Last week the district held the second round of interviews for the Director of Technology position. I participated in the process as one of the interview committee members. It was a unique and rewarding experience meeting the highly qualified candidates that L-S attracts.
Unfortunately, I am not at liberty to discuss specifics (not even the identities of the interviewed candidates). Dr. Godfrey had us sign the Official Secrets Act before starting. 😉 However, I feel comfortable sharing the following since each candidate echoed similar sentiments.
This is the house that Les built!
Candidates repeated over and over how impressed they were with our technological infrastructure. Over the past eight years, Les and the rest of the IT department have built what other districts only dream of. Candidates talked about our Citrix virtual desktop, thin-client set-up (which Tim Geiter calls, “virtual one-to-one”). We are using this technology in ways no other educational entity does. While other districts have outsourced web services, we do it here in-house having built it from the ground up. We also probably do it better too.
I understand that we have some end user technology issues (i.e., aging CFF laptops) that can be frustrating. When you work at the best school district in the county it is easy to expect the best. But participating in those interviews provided me with perspective and background. It’s that we might have the best —definitely more than most and probably better than most. Is there room to grow and improve? Of course there is.
Because of our impressive technological infrastructure we are posed to leap into an exciting new future of utilizing instructional technology to its fullest potential to improve teaching and learning. Those are not my words but the collective opinion of interviewed candidates who want to work here.
Between the recent accolades in the paper and the kudos from interviewed IT candidates, I have never been prouder to be an L-S Pioneer. You should too! While General George Patton said, “All glory is fleeting.” I would still encourage you to rest on your laurels (for a few days at least). Even a championship team takes the next day off.
When you see Les Stoltzfus, thank him. During his eight years at L-S, Les transformed us into a technological powerhouse, a district other schools ask about and want to model.