About the Bellnet Office
Light years ahead of all other LAUSD server-client school networks, the Bellnet network boasts what is by far LAUSD's most robust school-based server farm in size, complexity, capacity, capability, reach and ease of use, and the most heavily-used school network in the District (based on traffic.) With over 1,600 computers (including 16 static/mobile labs), several dozen printers, an ever-growing number of mobile devices, some services inherently incredibly issue-prone (e.g., Microsoft apps via network access, SuccessMaker, Rosetta Stone, etc.) and more than a dozen servers all vying for attention, the list of ongoing and new tasks presents a never-ending Sisyphusean dilemma.
Handling it all (or...most of it!) is the overwhelmed staff of the Bellnet Office, currently four-strong (not including the cabinet containing the downright scary supply of caffeine!) They frequently talk to inanimate objects, switch moods from one moment to another, have more ups and downs than a superiority of camel, speak using unintelligible word entanglements, and at times befuddle others more easily than politicians can (even on their best days), but the ever-present goal of this small staff is to allow all the users on the network to use technology without having the technology itself become a barrier. Herculean task? Yes...but we try!
Bellnet Office staff can be reached via the office at the back of the Library, via telephone at (323) 832-4821, or via (submission form coming.)
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GAO - Security Breaches |
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Bellnet Office Team Members
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Roman, Network Admin and Team LeaderSince 'giving birth' to Bell's first classroom network of Mac+'s back in (year withheld!), in addition to seeing his job turn into a (literal) 24/7/365 endeavor (starting in 1994, when teachers were able to access the Internet at night and on weekends via modem dial-in to Bell HS) his encyclopedic knowledge of networks/technology, his deep knowledge of both Bell's and ITD's technology history and infrastrucuture, and his never-ending drive to see technology used to the benefit of staff and students has allowed him to achieve much for Bell HS, all via pushing, cajoling and joining a lengthy list of Bell denizens eager to see Bell HS benefit from ongoing advancements in technology. See more ... Note: It has always been, and remains, Roman's contention that, without the tremendous dedicated efforts on the part of many others to contribute corollary/matching ancillary efforts, Roman's contributions would amount to nothing/nada/zip. The Bell High technology system has always benefitted from dogged persistence from a diverse group of individuals whose efforts have combined to create a 'best of the best' result. Just a few from the bountiful list of contributors: Mary Ann Sesma, Mike/Bonnie Goldberg, Tom Campbell, Brian Defer and scores of others whose fingerprints are still over the Bellnet system. With teamwork, anything can get accomplished! Note: In 2005, in order for ISIS to work, network connections had to originate within LAUSD; connections made from Bell through USC were rejected by LAUSD. Thus, in order for ISIS to function at Bell, Bell HS had to acquiesce to LAUSD after ten years of LAUSD's insistence that we drop the USC connection. We had always won the battles, based on the true logic that doing so would result in a significant downgrade to Bell's capabilities. This awful network and 'ownership' transition downgrade for Bell HS finally came to fruition in 2005, obliterating many of the network benefits that had been created in the previous ten years, some of which are listed below. On an ongoing daily basis, some of Roman's activities include:
As the chief techie and button-pusher all these years, he has:
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Bilal Elreda, AssistantThough absolutely indispensible to both the office and the school due to his expertise and his ability to continually fulfill his tasks under a completely unrealistic workload, one would never guess the pressure under which Bilal performs simply due to his pleasant demeanor when he fulfills these tasks; it has long since become standard that Bell HS personnel break into big smiles when approaching Bilal to explain issues to which they've become victims. See more ... Upon joining the Bell HS family, Bilal had keen insight and experience fixing
Windows/PC issues, but he had never used a Mac; since, he has become as
well-versed (better, actually) on Macs than on PC's. This is particularly critical
since his office mates have long since thrown their hands up in despair at trying to
handle many issues on the progressively (on purpose!) fix-unfriendly Windows
operating systems. So unfriendly have these issues become that Bilal has turned into
a de facto advisor to both ITD and Arey-Jones, who have similarly given up when
trying to resolve issues on PC's. (Just one example: ITD could not make Norton 11
work on SIS machines, so they gave up and downgraded all new SIS-destined District PC's to
Norton 10; this changed when Bilal demonstrated to ITD that the arcane issue was
fixable, thus allowing ITD to deliver more functional PC's.) Obvious to many is that Roman rarely seems to allow Bilal out of his sight for more than
five minutes/time. Roman's reluctance to leave Bilal alone stems from Bilal's
abilities to help when handling server issues/structure, advanced complex programming,
network issues and everything else that crops up along the way. Among those types
of issues: taking idea/process designs from Roman's head/drawings and meticulously
adhering to all the details (down to pixel-level) when implementing them, even though this
often requires hours of mind-numbing tedium in order to get everything perfect.
(This page is a result of collaboration between Roman's brain and Bilal's sharp
coding/implementation skills.) Surprise! Roman and Bilal have spent significant off-hours discussing
and planning ways to handle design issues, process issues,
implementation methodologies and more... all of them hours which Bilal
has volunteered due to his assessment that the topics being discussed
simply could not wait. |
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Ralph Sanchez, AssistantIt came as no surprise to most that Ralph, after graduating from Bell HS in 2003, came back shortly thereafter as an employee, complete with his dedication to both the school and community; it's his always-visible undying spirit and loyalty that keeps him in constant multi-tasking mode as he, while scurrying between Job Tickets, tends to auditorium issues, Short Flags issues, photography needs at Bell, and audio/video prep for meetings/events (often without the required 48-hour advance notice when someone requests audio/video for such gatherings!) See more ... Most striking about Ralph is the tremendous amount of off-hour time he contributes
both to the office and the rest of the school. Rarely does a week go by that
Ralph doesn't call/text Roman at home for help in handling a 'network down' or
'server down' or some other issue during off-hour time; that Ralph is at Bell at
all is because he's already there volunteering his own personal time to operate
the lighting during a school play, or coach the Short Flags during a sports event,
or help with a Saturday activity, or (way too many things to list.) That such
emergency calls not-untypically last 30-120 minutes, at the expense of Ralph's plans,
is known to few. What annoys Roman the most is that Ralph going above and beyond is one thing; that Ralph typically refuses to leave until the problem(s) is completely resolved has frequently earned him some nasty adjectives when being ordered to leave the school/office in order to let the problem(s) wait until regular hours. |
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Mario Rosales, AssistantAfter starring as a baseball player and graduating from Bell HS, Mario returned from starring on Iowa State's baseball team to guide the Bell HS team; currently, he is the coach of the JV team. Since Mario has taken part in the installation of most all the Macs at Bell HS, he is relied upon heavily for fixing all the little (and big!) issues that crop up with them, particularly in replacing machines that have had hardware failures after years of classroom use. So many machine types, so many s/w versions, so many disk images... See more ... With activity that begins immediately upon entering the office in the morning (he is the first one to do the rounds
assisting subs with login issues), Mario rarely can get back to the office without encountering more issues along the way;
thus, he often adds additional Job Tickets as soon as he gets back...thus, another typical day. In all likelihood, Mario will be the one answering the phone when you call the Bellnet Office, from where Mario spends a
large portion of the day directing service workers to classrooms to pick up and deliver machines. Meanwhile, he preps
new/replacement machines, and repairs/reimages older machines. Consequently, it also falls on Mario that he gets to contact
Apple, KIS and Arey-Jones on an almost-daily basis to coordinate inflow and outflow of computers that need repair/parts from
the outside. Important to note about Mario is that, during baseball season, he has a constant flow of his baseball players into and
out of the office, as he keeps very close tabs on their performance(s) in the classroom. He is absolutely rigid in
allowing only those who perform well in the classroom to perform on the field. |
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JerryJerry is the Mac SE/30 that sits high on a shelf in the Bellnet Office. Jerry's long history at Bell HS will be detailed here soon. |