Like FFCo-Pres, once we donate something to the school, they pick up maintaining it. That's partially why it's so important that it fit into their technology plan and be approved by the technical group that must support it. On something like a printer, the school pays the ongoing cost for supplies like ink.
The Printer we purchased for printing photos that is available for teachers use is maintained by the school. We originally said we would buy ink when needed but came to find out that PTO didn't use the printer that often. That the teachers used it much more then we did. So once we donate something to the school we hand over maintaince to the school. I just heard today from our resident computer wiz that the computers the kids use are 6-7 years old. We can not install anything new on them. There just isn't any hard drive space. We can't even run win 98. So I mentioned to the principal that maybe PTO can dedicate a Spring fund raiser with 100% of profit going to new computers and hopefully they can find some money in the school budget and or grants for the rest.
Just one question for those buying printers...who is going to pay for the ink cartridges?? You may have one teacher who hardly ever uses it and another who uses one a week. Is this an ongoing expense or is your PTO buying the printers and leaving the rest to the school? Our PTO purchased the "rizzo" machine in our office and keep up maintenance costs on it but they buy the ink and paper...works out pretty well.
Hi We too are looking at printers for classrooms.
A lot of the teachers especially in the younger grades are doing projects with digital cameras. We have purchased a digital camera for PTO use for
bulletin boards, newspaper articles and eventually to put picutes on a PTO web site. So we purchased 1 HP photo smart printer last year to print the photos. We have the printer in the library so any of the teachers can use it. But if they are working on projects with students its hard because they can't leave the classroom unsupervised to go print photos in the Library.
I think what may happen is we may purchase 1 photo quality printer per grade level this year.
Then if we see they are heavily used perhaps try to pick up more next year. If you can get a certain model approved you may try a comparison site like mysimon.com, pricegrabber.com, dealtime.com, pricewatch.com (computer & electronics only) and see if you can get what you need cheaper then through the schools usual source. Hey we all want to get the most out of our hard earned PTO funds don't we?
I agree with the great advice you've already received. We have no color printers because of the ongoing expense. As much as I love our teachers, I can just imagine letting them loose on a color printer! With 20 copies of this and that plus drafts for 40 teachers - we'd be replacing ink cartridges weekly (if not more often). And, I can't see much benefit unless it was targeted printers with restricted access for special projects.
I work for an IT group with computers, printers, everywhere. We have about 200 people and probably 4 or 5 color printers. It takes a major justification to be allowed access rights, and the few of us that get them are really supposed to be thrifty with our usage.
When we buy computers and printers for the school the District has to decide the actual type and model. It must fit with their technology plan and be something they are willing to support. This is really important. If the support people are used to HP printers, usually they don't want a new brand thrown in to the mix. Also, while we reimburse the school for the item, they have to order it on their P.O.s. Schools get some of the best discounts on hardware and software. They generally have master contracts they are required to use.
Shouldn't you ask the administration what to buy? Our schools have contracts with certain companies regarding service, etc. We'd never just be able to buy equipment like this on our own, it would need to be compatible with the current stuff. If we did something like this we'd have to order it through the schools.
