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School districts say they're ready for 2000 MILLENNIUM Y2K CHAOS or CALM? Systems they're not sure of aren't crucial By VICKI GUARINO As the century draws to a close, Jackson County school districts say they're ready -- or as ready as they'll ever be -- to run computer systems into the next millennium. Technology experts say they've conquered Y2K faults in essential systems. Year 2000 failings that would stop systems from advancing beyond 1999 have been corrected. Systems that keep track of students' grades and other school records, as well as staff payroll and other financial data, all have been declared Y2K compliant. Nonetheless, some systems could shut down on New Year's Day. "There are going to be some glitches," predicts Phoenix-Talent technology coordinator Don Wolff, "but we're planning for everything to be OK." Wolff's counterparts around the valley are inclined to agree. No amount of testing, patching and adjusting can wipe away all doubt. However, the systems that specialists are unsure of aren't crucial to school operations for the county's 29,000 students. The districts' progress in Y2K readiness is somewhat at odds with a national report released last week. The U.S. Department of Education found that 36 percent of public elementary and secondary school districts are unprepared to fix date-sensitive computer systems. Department acting deputy secretary Marshall Smith called survey results "disturbing." Smith criticized school systems for not doing enough to prepare. The Year 2000, or Y2K, problem refers to concerns about possible computer breakdowns on Jan. 1, 2000, because some computers were originally programmed to recognize just the last two digits of a year and may misinterpret "00" as 1900. Many computers can be reprogrammed simply, but others have embedded microchips that must be replaced -- making the process of getting ready more complicated and time-consuming. Time was the biggest obstacle for Medford computer staffers, says data processing manager Jerry Anderson. He brought the county's largest system of student-staff record keeping into Y2K compliance more than a year ago. The Medford district at the time was believed to be one of the first in Oregon to be ready for Jan. 1, 2000. Anderson says the project required tedious hours of altering computer codes to read four numbers rather that two in year data fields. "It's not a mystery," he says. After all the Y2K hype, predictions of computerized disaster on a massive scale, Wolff says he was somewhat surprised at how simple Phoenix-Talent's Y2K fix has been. Manufacturers provided patches and other tools. And the district's biggest and most complicated systems already were Y2K ready. Tech specialists in other districts encountered similar ready solutions, leading school boards to abandon some more elaborate plans to circumvent Y2K failures. The most disruptive of those plans was a change in the Christmas vacation schedule. Officials at the 4,500-student Central Point district debated delaying resumption of classes until the second week of January. The thought was that Jan. 1 failures might not be fixed by the traditional Jan. 4 start date, but could be fixed by Jan. 11. Phoenix-Talent and a couple of other district briefly considered the same change. Not only did the delay seem unnecessary as Y2K work progressed, it seemed too disruptive to athletics and other school events that are dependent on timing with neighboring districts. Despite the hours of re-programing and the successful completion of Y2K tests, no one is guaranteeing a smooth turnover to 2000. The tests on some systems are too expensive to conduct, tech specialists say. These systems include so-called "embedded" functions in heating, telephones and school bells. Those operations would have to be tested computer chip by chip. "It actually would be cheaper to replace some things rather than test them," says Central Point technology chief Bob King. So in some cases, for non-essential systems, King will make repairs as necessary in January. At Eagle Point, technology coordinator Karen Narmore also is taking the wait-and-see approach to non-essential systems. She participated in the U.S. Department of Education Y2K survey, and told federal canvassers that the district simply can't test everything. Narmore made most of Eagle Point's Y2K adjustments and software installation during the Labor Day holiday. The work brought into compliance all of the district's main systems, including financial functions and record keeping for 4,000 students. Those systems have been tested and work properly. Narmore plans to install more software patches during the Thanksgiving holiday. Other computers will be reset manually after the Christmas break. Several districts appear to be benefiting from fairly late entry into the computer world. And others will gain by still doing things the old-fashioned way. At Prospect and Rogue River, for example, building heating systems, bells, alarms, lights and other basic operations are all hand-controlled. Because there is no computerized clock to automatically run the functions, there is nothing to make Y2K ready. The computers that are on hand were built with Y2K in mind. "Most of our computers were purchased 2 to 2 years ago, and we don't expect to have any problems," says Rogue River School District Superintendent Charles Hellman. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA