What does a Technology Director/Coordinator Do?

There I was in March 2012, trying to defend my job.   After fifteen years of coordinating technology for a school district, there was a "budget crisis"  The school board asked me to come in to explain just what I did.  The superintendent has already proposed cutting 65% of my job.

"After all," one of the school board members told me, "everything runs smoothly, so what are you needed for?"

I brought only one piece of paper with me to the meeting.  It was this diagram:

I explained all the different "hats" I wore keeping technology running for such a small district.  Things ran smoothly because I was there in the background doing what needed to be done - running updates, doing backups, preparing budgets.  I'm not the kind of computer person who would sits back and do nothing, waiting for a crisis to strike.  Once there was a problem, I could charge in and fix it and be a hero.   No I quietly kept the crisis from happening in the first place.

But still I tried to explain all the areas that I supported:
 
Teaching and Learning

•  Educational Software
• Curriculum Integration
• Instructional Technology Research
• Staff Development
• Web-Based Resources and Instruction

Desktop Support

• Equipment Purchasing and Allocation
• Ergonomics and furniture
• Software Licensing
• Help-Desk Support
• Equipment Repairs
• Virus Protection
• Maintenance and Upgrades

Budget and Planning

• Technology Planning
• Budgeting
• Evaluatoin
• Grants
• E-rat Applications

Administrative Computing

• Processing Grades and Student Records
• Human Resources
• Business Operations
• Document Imaging and Management

 Network Operations

• Network Infastructure
• User Management
• E-Mail System Management
• Backup Procedures
• Remote Management
• Intranet Management

Ultimately, my job was cut and I took a full-time job at Longwood School District.

It has now been three years since I left that district.  That small district has now hired five people to do what I did... so much for cost savings.  Not all the positions are full-time, but I really wonder what that school board was thinking.

I have continued to work to support Education in Technology.  First as a Network Technician for Longwood School District.  I worked in two elementary school and an Junior High School, but I focused solely on hardware and network issues.  I missed the"instructional" side of things.  I missed teaching Google Docs to forth, fifth and sixth graders.  I missed instructing the teachers on how to use Google Sheets to teach math.

BOCES offered me a job supporting the teachers so I moved to BOCES last year.  It is nice to work with so many teachers, but I do miss being in a classroom.  All in all I'm pretty lucky to be able to work in a job that I love.  And despite setbacks, I get to keep doing it.

More later....


Kim Cronin

and yes... my name changed from Bunchuck...