Technology Services Building Damaged By Fire

The Technology Services portable building on the Board of Education campus briefly caught fire on Wednesday night, and Board tech staff worked into the night to begin putting together a plan to continue delivery of technology support services for the school system.

At approximately 9 p.m. on Feb. 8, a fire was discovered in the technology services office. The fire department was notified and it responded promptly, putting out the fire quickly. The fire affected offices for eight staff members and technology prep areas. The State Fire Marshal conducted an inspection.

Technology and Facility Services staff were on site into the early morning hours to secure the facility and begin the cleanup process. Facility Services staff continues to provide support to address facility issues and assist in the short- and long-term relocation of tech staff.

“The Technology Services and Facility Services teams are in good spirits considering the circumstances, and they are all working hard to get back to full operation quickly so that there can be as little impact as possible on technology services,” said Robert Langan, Director of Technology for the school system. “Everyone is eager to get relocated and restarted.”

Help Desk services have been relocated to Annex 1-MIS on the Central Office Campus and were up and running by 9 a.m. Thursday. Requests for technology assistance can be made using eHelpDesk tickets.

Nearly all computer systems and data are housed in a different area and are running at normal service levels. Affected services should return to full operation within 24 hours. One application - CompassLearning - remains down, and will be brought back on line as soon as possible for the Title I schools that use it.

“Our team has done a terrific job in responding to this emergency,” said Dr. John E. Fredericksen, Superintendent of Schools. “They are working together to ensure that the school system continues to meet its Master Plan strategic priority of effective and efficient operations even when faced with something as challenging as the aftermath of a fire. We’re proud of their efforts.”