[svlug] Education & Linux resources or groups in the SJ area

[Jordan Johnson]

Hiy'all,

I'm relatively new to the Silicon Valley area, working as a teacher at 
a new school that (fortunately) has a keen interest in developing a 
good technology program from the ground up.  At the moment our tech 
infrastructure is all Windows- and Mac-based, mostly (as far as I can 
tell) because that's what our IT staff and administration know; 
however, they're very open to exploring other options (in particular 
setting up a terminal-based lab, and that in particular if they could 
start with a Linux server and Windows X clients).  I'd love to have 
some involvement in this but am limited by time (as a swamped 
first-year teacher) and a persistent RSI (which makes my computer time 
still more limited).

So, two general questions:  (1) anybody around here work in education, 
or know of any groups that love to train and/or fund school Linux 
projects?  (2) Any suggestions based on experience helping set up 
school Linux systems and training Windows-bred admins?

Heck, while I'm at it: (3) Know if there are any decent OSS/free 
gradebook programs out there?  I've tried a couple (ggradebook is the 
only name I recall, among several) but been pretty sorely disappointed 
(and would hack at one a bit but can't afford to, for reasons stated 
above).

Cheers,
jmj