Tech strategy calls for new job

To more fully integrate technology into the Las Virgenes Unified School District, local computer guru Neil Ticktin is advising the board of education to hire a chief technology officer who will oversee tech strategies in the district.

Ticktin’s Westlake-based Xplain Corp. provides technology planning services.

Using financial backing from the Las Virgenes Educational Foundation, Ticktin conducted a yearlong study and interviewed administrators, teachers, parents and students about the status of technology in local schools. The research resulted in a 198-page report for the school board.

Board President Dave Moorman said the district wanted to fully incorpoprate technology into its curriculum several years ago, but that the implementation has come in “fits and spurts.” While some teachers use a variety of innovative tech strategies in their classrooms, others do not, he said.

Earlier goals included making sure that all students and teachers would be “personally proficient” with technology tools and that every campus would form a technology committee to create a school tech plan each year. Most importantly, the district would have a system in place for paying for technology.

Some progress has been made.

In 2007, voters passed Measure G, a $128-million school technology bond measure. The school district formed a partnership with the four cities that feed into the district helped to pay for teacher training in technology.

But Ticktin says the school district still lacks a chief technology officer who can oversee all elements of school media and interactive learning. Among other chores, the CTO would would bring a “wiki platform to life,” he said.

A wiki platform is a website that uses software to easily create and edit interlinked web pages. Once teachers are trained on a wiki, they can share lesson plans, links, educational games and other information with each other.

The tool would allow parents to find support in any area at any time, and students would benefit be receiving more interactive learning.

“They could partner with a school in Japan,” Ticktin said.

While all school officials support the concept of a CTO, they are concerned about the cost.

Board member Pat Schulz said funding the position during a budget crisis was an “obstacle,” and finding a candidate with both a technology and teaching background would be a challenge.

Superintendent Donald Zimring said that while the report outlined 132 “specific and doable” tasks, what was missing was a cost estimate. He said filling the CTO position will take more resources than are allocated.

He added that the four-city technology agreement was “fragile” to begin with, and that two cities may drop out of the agreement next year, which would put the school district on the hook for making up the funds.

“A variety of revenue sources right now are very precarious,” Zimring said.

Ticktin believes the money can be found.

“You can’t afford not to do it,” he said. “If the goal is to accomplish things as well as we can, the CTO needs to be in place.”

Moorman said the district could either “piecemeal” technology strategies together over a period of time or “charge someone with the responsibility of driving the train.”

Moorman said the next step for the school district would be to create a job description.