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Get you a computer, just about anything modern will do, and a couple of supported nic's. I used the TEG-PCITXRL because I have use older model low profile optiplexes.
http://www.pfsense.org/

Firewall port 80 and port 443
set up squid
set up squidblock

Create a wpad.dat file and put it on the web server, so browsers will automatically configure to use the proxy as long as they are set to automatically configure

Then download some freely available pre-categorized sites. I used these, but you can also use shalla's if you are a non-profit.
1. http://dsi.ut-capitole.fr/documentations/cache/squidguard_en.html#contrib
2. http://squidguard.mesd.k12.or.us/blacklists.tgz
3. http://www.shallalist.de/

I also downloaded the list of websites that adblock uses from easylist, and put it in the right format with a quick macro in my text editor:
https://easylist-downloads.adblockplus.org/easylist.txt

You can get really fancy if you want, and if you have a domain you can do a man in the middle proxy by creating a certificate then installing it on your pfsense box and each desktop. This would allow you to just route all 80 and 443 traffic through squid, and then you could use dansguardian to do keyword filtering. For your application I would probably steer clear of this for now, because you need to have a good way of making sure that EVERYONE knows that you can see their passwords to banks, emails, etc, and it's in a policy they sign or you could get in deep doo doo.

Linux Terminal Server Project

LTSP

K-12 LTSP

K-12 Linux in Oregon

Linux Journal

Yes, congratulations. However, they are building on years of effort by the Kindergarten to 12th grade Linux project, and other such projects. The K12Linux Project was originally started for the Multnomah County Education Service District, using hardware donated by Intel. (Intel does some of its processor design in a big facility which is also in Portland, Oregon, USA.)

Perhaps 8 years ago, one of the founders of the K12Linux project told me that the total cost of maintenance of Linux was less than half that of Windows. (He gave a figure much less than half, but I don't remember the actual figure.)

My experience with Windows is that it is sloppily coded, and lots of things cause Windows to need maintenance. For example, the CPU hogging bug in Firefox, which seems to be worse in Firefox version 2.0.0.4, sometimes causes Windows XP Professional SP2 to become unstable and require re-starting the computer. When Firefox hogs the CPU under Linux, it is only necessary to kill Firefox. Linux remains stable.

If Microsoft paid schools $100 per copy to take Windows, the cost of Windows would still be far higher than K12Linux.

The K12Linux Project home page gives links to other Linux-in-schools projects, also.

A side benefit of Linux is that it is much more secure, partly because of its design, and partly because students are less likely to know how to tinker with it, I was told.

It is far easier to maintain a terminal server with numerous simple terminals, than separate stand-alone computers, too, and Linux is fast enough to be used that way.

I feel a little uncomfortable with what I said above, because I am vastly understating the savings of using Linux rather than Windows. Microsoft can't even make "Microsoft Genuine Advantage" work correctly; that is a GENUINE disadvantage of Windows. (I am using the word "genuine" in its honest sense, not in its abusive public relations spin sense.)

Another problem with a Windows system is hiring people who are willing to work with products from a company such as Microsoft that is so abusive. It's tiring to work with abusiveness.

Again, I still feel uncomfortable because I am understating the case. My company has had considerable trouble with error messages from Windows Update, for example. We've had about 8 different kinds of problems, some of which have required hours to solve. Judging from the many, many complaints on the newsgroup, there seem to be many other kinds of Windows Update problems we haven't had.

People who work in IT sometimes like Microsoft because the sloppy Microsoft products give them more work.

Hope this helps.

The Multnomah County, Oregon ESD already has a Linux distribution optimized for use in public schools. Microsoft apparently didn't really check around before they threatened MESD with a MS license audit. This thoroughly upset the locals, who rallied thier support. Microsoft lost the game of chicken when they stopped smoking crack and realised threatening a broke school district kills your PR and loses customers.

• SchoolForge.net - "A complete Listing of Open Source groups working with schools."
  
• Open Source Schools -
  for the on-line Journal of Open Source Software in schools
  
• SEUL/edu - "the discussion group for those interested in using Linux for education. This covers all aspects of educational uses of Linux, by teachers, parents, and students."
  
• K12OS.org - "Discussion forums for help, news and information related to Linux in schools"
  
• Multnomah ESD - "has successfully moved most of its core network services to Linux." The folks who built the original K12 Linx, AFAIK.
  

At this point it can be argued that desktop-user=friendliness is more an issue of the distribution than the OS. Several user-friendly desktops have been developed. In at least one case, tests showed the system was easier to use for newbies than Windows.

The Multnomah Education Service District et al (including my old grade school)have been working on "K12Linux", a distribution designed (if I understand correctly) to be easy to install and use for non-techies in the K12 education environment. I read somewhere (can't find the specific article now) that in their tests students learned how to use the system in about a week, substantially sooner than with Windows.

If I read correctly, they are using a timesharing model with K12LTSP and using IceWM for its low server load, and OpenOffice.org for composing etc.

They may also be saving a lot of moolah, as MS wants them to pay licensing fees for all their computers, whether they have Windows on them or not. Read about this here.

Here is a quote from that page: " To give you an idea of the scale of the problem facing a large district like [Portland Public Schools], they have 25,000 PCs. A MS school agreement lease of software could cost the district over $1,000,000 a year. Just buying a virus package would cost $250,000 a year."

The new Riverdale High School is running entirely on Linux. Here is a draft case study for those interested. They run 35 diskless workstations assembled by parents and staff at a school computer work party!

The story is even better than it appears. Check out The K-12 Linux Project, also in Portland, Oregon. (Moderators: Please don't mod down people who mention this project in other contexts. Mod them up.)

Linux Terminal software is used with diskless workstations to create a 5 workstation network for under $1,000.

Here is a quote: "All applications run on the terminal server. The workstations are "thin." They have no software or hard drives. Thin clients are perfect for schools because they are easy to install and require little maintenance. They are reliable and immune to malicious tampering and viruses".

Intel is giving free processors to schools.

It's all set up and ready to go. Just download the software and follow the instructions.

"The Multnomah Education Service District [Portland, Oregon, again] has moved most of it's core network services to Linux. Linux powers DNS, DHCP, mail relays, proxy servers, web filters, and directory services for the 45,000 administrators, teachers, and students within our agency and the school districts we support . For our agency and a couple of our districts, Linux powers the web, mail, FTP, and file servers."

I was told that it took 4 full-time people to maintain the MESD system when it was using Microsoft software. Now it takes 1 person half time.

Government administrators should note that it is their duty to insure that all government work be done on completely open systems. The citizens and taxpayers of a democracy must have full access to all documents, even 40 or a hundred years from now. There is NO room in a democracy for proprietary, hidden ways of doing things.

from the must-eat-more-money dept.
razvedchik writes: "As reported in this article in the Portland, OR newspaper, The Oregonian, Microsoft is pressuring 24 school districts in the northwest to agree to their Microsoft School Agreement licensing scheme or undergo an audit in 60 days. Multnomah ESD, which covers the greater Portland area and has around 25,000 computers, has to either decide to accept the license at about $500,000 or undergo the audit which it does not have time to prepare for. Of significant interest is the fact that a significant majority of these schools are experimenting with using Linux. Multnomah ESD has its own thin-client Linux distro called K12LTSP."

This is going to be a total rant, but here goes.

This time they have gone too far. I live here in Oregon and have three kids in public schools. I work for a state agency which, like many other state agencies in Oregon is undergoing significant budget cuts.

Portland is a bit of a drive for me, but I am seriously thinking about taking some time off and volunteering to go up there and help them audit machines, wipe hard drives, and install Linux clients or whatever they need. In fact, anyone else who wants to do the same could join me in emailing them here or maybe the help desk here.

Put your money/time where your mouth is.

This is going to be a total rant, but here goes.

This time they have gone too far. I live here in Oregon and have three kids in public schools. I work for a state agency which, like many other state agencies in Oregon is undergoing significant budget cuts.

Portland is a bit of a drive for me, but I am seriously thinking about taking some time off and volunteering to go up there and help them audit machines, wipe hard drives, and install Linux clients or whatever they need. In fact, anyone else who wants to do the same could join me in emailing them here or maybe the help desk here.

Put your money/time where your mouth is.

I agree with what you said, Jon, but some people are moving to Linux nevertheless. It's good to focus, not on what cannot be done now, but on what CAN be done.

Check out this Linux success story: The "semi-official" distribution of the K12Linux Project. Here is a quote from that site:

"The Multnomah Education Service District has successfully moved most of it's core network services to Linux. Linux powers dns, dhcp, mail relays, proxy servers, web filters, and directory services for the 45,000 administrators, teachers, and students within our agency and the school districts we support . For our agency and a couple of our districts, Linux powers the web, mail, ftp, and file servers. Tickled with our success, we have started work on putting Linux workstations in the classroom. More on that to come!" [my emphasis]

Check out this site about putting Linux workstations in the classroom:

K-12Linux Project.

Here is a quote:

"We have FREE Xeon and Celeron processors to give to schools participating in STRUT and K12LTSP. See the applications page for more information."


U.S. government corruption: What should be the Response to Violence?

I'm not sure if you're looking for general advice on how to administer a network, or for education-specific software to run on those systems.

Things like Dan's Quiz Page cover creating custom quizes, while there are some sites that have a specific topic like science. The general site LinuxForKids.org has links to most educationl titles, though the emphasis is for home-use.

If you're looking for help on how to set things up, and administer them, look here at Learnux.

If you're looking for School Administration (beurocratic) software, I didn't find any. That doesn't mean that there isn't any. Take a look here , here or here . Ask these groups questions, there are quite a few mailing lists on this subject.