The Anne Arundel County Board of Education's $35 million dream of putting computers in all schools by 2000 has one flaw: There's no plan.
The board's scheme, called the Advanced School Automation Project or ASAP, calls for computer labs in all 117 schools and electronic linking of the labs.
But since the approval of a pilot to tie together computer labs in four schools early next year, the original spending plan has been thrown out. And the pilot project leader has yet to be announced.
"We've had half a million dollars for the pilot and no general and no troops," said Gary Mauler, a private-sector computer expert who served on the task force that developed ASAP. "The money's been sitting there since the summer, and there's been nobody to lead this."
James Hamilton, principal at South River High School, led the Technology Advisory Task Force that created ASAP. Dr. Hamilton did not participate in the pilot's development, but defended ASAP. He said the project is not as ambitious as it might seem because 75 schools already have labs in which the computers are networked.
"We haven't gone down a dark tunnel," he said.
Jane Doyle, a spokeswoman for the school system, said that having only a pilot program approved changed the financial picture and the project's direction.
"It's not like we're Montgomery County that asked for $65 million and got $80 million [for a computer network] and knows what they can do," Ms. Doyle said. ASAP's original budget is "now a fairly meaningless document," she said.
Superintendent Carol S. Parham said she recognizes there always are problems with a large project. "But saying it's so overwhelming that we do nothing is unacceptable to me," she said. "The only failure here is not to try."
Before tackling such a project, however, most school systems hire consulting firms. Failure to adequately plan can easily create pitfalls, say computer experts.
"There are lots of ways to do it wrong," said David Sawyer, a senior systems engineer with Education Access/Random Access Inc. in Denver, Colo. "In Littleton, just outside Denver, they took three years to study and install and monitor their network. That was the right way."
A school system the size of Anne Arundel's would have likely paid $1 a student, or about $70,000 for a good study, said Eric Willard, an analyst with The Center for Educational Leadership and Technology in Marlborough, Mass.
"There are lots of hidden costs, but a good study can help you save money," he said.
The school system didn't hire a consulting firm because of its experience with the Integrated School Information System, or ISIS, when $400,000 was spent on consultants, Dr. Hamilton said.
The 1991 project, dubbed the "Is Is Maybe" project by one wit, would have linked administrative offices. It died after council members said it wouldn't directly benefit students.
That memory, though, made County Council members reluctant to embrace ASAP.
In October, after insisting on a pilot, the council scaled down the size from the school board's proposal of nine schools to four and released $500,000.
Over budget
A working budget for the pilot shows expenses totaling $538,630 -- $38,630 more than the council approved -- but offers no explanation of where the extra money will be found.
Eugene "Jack" White, the school system's finance director, said some money to train teachers could come from the system's main operating budget, which has money for staff development.
The school system also has created the 21st Century Foundation to allow companies and community groups to donate money or computers for the project.
Ronald L. Beckett, associate superintendent for administration and support services, acknowledged that the pilot's budget is "still a little rough" and that no bids for computer equipment have been sought yet.
Several task force members questioned whether the pilot's timetable can be met.
For example, a training lab is to be finished by Dec. 1. By Feb. 1, computer labs with linked computers, called Local Area Networks, are to be installed at Arundel Senior High, Arundel Middle School, Crofton Meadows and Odenton elementaries.
"By March 1 the Wide Area Network [linking labs] should be operational," Mr. Beckett said.
"The vision here is great. Everything is do-able," said Ronald L. Spieker, a diesel mechanic for the Mass Transit Administration and a self-described "computer junkie," who served on the task force and built Bodkin Elementary's computer lab. "Here's where the problem arises in the pilot: They don't have sufficient staff to run this project."
Technology problems
Technology is another problem. Though administrators previously claimed all computers currently in the schools could be used in the networking project, inventory documents show otherwise.
One main reason is that the two most common types of computers, Macintoshes made by Apple and IBM or IBM clones, can't readily exchange data. Software allowing those brands to communicate with each other is not foolproof. This likely will mean the labs will have to have one or the other, instead of a mix.
Another problem is that most computers in the schools tend to be older, slower models that cannot be used in a network, unlike the Macs and IBM-compatibles. Of 124 computers at Arundel High, 10 are Macs and 20 are IBM-compatibles; of 41 computers at Arundel Middle, there's one Mac and four IBM-compatibles. Crofton Meadows has 75 computers, but only five are Macs and five are IBM-compatibles; of 65 computers at Odenton, two are ** Macs and 62 are IBM-compatibles.
Older computers in those schools would be used as single work stations and would not go to waste, administrators now say.
Critics also say that no plans have been made to fix school buildings, which must be done before computers can be installed.
For example, half the schools don't have central air conditioning. Computers generate heat, and the labs must be cooled for people to use the machines. That means the school system would have to buy window air conditioners or spend $1.5 million per school for central air conditioning.
Funding questioned
"We've estimated the costs of wiring classrooms, purchasing hardware," Dr. Hamilton said. "We know there are going to be electrical problems and heating and air conditioning problems. . . . We've gone to great lengths to understand the structural and capacity problems. We know obstacles exist, and we know where they are. We're prepared."
Mr. White, the finance director, however, said staff members "have not run the whole thing by me."
"I think $35 million is a soft number. It may be more, it may be less," he said.
He said it will be difficult for the school system to find, on average, an extra $7 million a year for the next five years to pay for the program. The schools already are feeling financial pressure from the county's loss of income because of its property tax cap, Mr. White said.
"There's a real groundswell for this computer project, and people believe that their children need this training," Mr. White said. "But where the resources are, and how we will ever be able to get them -- that's the fear. I don't see the resources being readily available."
Local Area Networks, linking computers in labs, and Wide Area Networks, linking multiple labs, are becoming popular in many U.S. schools.
What's happening elsewhere
In the past three years, for example, the Lee County, Fla., school district has spent $35 million to build computer networks. Lee County has 70 schools and 50,000 students, while Anne Arundel has 117 schools and 71,000 students.
Allen Caraway, public information director for the Lee County district, said the county's goal was "to put a computer in the hands of every child."
It started by putting one in every teacher's hands, so teachers would be as comfortable using the equipment as they were using textbooks.
Then, administrators gave teachers stipends for summer computer training classes and $100 each to buy software for their own classrooms. Anne Arundel school administrators are considering allowing teachers who wish to buy computers for personal use to do so at a reduced cost, through payroll deductions.
On the opposite coast, in the Central Kitsap School District near Seattle, administrators have spent $17 million over six years to install computers in 18 schools. The district delayed installing the Wide Area Network until this year to save money.
Central Kitsap established a technical academy with a 60-hour survey course and gave teachers who participated in training $2,000 worth of equipment to use in their classrooms.
Gordon Mooers, coordinator of information systems for Central Kitsap, said some planning is important before beginning a project.
"Will you have all the right answers when you start?" he asked. "No. But start."