It was done to save money. Two and a half years ago, and three superintendents back, the Batavia City School District decided to eliminate its IT director position.
Nobody around now can explain that decision precisely, but the result -- at least in large part -- was hundreds of missing units of technology equipment and unnecessary fees, and a negative Comptroller's audit.
Superintendent Jason Smith -- who just last month celebrated his one-year anniversary at the district -- recommended that the school board consider reinstituting the full-time technology director position to provide “clear, strong and strategic direction” for the district. Although this conclusion stemmed from a Comptroller audit last August of 2022, it came more directly from a series of district surveys and interviews with students and staff.
“What prompted this study was the Comptroller's audit. And what I found from our studies is that … not having that position turned out to be detrimental. For review, I wanted to write a full review of the whole instructional technology area, not just the laptops missing, which, obviously, is a great concern. I wanted to dive deeper than that.”
The state Comptroller audit found that nearly 300 pieces of technology equipment were missing, unnecessary service fees were paid for those items and an additional amount of $8,700 was paid to a third-party consultant.
At the time, Smith acknowledged the issue and promised that “we can and will do better going forward.” Since that audit, the district has reduced its service fees by an additional $109,000, he said.
A few of the recommended steps the district has taken include:
- Engaged a third-party company specializing in IT services to conduct an assessment of our entire IT department, including our inventory and staff.
- An internal team has taken the results from the audit and gone above and beyond to reduce the district's BOCES service charges by purging and returning unused inventory.
- The district is working closely with the Board of Education to adopt a comprehensive written policy for establishing and maintaining controls to track and inventory IT equipment.
The board approved a plan of action in November and submitted it to the state, which approved the corrective measures. Smith, however, opted to take it further with the series of interviews and surveys to more fully flesh out what’s going on with technology across the district as a whole.
A sampling of survey questions were:
- I believe that the use of technology (digital resources) in my classroom or my teaching positively impacts student learning and achievement.
- I believe that the use of technology (digital resources) in my school positively impacts student learning and achievement.
- I believe that the use of technology (digital resources) in my classroom or my teaching promotes student critical thinking.
- I believe that the use of technology (digital resources) in my school promotes student critical thinking.
- I have the required knowledge and skills to integrate technology (digital resources) into my instruction successfully.
- I believe that the use of technology (digital resources) in instruction provides for the needs of students with disabilities to successfully access the curriculum.
The full-time director of technology position had been eliminated in 2020, during Superintendent Anibal Soler's rein, apparently due to concern that finances might get tight with COVID protocols. The city school district then shared a director part-time with BOCES.
Other identified needs included resurrecting the Instructional Technology Committee, working on WiFi/connectivity problems throughout the district, investigating the usefulness and practicality of Chromebooks versus laptops, adding Microsoft, giving the technology curriculum more teeth “to ensure our students are being provided with the essential skills needed upon graduation,” and thoroughly reviewing existing technology staff and related use of BOCES services, Smith said.
Of all of the information that he garnered during this time, he was most surprised to hear kids’ comments about Chromebooks. Although they have been a popular device used in school districts, kids weren’t quite so enthused about them, he said. He first heard his own children’s remarks about Chromebooks, and perhaps didn’t take them so seriously until the surveys in school, when kids echoed similar sentiments. He had to smile and admit, “hey, my kids were right,” he said during an interview with The Batavian.
Chromebooks are less expensive than laptops; however, laptops offer more options for students, which could be more helpful as they prepare for college or work.
“But you know, you get what you pay for some time,” he said. “So, we have to be thoughtful.”
While many of his suggestions and recommendations are just that at this point, the full-time director of technology is a firm statement with hopes of board approval. Smith and the business administrator will be working on the budget to present more definite details of how salary and benefits will impact the next year’s budget, he said. That vote will be coming up in May.
Another position to consider is a part-time data protection officer to handle duties for the Data Protection Privacy Act. This may not be a new position and person, he said, but additional job responsibilities assigned to an existing employee once the technology director gets on board to organize the department. Smith and Trisha Finnigan, executive director of staff development and operations, will be writing the job description for the tech director, and they plan to check in with other local city school districts for guidance.
Smith wants the public to know that district leaders take the Comptroller’s audit “very seriously,” and they recognize it as a concern in the community. He listens to the questions, answers them, and understands the significance of the audit findings, he said.
“We haven't hid behind that. I said to the public and to the media, we're going to enact a comprehensive study. We've done that, here are the nine key findings that I took from that, that I've shared with the board, and we're going to go beyond, we're going to make sure we have processes in place to protect our assets. And that's important, you know, for our school district and for our public, but also, we went beyond and looked at our overall technology program as a whole,” he said. “So, we met the obligation, we did a corrective action plan in November, that's what we were required to do … I wasn't happy with that, we allowed to go beyond checking the boxes. I was looking at the overall program for our students, and this Comptroller’s audit prompted us to do that.
“So I'm optimistic that we're going to have some good results come out of this,” Smith said. “We've already implemented some changes as far as inventory control goes. But we want to have a good overall technology, robust program for our students, and support our staff.”
His draft timeline for action includes:
March 13 for board approval to reestablish a full-time administrative position in the technology department
Throughout March for budget implications to be reviewed and adjusted for that recommendation. He expects implications to be negligible since the position has been in the budget to date.
April and May for the posting and recruitment process.
May and June to fill the appointment of director of technology (or whatever the official title will be, which is to be determined).
Prior coverage:
File photo of Superintendent Jason Smith from Batavia City Schools.
