Teleconferencing Project Correspondence September 9, 1998
TO:
County Superintendents, Chief Business Officials, FCMAT County Contact
Persons, and Teleconferencing Broadcast Coordinators
FROM:
Bill Luehe
FCMAT Professional Development
SUBJECT:
FCMAT Teleconferencing Project Update and Additional Inaugural Broadcast Information
FCMAT Teleconferencing Project
A number of new sites have been installed since the last update that we sent you. In addition, COMSAT RSI has contracted with NOR-CAL Satellite of Redding to complete the Northern California installations. Following is their installation schedule:
COE
Set Pole
Complete Installation
Trinity
9/11/98
9/18/98
Modoc
9/14/98
9/21/98
Humboldt
9/15/98
9/23/98
Siskiyou
9/22/98
9/28/98
Del Norte
9/16/98
9/24/98
You will receive a call in advance of your installation date to discuss preparation for the install. Dwaine Melton is the contact person for NOR-CAL and you can reach him at 530-221-3333.
FCMAT Inaugural Broadcast
We are still in the process of firming up the contents of the FCMAT Inaugural Broadcast which is scheduled to air on October 13, 1998 at 3:00 p.m. The broadcast, which will be approximately one hour and 15 minutes in length will have two parts. The first segment will involve comments by various dignitaries, i.e., Governor Wilson, State Superintendent Delaine Eastin, etc. The second portion of the program will be a panel discussion dealing with a number of "hot topics" in education. Ken Hall will be the panel moderator. This part of the broadcast will be interactive with viewers invited to call, e-mail, or fax questions in for the panel.
We are asking COE Superintendents to send out a letter to all district superintendents in their county, inviting them and asking them to invite their board members, interested administrators, teachers, other staff personnel, and parents, as well as members of the media, to attend the broadcast. For your convenience, as part of the next FCMAT Update, we will include a sample invitation letter to district superintendents from the COE superintendent as well as a sample media release. However, you may prefer to generate your own communication documents and send them out immediately.
One of our partners in this broadcast is the California School Boards Association (CSBA). CSBA will be inviting their members to attend this broadcast. In doing so, board members will be asked to coordinate with their superintendent.
We are also asking COE superintendents and COE Teleconferencing Broadcast Coordinators to secure an appropriate meeting room for the broadcast (this was covered in a previous communication and a recent follow up phone call), and greet and act as host/hostess to broadcast participants. We are asking the COE FCMAT County Contact Person to make sure that the technology is in place and ready for the broadcast as well as securing at least one method for the participants to participate in the interactive portion of the broadcast (phone, e-mail, or fax).
We anticipate that a small number of COEs may not be able to participate through the use of their FCMAT downlink for a variety of reasons. However, the COE may have existing downlink capability and we would ask that you use that system. The broadcast will be analog on the KU band (to insure the broadest receptivity for this broadcast) and we will be using the GE-3 Satellite. For those COEs that don't have an existing dish to use, we would ask you to partner with a neighboring COE for this broadcast.
If you are one of the COEs that will not be able to receive this broadcast at your site, will you please give me a call as soon as possible. If you need technical assistance with your connectivity and reception, please call Ken Richter at 805-636-4809.
We will be getting additional information to you regarding the FCMAT Inaugural Broadcast in about a week. Meantime, if you have questions about the Teleconferencing Project or the Inaugural Broadcast, please give me a call at 805-636-4614.
Many thanks for your help with the inaugural broadcast.
c: Scott Hannan, CDE
Tom Henry, FCMAT CAO| Back to Top | Correspondence Index | Professional Development |