Improving the Student:Computer Ratio

Most schools would like to buy PCs for all of their students; Rylie Family Faith Academies found a cost-effective way to do so.

When Greg Young, technology director at the Dallas, Texas-area Rylie Family Faith Academies, began working at the school, he had an enormous challenge. He had to figure out how to buy enough computers to serve every student.

“All of our PCs needed to be updated since the state mandated online testing for the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) state test,” says Young. “Although it doesn’t go into place for a few years, we had to get ready for that.”

Laying the Groundwork

When Young looked into upgrading the district’s PCs, he learned it would cost at least $300,000 to buy new computers—an amount the district could not afford. Since he knew it was impractical to put desktop computers everywhere, he began to explore buying laptop carts. “The concept is great,” he says. “You can wheel in the cart, hook up the computers, and let the kids use them. Then the notebooks can recharge overnight. You get a lot more for the money.”

At about the same time, the district superintendent attended a regional conference and heard about buying refurbished computers from a company called CDI. He asked Young to look into it, and “I liked what I learned,” says Young, who was especially taken with CDI’s warranty. “I wanted to make sure the company was going to stand behind its product. Lots of vendors will sell a school anything and then—when you go back for support—tell you, ‘Sorry, we can’t help you.’”

Happily for Young, his CDI experience is going smoothly.

PCs for Everyone

In addition to saving money, Young is pleased with the way CDI operates. “If there is ever a problem, they quickly and efficiently take care of it. Both the sales and the tech staff are excellent. We’ve had great customer service.”

When one of the desktop PCs got banged up in transit and did not work properly, CDI made shipping it back and getting a replacement very easy for the school.

In December, as his tech team processed the laptops and carts, the feedback continued to remain positive. Although it is Young’s first experience with carts, all is progressing smoothly and he remains confident that buying from CDI was the right choice.

The teachers are very happy to have computers that work, too. The previous ones were at least five years old and didn’t run current software. The new ones, which exceed the minimum requirement, do what the teachers and students need them to do.

Young says he’ll be buying quite a few more carts and desktops over the next year. He’ll also be able to build an intranet to link the schools together, install a student information system, and improve the technology district-wide. “Now that we have the right hardware we can do everything we want.”