One of the first conversations I had when taking this position five years ago was with our newly hired network engineer. It had come time to renew the licensing and assigning of voicemail mailboxes for teacherss. There were lots of technical words that didn’t make a whole lot of sense to me, but the overall message was there was some action they need to be taken and it was a convoluted, complicated process. My engineer mentioned that we could simplify things by removing teacher voicemail altogether and having parents leave messages with the campus secretary, or even asking them to send an email instead which is “how most communication happens now anyway.” It was in that moment that I realized the value of my prior experience as a campus leader. Helping a team to truly understand the reality of what happens on a campus versus what happens in an operational department when those experiences obviooooooously aren’t the same!
I told him the only reason he could say that is because he’s never experienced a rainy Friday afternoon dismissal with 650 kids under the age of 10 and everything that comes with THAT. From the panic to the last minute to the very dire questions like, “can you help him find his rain boots in the lost and found from last month’s sprinkling,” …there was no chance my secretary could have handled all of that. (scratch that, she absolutely COULD have, it just may not have gone well for my moms and dads!) We quickly figured out the license issue and made no changes to our teachers worlds.
Fast-forward to five years later, and these are still the conversations that I get to have with my team.
One of my core operation beliefs is that we should have a 48 hour turnaround time for a technology ticket that is entered. Handled, or prioritized, or shifted to the right solution finder…48 hours. Now, keep in mind that I have seven technicians for 7,500 students and about 1,000 employees. That covers six elementary schools, two middle schools, and a big ol’ high school school in adsditions to admin buildings. We have not gotten below 50 tickets until this week, since the start of school. Some of that may be because of system changes that we’ve made, but it’s also just reality of our world.
It’s a struggle to communicate that I expect a greater sense of urgency around closing tickets.
Its just that I know how disruptive it is for a teacher when something isn’t working… it affects their whole flow and their ability to teach. But a technician may look at that same ticket and think, “That’s an easy fix, I can get to it later today,” without realizing that the teacher needed that tool to function at the level they expect of themselves. The disconnect is in how each side experiences the problem, and I’m trying to help the team understand the teacher’s urgency, not just the technical simplicity. But I also dont wnat to negate what all has to be done at tiomes to solve a problem. (Technology is witchcraft!) That doesnt even get into how many teachers now are brand new, or alternatively certified or gulp, when TIA comes into play…what in the world would I even do if I found out that during a TIA evaluation, their technology crashed and burned, causing the class to revolt, which then imapcted thier potatial to get PAID MORE?? Ack!
I had the opportunity to connect with the Belton boys (Do you know the Belton boys? Good people!) and the greatness of Marlo Gaddis over the summer at a conference and they brought up something that they had done that I thought was a genius idea.
I decided it was time for Crandall ISD to start quarterly Walk-a-bout Wednesdays. (or er, sit about Wednesdays…)
This is where I would meet with the principal and choose a teacher or classroom for my technicians to sit in for 45 to 60 minutes as quiet observers.… I wanted them just to witness what it looked like for a nonverbal student to struggle b/c an app wasn’t loading and what that could turn into. Or how frustrating it was for a teacher who couldn’t get their interactive flat panel to do what we’ve promised them that it would do… Or when random pop ups happen and you click the wrong choice and it all does downhill…not to FIX anything but just to see the environment.
And while yes, for people on my team it’s often just a couple of clicks, or a reboot, a refresh, an update…not a big deal, right? But it feels very different when you’ve got 25 sixteen year olds staring at you… or worse, 25 six year olds you have to turn your back on. We forget sometimes that what we can solve in seconds isn’t simple for the average user. Tech people know we can’t really break anything. We know we can always reset it. We know there are only four or five things it could be. But that teacher? Bless it. They’re carrying an entire grade level worth of TEKS in their head, plus 25 individual learning plans, plus whatever life is throwing at them that day, like chants of 6-7.. For them, it’s not “just a quick fix.”, it’s just a lot. My goal to help RETAIN tachers b/c of awesome technology, not make it one struggle they have to deal with.
From my engineers to my administrative assistant to my technicians, we all particpated. The experiences that they were able to share were thought provoking and encouraging. Their heightened appreciation for what teachers do was my favorite part. While I do think it’s going to require more than experiencing it once for it to really sink in, hopefully our team at leasts understand it’s an expectation to look at things through the teacher/student lens.
I’m also going to look at sending my team to surrounding districts for “field trips” next semester. Little half days where they can see how other districts developed systems or processes that they follow in what we could take away or recognize a choke point that we’ve addressed. There’s value in being forced to look at things through a lens you don’t normally use.
It’s easy to forget that what comes easy to you, isn’t easy for everyone. The technical technology part shouldn’t ever get in the way of what we’re actually here for: our teachers and students.
Hope this post find you warm and well, and as always I’m
“A culture is simply a shared vision of what it is you want to do to get to where it is you want to go…It’s up to the coach to create the philosophy.”
Well, folks, we’ve been on quite the leadership journey together, diving deep into some of my favorite Taylor Swift lyrics to unearth some golden nuggets of leadership wisdom. As we wrap up this series, here are your cliff notes of what we’ve hummed along to…
April is flying by, which brings us closer to the “end” of the 23-24 school year. This is where most administrators are already thinking about next year, partly, hopefully, because at this point in the year…life feels easier.