Free PDF to Word Converter
Saving a Microsoft Word file to PDF is rather easy; a range of tools provide free PDF file creation. Converting a PDF file back to a MS Word document is sometimes tricky and often akin to digital alchemy. To help facilitate the transmutation, NitroPDF offers a free online PDF to Word translator: http://www.pdftoword.com/. The NitroPDF [...]
Welcome Jason
I am pleased to announce that on Monday, September 19th Jason Sauders joins my staff as the building technology specialist for Hambright, Letort and Pequea Elementary schools. Jason comes to us from the IT Department at Solanco School District. He was selected from a competitive pool of 80+ highly qualified candidates. Jason will spend his [...]
An IT Summer, By The Numbers
We’re thrilled to welcome our students back next week. The IT Team has been busy cooking up a whole menu of new technology goodness. Here’s a brief snapshot of our summer, by the numbers: 1. Added 620 new Lenovo student laptops running Ubuntu. 2. Refreshed our fleet of 49 multifunction copiers/printers. 3. Migrated 700 staff [...]
Comcast Offers Low Cost Internet for Students
Comcast has begun offering reduced rate cable modem service for families receiving free lunch as part of the National School Lunch Program. Families with at least one child receiving free lunch may qualify for a special $9.95 a month Internet connection. The service is 1.5 Mbps, which is certainly much more that dial-up. Comcast is [...]
Email Upgrade Update
The staff email upgrade is wrapping up tonight. By tomorrow morning, all mail should be restored in our current mailboxes. A reminder that PM staff may access webmail here: https://mail.pennmanor.net/. Gina has posted several mini-tutorial videos on the new system. Check them out: http://blogs.pennmanor.net/gina/outlook-webmail-video-tutorials/. A big thank you to engineer extraordinaire, Chad Billman, for spearheading the [...]
Virtual School Launch
Penn Manor is launching a new virtual school for students within the district’s attendance boundaries. Virtual students will earn a Penn Manor High School diploma and will be eligible to participate in Penn Manor extracurricular activities. Information sessions are planned for Thursday August 4, 2011 at the Penn Manor district office. Read more and register [...]
Off the Grid
On Wednesday June 29th Penn Manor will be off the electrical grid between 2:45 PM and 4:00 PM. During that time, the district will be conducting a mandatory test for ClearChoice Energy in which we will curtail all power usage across the district. The test is part of a demand response energy program where the [...]
Commencement 2011 Video
Congratulations to the Penn Manor High School Class of 2011. Approximately 170 online participants viewed the live 2011 Commencement Webcast. The recorded video is also available on the Penn Manor Ustream channel. Video streaming by Ustream
Ubuntu for Schools Part 3: Lenovo X120e
This is part three of a series on our school Ubuntu Linux project. Previous posts explained my strategic reasons for adopting Ubuntu and discussed several of the open source apps we will install on our laptops. Next, let’s discuss hardware. I decided on Lenovo’s X120e. Here’s why. I should begin by explaining the choice in [...]
