Approve the Purchase from ExLogica Corporation of SILK Scheduler Software Implementation at the Middle School Level.

During the 2005 and 2006, all of our high schools and career centers utilized the SILK Scheduler to develop their master schedules for the 2006 school year. This agreement extends the SILK Scheduler software to middle schools to develop their master schedules beginning with the 2007-2008 school year. The purchase includes software licensing, support, and maintenance for the SILK Scheduler application from ExLogica Corporation. In addition this purchase includes the training of middle school personnel under the same successful model used to train the high school personnel. The result of this training is the actual school Master Schedule for the coming year. This agreement is based on terms, conditions, and pricing derived from the School District of Lee County's request for proposals and contract.

2.b.11 Provide hardware and technical support for curriculum software applications selected to address learning needs to support teacher retention.

2.d.3 Implement Master Schedule flexibility to best address student needs for Mathematics remediation or advanced studies.

5.c.6 Maintain and enhance online scheduling capability through the mainframe student system.

6.a.3 Provide edit error reports and other quality controls (mentoring, coaching, etc.) to assist schools in improving accuracy of student data entered into the district database.

Prior year funds from E-rate reimbursements of $248,135 and $100,000 from District technology funds will provide $173,885 for SILK Scheduler master schedule development training, $155,125 for SILK Scheduler software for middle schools and $19,125 for annual software maintenance. These costs equal a total of $348,135.

An assessment will be conducted through surveys and interviews at the end of the first year to determine training effectiveness, the ability of the software to schedule classes, resolve conflicts in scheduling and to approriately match students to the required courses.