TP#6: Staffing

Background: Congratulations! You are the new Technology Director of a school district that has outsourced all technology support services in the past. You believe that your district needs its own technology department to address technology needs effectively and economically. The most expensive part of your department will be staff. Do a web search to see how other schools staff their technology departments. Find at websites that help you address the topic.
Question: In three-to-five paragraphs, describe the jobs, tasks qualifications of the kinds of staff you will need. List no more than three websites you found helpful.

Websites I found Helpful
http://www.techlearning.com/index.php
www.thesnorkel.org/download/staffingspreadsheet.xls
Local school districts home pages including- www.beth.k12.pa.us/

Response:
The most expensive aspect of switching from an outsourced based technological services department to a more in-house approach will be in staff salaries. The amount of staff, the overall expenses, and job responsibilities necessary to support such a change will be governed based on the districts overall size, technological infrastructure, and amount of technology. In the business world I have seen quoted rates such as 1:50 meaning one technical service personal for every fifty people using the equipment BUT in the realm of education it is more likely (unfortunately) to be around 1:500. In research I found that the Washington State Networking Guide, a leading publisher related to technology vs. staffing equates a school district to be what they call the “fully staffed model” as being 1:100-250 users. I would think that from the perspective of a new technology director in this situation I would shoot/attempt for the “fully staffed model” and support my reasons for this model with literature and research when submitting to the school board.

Once the school board has allotted a budget for staffing it will be important to specifically create a hierarchy of jobs and responsibilities to support the technology. The process of defining job responsibilities should start from the top down and qualifications should be defined. The hiring process should start as early as possible for these high level positions so that human resources can provide a chance to go after the best most qualified people. Top-level hires will also help create and define the rest of the job titles and responsibilities.

To help structure a hierarchy of jobs and the requirements for hire the technology director should look into how other school districts support technology and also how businesses support. Below is a basic sample hierarchy of jobs and responsibilities for a school district.

Leadership
Director of Technology: oversees all aspects of technology in the district (1 position)
Chief Information Officer: oversees all aspects of data and IT
(1 position)

Network Infrastructure
Network Administrator: Network certified and Cisco certified. With at least five years experience running, servicing, and securing a network. (1)
Network Assistant: Network certified and has at least 5 years of experience, supporting networks. (1)

Support and Infrastructure
Support Technicians/Technical services- Highly trained computer technicians, certified related to the OS and hardware they are supporting. Will fix computers and technology when trouble shooting in the schools by the computer technician fails or if computer part is under warranty and must be serviced by a certified technician. (2)

Computer Technician (school based): Trained in computer technician or technically trained. Will maintain, support and troubleshoot to the best of their ability the teachers and students of each school. (one per high school, one per middle school, one for every 2 or 3 elementary school)

Technical Assistant: Some technical background and training on servicing and trouble shooting computers. (2 or 3 district wide, will float from school to school when needed for things like collection, large jobs, and roll out of computers. Will aid the school based computer technicians)

Teaching and Learning Integration
Computer and Learning Integration Specialist: certified teacher who will support the integration of the technology for teaching and learning. (One per high school, one per middle school, one for every 2 or 3 elementary school)

Professional Development Support: Regular classroom teacher who work periodically (for pay) to support professional development focusing on computer integration in the schools. (Dependent on need)