I echo Robert Morrison on Herbert Molano's many recent contributions to these pages ("Overkill continues on Forum pages," Mailbag, Wednesday). Isn't anyone else writing? And speaking of competition, shouldn't there be more of it for space in the opinion section? Hopefully this commentary will get chosen. It addresses the Glendale Unified School District-related issues discussed by Molano, Glendale Teachers Assn. President Allen Freemon and others.
First, Molano is right to argue for keeping up to date on software ("District needs closer look at suppliers," Community Commentary, Jan. 27). One big reason to use package applications is the economy of scale noted by district official Scott Price in the recent stories ("Schools facing software dilemma," Jan. 24 and "District debates upgrade," Jan. 28). Educational support software needs constant upgrades as state and federal rules and reporting requirements constantly change. The funding always comes with strings so these changes cannot be ignored or even postponed, in most cases. It would be too expensive for the district to have its own programmer make the changes when one at the company can do it once for 300 districts. If you don't keep current, the upgrades can't be applied to your version of the system. The challenge is to avoid beta testing some company's rushed-to-market version -- let bigger districts like Los Angeles Unified carry that cost -- yet stay current enough to apply needed upgrades as they appear.
