Rachel DombrowskiDirector of TechnologyPennsylvania, Berks Countyhttp://www.governormifflinsd.org/
Based in Shillington, Pennsylvania, Governor Mifflin School District comprises six schools from Pre-K through to Grade 12, many of which have won awards for their academic achievements and innovative approach to technology. The District operates a high speed wide area network with over 2000 computers and a student to computer ratio of 2:1. Online resources are used in almost every classroom, with teachers using a range of web and intranet based applications alongside electronic whiteboards and video conferencing. Students also enjoy the use of PDAs, digital music keyboards and automated electronic library and food service systems. Rachel Dombrowski is Director of Technology at Governor Mifflin School District, which boasts one of the largest technology teams in Berks County.
Governor Mifflin SD operates a high speed Internet WAN with 4000 users on 2000 PCs. The network environment is mixed (Mac OSX/Windows) with Microsoft Active Directory authentication.
Over the past two years, Internet use in their schools has tripled and so Rachel needed a strict yet flexible web filter that could be customized for the district, as well as for each school building within it. Governor Mifflin's Solution needed to be: Flexible enough to be customized to meet the varying needs of different users, across multiple school sites. Strict enough to block undesirable or inappropriate content in line with CIPA. Dependable and Scalable to support future technology plans. Easy to Use to facilitate a smooth transition from their existing software. Affordable, since the District had previously operated a free, Open Source web filter but now needed the reassurance of commercial support. The District liked their existing Open Source web filter; DansGuardian, but began looking at the unsupported product's 'big brother' because they needed commercial support and a more advanced level of security.
Smoothwall supplied fully working evaluation licenses for Guardian, which allowed Rachel to thoroughly test the product before making a decision. She was particularly impressed with how simple Guardian was to install and configure and more than satisfied with the price and functionality of the package.
Since installing Guardian, the technology team have enjoyed utilizing new options such as Internet usage reports and Rachel is delighted with the customer service she has received.
Guardian is the 'Rolls Royce' of web filtering software.
With most products, after the purchase has been made, the tech support is usually less than desirable. With Smoothwall, however, they treat you as if you are their only customer.
Remarkably, [it was] cheaper than other popular filters that do not have the options and ease that Smoothwall offers. We needed an easy and dependable solution. Smoothwall has delivered.
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