INFORMATIONAL

The Department of Education is upgrading Virginia's Public 
Education Network (VA.PEN).  The new system will be fully 
Web-based and compatible with today's hardware and 
software.  We expect this new system to be fully 
operational effective 8 a.m., Monday, November 22, 1999.  
Conversion to the new system is scheduled for the weekend 
prior to November 22 to minimize disruption of service to 
Virginia's education community. Effective at 6 a.m., 
Friday, November 19, 1999, the "old" VA.PEN system will be 
taken offline permanently, and no VA.PEN services will be 
available until Monday morning.

Teachers and administrators who are VA.PEN members must 
make certain changes to their software settings in order to 
access their accounts using the new system.  These new 
settings will be distributed via electronic mail to all 
VA.PEN members and made available on our website.  Minimum 
hardware and software requirements for using the new system 
were distributed with Informational Supts. Memo No. 181, 
September 24, 1999, and are also available on our website.

Additional information may be found on the VA.PEN Web 
site(www.pen.k12.va.us/VDOE/Technology/MIS/PEN/pen.html) 
and we will continue to provide information about this 
upgrade in future electronic mail communications to all 
VA.PEN members.  Should you have any questions, please 
contact Jerry Mathews, at 804-225-2950, or via E-mail 
(jmathews@pen.k12.va.us).

PDS/mm