There has been much talk lately about the role of technology in the new century, especially in education circles. In the Levittown School District, action speaks louder than words. Levittown residents can now point with pride to school buildings that are ready for the year 2008 and beyond.

The district presently has 52 servers for its 11 buildings with a network of 3,600 PC workstations. Each school hosts at least one computer lab and multiple wireless mobile laptop carts. There are computers in every classroom to accommodate the more than 9,000 users district wide.

All 10 of the district’s school libraries are fully automated. This technology provides students with the ability to access lists of all the books in the library’s stacks through a computer, search by title, author or subject, and know instantly the availability of a particular title. Students can tap into a database that pools the resources of all Levittown’s libraries, as well as those from schools in other Long Island districts. The system is an efficient management tool assisting with the operation of the libraries as it tracks circulation information such as demand and length of use of resources.

Levittown takes advantage of technology providing fiber optic Internet access at every workstation. An impressive system of routers, a firewall and filtering software ensures an even flow of transmission across the district’s network while offering protection from computer hackers. The firewall, in fact, is comparable to those used by high-security government agencies. Investments in software include programs that enhance the Mathematics, Social Studies, Art, English and Science curriculums, as well as offer desktop publishing, project presentations and multimedia.

In Levittown, technology spreads its wings throughout the district supporting and blending with the curriculum. Foremost in the minds of Levittown school officials is the creation of an environment whereby students have every opportunity to flourish. The Computer and Media Services Department encourages this philosophy with a strong commitment to new technology. The goal of the Levittown Public Schools is to provide students with access to technology to facilitate their learning and become technologically literate members in modern society. We want to ensure and encourage every student to learn to use computers as a tool in a way that will improve the quality of instruction and enhance student learning. Pursuant to this goal, staff is provided with on-going professional development support. The computer is a medium to help support the interactive classroom whereby teachers and students can be engaged in the most meaningful learning experiences.