The technology provided to your school comes with a substantial cost and there are measures that you as a school can implement to protect this investment as follows:

1. Ensure that the school’s insurance has not lapsed and that it offers sufficient cover as the one safety net that the school could count as a sustainability measure.
2. Ensure the technology is in a secure and alarmed environment, preferably with armed response, and that the alarm is functional and armed when necessary.

Before going on vacation:
3. Make sure that you make a backup of your data. The backup should be done just before the system is shut down for the vacation period and the backup drive should be stored safely in the school’s strong room for the duration of the vacation.
4. Servers should be shut down and disconnected completely, see below.
5. All workstations should be properly shut down, see below.
6. Switch off all other peripherals including the UPS, Switches, Printers and Modems, see below.
7. After all equipment is switched off, all electrical plugs are to be removed from the wall socket to avert the summer electricity spikes and/or lightning damaging equipment.
8. Draw up an infantry of all software. Software should be stored in the strong room with the relevant licensing information and manuals.
9. Dust covers (or even black bags) would protect the equipment from direct sunlight and dust.
10. Draw blinds/curtains to protect PCs from direct and harsh sunlight.
11. Ensure that the windows seal to prevent sand and dust from entering.
12. It might be prudent to box and store easily removed items such as mice, earphones, disks, speakers and keyboards.
13. If safety locks are attached to the workstations, ensure that the keys are securely locked elsewhere.
14. In high risk areas the feasibility of storing the whole network in the school safe could be explored.
15. Please ensure that the alarm system is switched on before leaving the school.
16. Surely it could never be considered negligence on the school’s part should the unfortunate happen amidst all reasonable precautionary measures taken to secure the technology.

General protection of technology guidelines – click here
Protection during school holidays – click here