Overview

A staff of seven maintain the technology infrastructure of the Bristol Tennessee City School System. Services include the repair and maintenance of existing instructional and administrative computer systems throughout the district, instructional and administrative software support, student information management administration, training, implementation of networked services, as well as telecommunications equipment. Each school has its own local area network connected to the wide area network by a 100 megabit fiber connection line. A 20 megabit fiber line provides egress to the Internet for the school system. This bandwidth is shared among the almost 1500computers currently installed throughout the district, which are a mixture of Macintosh and Windows platforms. The school system maintains its own proxy, email, web, and application servers. The purpose of technology support is to maximize student success. Therefore, a 3-year technology plan has been developed to establish goals and benchmarks. The plan is available in the file drawer at the bottom of your screen in PDF format. The director of technology, Andy Arnold, welcomes any questions, comments, or concerns you may have regarding technology use and support within the school system.

The Technology Center is located on the campus of Tennessee High School:

Computer and Network Guidelines

All who use the technology infrastructure provided by the Bristol Tennessee City School System are asked to abide by our acceptable use policy (AUP), which is located at the bottom of the screen. Users have no expectation of privacy when using computers, bandwidth, or services provided by the district, including email.

Guidelines for Donating Computers

Community donations of computer equipment are genuinely appreciated. However, it is not always in the best interest of the schools to accept donated computers. These computers often require additional expenditures of time and money for the school or the school system.

For this reason, schools are encouraged to accept only those donations that facilitate the school's technology plan, are compliant with the school's computing platform, and can become viable with minimal expenditures. Donated computers must meet minimum system requirements in order to be supported by district repair personnel. These requirements should indicate that the equipment is not more than three years old and will remain useful in the classroom for a reasonable period of time.

Current minimum system requirements include:

Pentium IV or better

Each computer system should have:
--Windows XP Pro--512MB of RAM
--80GB hard drive
--Ethernet card
--sound capabilities

Donated computers should be fully functional and complete with:
--computer
--LCD monitor
--keyboard
--mouse
--necessary cables

If your equipment meets or exceeds these minimum requirements, please contact the school directly to make your donation. If you do not have a specific school in mind, you may send a message to the Technology Center. Also, be sure to remove all your personal files from your hard drive before offering a computer for donation; include documentation and installation CDs for system software; and be prepared to provide the recipient full rights concerning the use and disposal of the computer. A letter of receipt may be requested from the school for tax purposes. This letter may contain a list of the donated items, but will not specify a dollar value for your gift.