Macs Headed for Extinction in Montgomery County, MD, Public Schools

Last May (see May 24 and 25) Macs Only! broke the story that nearly 50,000 Macs were to be replaced with PCs in MCPS, largely because it seemed that MCPS had stupidly bought some expensive, incompatible and nonworking registration/grading system. The response, including an intervention by the local Apple Education rep, led to a restudy by the pompously named Office of Global Access Technology (OGAT), i.e. MCPS's IT department. Mr. John Q. Porter is the CIO.

The results are in and we posted them on Saturday. OGAT modified the Global Access Initiative and renamed it the Technology Modernization Program. Of course, MCPS is still moving ahead to eliminate Macs and move to a single Windows-based platform. The difference seems to be limited to not getting rid of all Macs right away, allowing Macs in "appropriate" places like graphics and looking into AirPort as a platform independent solution. Unfortunately, the Technology Modernization Program is not yet posted on OGAT's web site.

This is being done under the banner of "Supporting two platforms is a costly option for MCPS." Of course, there are no supporting financial analyses posted for this contention nor one that supports a Windows-based single platform as less costly than a Mac-based single platform. Nor are there any analyses posted which objectively determine the effectiveness of education with the single Wintel platform. Computers in education help teachers teach, help administrators administrate and help students to grasp the concepts of computing and to learn other subjects more effectively. Treating computers simply as a vocational instrument short changes everyone. Is it ironic that Montgomery County is host to numerous large science and medicine establishments, like the National Institutes of Health, which have large Mac-based components in a multiplatform environment? Macs Only! has requested any such analyses from the Board of Education and the MCPS CIO. You may wish to as well, especially if you are a Montgomery County resident. Please do not send flames.