Interesting People mailing list archives
More on School Internet Program Lacks Oversight, Investigator Says
From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Fri, 18 Jun 2004 19:03:37 -0400
Begin forwarded message: From: Daniel Golding <dgolding () gmu edu> Date: June 18, 2004 2:11:01 PM EDT To: dave () farber netSubject: Re: [IP] More on School Internet Program Lacks Oversight, Investigator Says
For IP, if you wish... Karen is quite correct in this. In fact, its worse: There is an entire ecosystem of systems integrators and contractors who do nothing else. Servicing schools who pay via e-rate is the entire business.I've run across some of these guys, and it is a line of work that seems to
pay very well indeed. Their efforts are assisted by an aspect of thetelecommunications industry not widely known on the outside - no one pays retail price, no matter how many units you are buying. All the vendors have
"standard" discounts, at it just gets better as the quantities increase.Now, this isn't normally a problem - its just something you negotiate when
purchasing equipment. In this case, its simply another device for the Systems Integrators to use in separating e-fund money from the schools -they can make a huge margin (sometimes 40% or more) by simply charging full
retail. Perhaps this money could be better spent. Wouldn't it make more sense tohave better Internet connectivity in Libraries? Especially in lower grades, computing doesn't always mesh well with the core mission of literacy. Also,
librarians (especially ones with more recent degrees) are often better equipped to handle IT decisions than overloaded classroom teachers and principals. - Daniel Golding ------------------------------------- You are subscribed as interesting-people () lists elistx com To manage your subscription, go to http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/
Current thread:
- More on School Internet Program Lacks Oversight, Investigator Says David Farber (Jun 18)
- <Possible follow-ups>
- More on School Internet Program Lacks Oversight, Investigator Says David Farber (Jun 18)