School budget decisions loom

It’s coming down to the wire for Gilroy Unified officials, who are facing the due dates for a number of preparations for the 199900 school year.
District officials have about two months to receive and place portable buildings and to decide which programs, if any, the district will abandon.
District officials have already started working on making GUSD Year 2000 computer compliant.
“The school district is on a fiscal calendar,” Trustee Jim Rogers said. “Our Y2K almost starts the first of July.”
The school board heard a report from the consultant, James Rounsville, hired to help make the district Y2K compliant, who warned that the district take the Y2K issues seriously.
It you don’t do some of these items in a tingly manner, you’re going to shut down some services at the district,” he said a week ago.
Some of the items include making sure the scanners that scan attendance at the high school will function and deciding if anymore network addresses will be assigned to computers. These let each computer in turn be able to hook up to the Internet.
“To get all of this done, we need at least three solid months and a lot of people working on it,” Rounsville said.
Making the district Y2K Compliant is important, according to Trustee Lonna Martinez, but it also brings up the question of technology in the school district.
With Mt MOWER ittith-053-ing issue, the district does have the opportunity simply not to assign any more addresses, but that means that new computers may not be hooked up to the Internet.
“What we really have to do is decide where we’re going technology wise,” Martinez’.’,. said. “It will come down to” how important do we think:: technology is and how prepared do we want our students.. to be?”
Rounsville is working on an assessment to find out exactly
what needs.: to be done ; to every device in the district to make them Y2K compliant. . Then the board will decide what it wants done.
Rounsville estimated the cost for the items at more than. $196,000, but the district will probably be able to pay for much of that from its E-Rate. discount, a federal discount on communications costs for schools. according to Chris Lopez-Chatfield, coordinator of technology for GUSD.
The amount that the district will be able to use for the Y2K issues has not yet been determined, but the board of • trustees does have the option to cut costs by deciding not to do some items, such as fixing the network addressing issue, Rounsville said.
“1 think what we need to look at is what has to be done to keep us running,” Rogers.
said. It’s a prioritizing we have to do.” 
Almost 30 portable buildings are scheduled to come .. into the district, and officials are already working on placing them at all the campuses.
The year-round campuses,.. Las Animas and Rod Kelley, . need those portables in place-by July 1, in time for their school years to begin.