HSD Grapples with Technology Improvement Challenges

The Hazelwood School District (HSD) is being proactive in creating a blueprint for updating its technology, not only as it pertains to curriculum, but also to the buildings' infrastructure.

HSD hired the Center for Educational Leadership and Technology (CELT) based in Marlborough, Massachusetts to make recommendations for updating the district's technology infrastructure. At a recent board of education meeting, the company discussed its preliminary findings, which it called an IT Blueprint. The report is set to be finalized and released to the public some time this month.

The reason in conducting the study is to help isolate things needing improvements to benefit student achievement, develop students’ competencies, maximize operational effectiveness and efficiency,  enhance staff productivity and  increase parent involvement, according to the district.

How was the study conducted?

CELT described the need for technology updates as a means to 21st century literacy. It described a literate technological student as  an avid reader,  a critical thinker,  a creative problem solver,  an active learner,  an organized investigator, an effective communicator,  a responsible information user and a  skilled user of technology tools.

The project consisted of 13 school site visits, 12 stakeholder interviews, five focus groups, five stakeholder surveys, 835 students, 570  teachers, 159 non-instructional staff, 32 building administrators and 94 parents.

Initial findings include:

• HSD should look into creating a cabinet-level position with technology services oversight.
• Personnel needs to work with teachers on integrating technology into the curriculum. The roles of instructional technology coordinator, library media staff need to be defined.
• Teachers need to maintain a website.
• Hazelwood principals, teachers, and students shared that they do not believe HSD students are being prepared with adequate technology skills. HSD should adopt and implement a K-12 technology plan that identifies specific skills, including keyboarding, that will be taught during computer classes and then practiced and mastered in the content areas.
• HSD needs to define strategies and support teachers’ efforts to see and understand how to incorporate the technology components into daily Common Core State Standards.
• HSD needs to stop replacing aging student computers with aging teacher laptops when the teacher laptops are refreshed.  Research, develop, deploy, and maintain a short-and long-term instructional technology refresh program.
• HSD needs to develop a comprehensive wireless strategy.

Board of Education Reaction

HSD Board of Education member Mark Behlmann expressed some concern with the report. He asked if the district is putting too much faith in technology.

"In today's society, people are not going to drop bombs they are going to hit where it hurts, and that would be to unplug society," he said, "Are we putting all our eggs into one basket?"

HSD Board of Education member Chuck Woods asked Ed Tate, HSD's executive director of technology, if he had thought about how to implement the suggestions yet.

"Some of these issues are money, some of these are switching around staff and some of these are accepting in the common core standards," Tate said. "It depends on the money the district has to make these changes.

"We will work with what we are given."

Woods said technology is a big gamble.

"It looks like every time you turn around something is changing in this department," he said. "Large corporations are spending big bucks.

"We could spend $6 million to get every kid in the district an iPad, but in another two years, we would have to spend another $6 million on new updated ones."

HSD Board of Education Member Carlton Thorton asked the company to consider how all of the technology improvements would accommodate someone with with electromagnetic hypersensitivity, and asked about the feasibility of wi-Fi campuses.

The report is set to be finalized and be made available to the public some time this month.