical challenge of large numbers of students working on different projects. “The East and West Wing Labs run off the same server, and I don’t know if that’s good or bad,” said Ms. Olson. According to Alex Mims, sophomore, our technology situation is not being handled properly. He boldly
M-CHS students work diligently in a computer lab.
"We added two COW (Computers on Wheels) labs, which seem pretty popular," stated Olson. The COW labs are composed of 30 laptops each, all loaded onto a cart set up for them to charge on. These carts are in the library for teachers to check out. However, it is apparent that these
stated, “I believe we need to upgrade our computers at school as soon as possible. They have bought new monitors for the library just to replace the older models that still work! We don’t need more screens; we need computers that won’t crash from basic programs. We need something that won’t lock up as
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soon as you finish the last paragraph of your four page essay. We don’t need more screens; what we need is a newer generation of computers.” Technology is changing rapidly, and many schools have difficulty keeping up with the expansion. Our IT department does what it can, but with recent budget cuts and possibly more in the future, it may be a while before our
Photo credit: Christina Stevens
computers are brought up to speed. Mark Knox, M-CHS Technology Director, could not be reached for comment.