Board of Education

MAUMEE CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT

Janet Wolff
President

Jane Durham

Vice President

Diane Balcerzak
Jane Durham
Robert L. Righi

716 Askin Street

Maumee, Ohio 43537-3602
419-893-3200
Fax 419-891-5387
www.maumee.k12.oh.us

Administration

Gregory J. Smith, Ph.D

Superintendent

Paul E. Brotzki
Treasurer

Carole Burnworth, Ph.D.

Director of Special Education

Larry Caffro

Assistant Superintendent,
Teacher Evaluator,
Staff In-service Coor.,
Special Ed Supv,,
Associate Principal

To: Dr. Greg Smith, Superintendent

From: Larry Caffro, Assistant Superintendent
CC: Joel Hefner, Supervisor of Technology
Date: April 3, 2015
RE: Cloud Computing
After working with our Supervisor of Technology, Mr. Hefner, and researching the
feasibility of utilizing cloud computing for our district, Mr. Hefner and I would like to
recommend that we begin transitioning our district operations to the cloud. There are
many advantages of utilizing the cloud for our district. We would like to share some of
those advantages below.
1. Financial Savings. Adding up licensing fees (Microsoft Office for example)
for multiple users can prove to be financially advantageous. In addition, since
there would be a smaller internal infrastructure, less hardware costs and easier
management of hardware, there would be an additional savings to our
technology budget.
2. Automatic Software Integration. Software integration occurs automatically
and issues are at the most minimal.
3. Backup and Recovery. Since all data is stored in the cloud, backing it up and
restoring the data is much easier.
4. Almost Unlimited Storage. No worry about storage space.
5. Easy Access to Information. Information can be accessed from anywhere
(where there is an internet connection) from any device.
6. Easy Transition. Our entire district system can be operational in a matter of
minutes. Cloud applications will entail a smaller learning curve since staff are
quietly used to them. Our staff will find it easier to adopt them and come up to
speed much faster (GMail and Google Docs applications for example).
There has been a lot of concern about the security of cloud computing, both inside and
outside the data center. According recent research, however, cloud computing is a more
secure option than what most IT organizations have in place currently. But like all things

with IT, it needs to be properly managed to be effective and our staff is capable of that
task. There has also been some concern about the cloud being prone to attack. In reality,
however, nothingontheInternetiscompletelysecureand,therefore,thereisalwaysthe
possibilityofournetworkbeinghacked.Onceagain,Mr.HefnerandIhaveallthe
confidenceinourITstaffsabilitytohandlethissituationshoulditshowitsuglyface.
Lastly,wehavediscussedotherminorpotentialproblems of using the cloud such as
service outages and other technical issues and, we have concluded that these can and do
happen with our own current hardware. Our IT staff can and will handle those situations
as well.
Despite the disadvantages I just reviewed, Mr. Hefner and I believe that the
overwhelming advantages clearly support transitioning to cloud computing in our district.
We also believe cloud computing will remain strong and has great potential for the future.
As its user base grows, cloud computing will be offering better and more fine tuned
services. We would like to discuss this further with and you request that a meeting with
the Board of Education Operations Committee be arranged to present and discuss the
possibility of transitioning to cloud computing.

Resources
Diep,Phuong.(2013).IT Consultants' Insight on Business Technology: The Advantages
and Disadvantages of Cloud Computing. Retrieved on April 2, 2015, from
http://blog.nskinc.com/IT-Services-Boston/bid/108245/The-Advantages-andDisadvantages-of-Cloud-Computing
Tsagklis, Ilias, (2013). Advantages and Disadvantages of Cloud Computing:
Cloud computing pros and cons. Retrieved on April 2, 2015, from
http://www.javacodegeeks.com/2013/04/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-cloud
computing-cloud-computing-pros-and-cons.html
Viswanathan, Priva. (2015). Cloud Computing Is it Really all that Beneficial?
Retrieved on April 3, 2015, from
http://mobiledevices.about.com/od/additionalresources/a/Cloud-Computing-Is-ItReally-All-That-Beneficial.htm
Vizard, Michael. (2013). Rethinking IT Security in the Age of the Cloud. Retrieved on
April 2, 2015, from http://www.itbusinessedge.com/cm/blogs/vizard/rethinking-itsecurity-in-the-age-of-the-cloud/?cs=46755