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Graphtech K-12 Case Study
District Engages Graphtech on Tech Plan

Community Unit School District 201 District 201 is a K-12 public school district with three elementary, one junior high and one high school. With 1600+ students and 100+ teachers, District 201 was formed as a unit in 1972, supporting the communities of Westmont, Claredon Hills and Downers Grove in DuPage County.

Situation
As a result of many years of budget restrictions, the District’s network infrastructure had became a jumble of outdated and unsupported equipment. The District’s IT team was quickly becoming unable to support their complex cross-platform environment. New leadership in the District identified that the schools were having ongoing reliability issues with technology in general, and that existing conditions would not support their growing reliance on network access and resources.

Additionally, a Technology Report generated by an outside consulting firm suggested sweeping changes that appeared to be expensive and not clearly aligned with District objectives.

"Graphtech has had a positive impact on technology in my districts. I have found them to be responsive, thoughtful and honest.” _________- Dr. Steven M. Baule __________Superintendent __________Community Unit School District 201

Our Solution
For eight weeks, the Graphtech team “lived” in the District gathering data and benchmarking the environment. We met with the staff, including the Technology Director and Superintendent, to understand in detail the specific goals, needs and budget issues. Graphtech also reviewed the existing Technology Report in an effort to match critical recommendations with our findings.

Graphtech’s RAP/IDS (Research, Assess, Plan, Implement, Deploy & Support) methodology provided the District with a plan that matches specific needs and budget constraints, based on K-12 best practices and standard technologies that can be supported going forward. The purpose of this process was to provide the District with an overriding statement of the current situation, an opinion regarding the overall network health and design, and an initial action plan summary.

"Graphtech has exceptional experience in working with educators and schools. From their President on down, they work as true partners with the districts they support. I can recommend them in the highest of terms.” _________- Dr. Steven M. Baule __________Superintendent __________Community Unit School District 201

Measuring success
The Graphtech solutions team of K-12 Education Specialists and Cross-Platform Technology experts produced a set of recommendations that were closely tied to the needs of the District, and one that had appropriate phases across multiple school and budget years. The District was also able to leverage the Federal eRate program to get the best technology bang for the buck.

• Phase One, implemented by Graphtech over Spring Break, addressed the content filtering, email and security issues that required immediate attention.
• During Phase Two, Graphtech worked together with the District’s IT staff during the summer, and upgraded the WAN/LAN in all five buildings. Flexibility to work around summer school, vacations, holidays, payroll, and class scheduling was critical. The project was completed well before classes started.
• In the Final Phase, Graphtech is working with the District’s IT staff to plan the tasks and responsibilities for the migration from Novell to Windows.