[Edu-sig] FW: [Visualpython-users] High School Network Security

[Kirby Urner]

Hi John --

As someone who works with Portland Public Schools (Oregon), though not as an
employee, I know that we have no such policies against open source software.
On the contrary, our technology people and infrastructure encourage it.  

For example, our technology coordinator at Winterhaven School (which my
daughter attends) routinely installs (and uninstalls, if no longer used)
open source software, including Python. The school has taught elective
middle school courses in Python programming, Python being one of the premier
computer languages in use today.

The Oregon legislature has considered (but not yet passed) a couple of bills
mandating that the state government, including the schools, always consider
open source options before purchasing expensive alternatives.  They're
preaching to the choir when it comes to our school system though:  we're
already sold on the viability of open source solutions.

Many of our computer labs run entirely on open source software (e.g.
OpenOffice on top of Linux).  Many of our Windows labs have a Linux server
in the background running Samba.  Several of our labs use diskless
workstations with Linux running all the apps centrally.  From a security
point of view, this is ideal, as the system administrator has complete
control of what goes on the server.

All of the above is what I'd consider sane and techno-savvy policy.

If your team is not open to open source software, I would suspect this is
more a political/financial decision than a security-based one.  School
systems are a big source of revenue for proprietary software vendors, and
these would prefer not to let free or more inexpensive solutions get a foot
in the door, regardless of the tremendous savings to taxpayers and missed
learning opportunities this decision entails.

Your technology team may be getting a PR message from these vendors that
open source software is by definition insecure, although the memo to you
doesn't actually say that (maybe because it's not true?).

VPython was developed at Carnegie-Mellon.  Some of the best open source
software comes out of our nation's leading academic institutions, such as
MIT.  This decision to not use open source is a way of denying students in
K-12 access to quality tools already used in institutions of higher
learning, thereby hurting their core educational experience.  In other
states, such as Oregon, that have more enlightened policies, students are
not crippled in this way by school system's IT culture -- and some of our
students actually become open source developers themselves, before they've
finished high school.

I commiserate with your situation and know that fighting a bureaucracy is
never easy or fun.  Just take heart that school systems are not uniformly
this backward or technologically ignorant.

Kirby Urner
4D Solutions
Portland, Oregon


> -----Original Message-----
> From: visualpython-users-admin at lists.sourceforge.net
> [mailto:visualpython-users-admin at lists.sourceforge.net] On Behalf Of
> FRANCESCO NOSCHESE
> Sent: Friday, May 13, 2005 9:11 PM
> To: visualpython-users at lists.sourceforge.net
> Subject: [Visualpython-users] High School Network Security
> 
> Hello everyone,
> 
> I am a high school physics teacher who is planning post-AP exam student
> projects using VPython.  However, my school refuses to allow Python and
> VPython to be installed on the school's network because it is open
> source.
> 
> Here's the reply from the technology coodinator at my school:
> 
> "Our technology team discussed your request to install VPython on the
> network/lab at our May 4th meeting and all agreed that it is not good
> practice to install open source software on the school computer systems.
> We have conferred with LHRIC and a random sampling of other districts and
> all agree it is not in the district's best interest to do so, even thought
> there is no doubt your intended goal is worthy."
> 
> [LHRIC is a technology-oriented consortium of local school districts
> <http://www.lhric.org>]
> 
> Is this really a problem?  What are the risks?  Is there any way to
> prevent student misuse of Python?  How can I make a case to allow Python
> in school?
> 
> FYI, we have a Novell Zenworks network for XP and Win98 machines.  We also
> have Citrix in XP.
> 
> Many thanks in advance for all your help.
> 
> Frank Noschese
> Physics Teacher
> John Jay High School
> Cross River, NY
> 
> fnoschese at klschools.org
> *****************************
> Frank Noschese
> Physics Teacher
> 
> John Jay High School
> Cross River, NY
> 
> fnoschese at klschools.org
> voicemail: (914) 763-7384
> *****************************