Over the past twenty-five years, I have been involved in leading a number of school-based technology initiatives including: establishing the very first writing labs, setting up a school’s first Internet lab, teaching an Internet course to the faculty, being the first to build a computer lab that used a cable modem as a high-speed internet router, wiring two schools, taking a high-poverty high school from the worst to the best in a large district in student-computer ratio, and leading a one-to-one laptop initiative. In addition, I served as the lead principal in our district’s technology planning group for almost a decade. Finally, I was one of the very principals to earn Microsoft Server Certification.
Not only do I believe in technology and the promise technology brings to learning and teaching, but I have devoted much of my career to bringing technology into the classroom. I learned from practice that, until each student has his or her own device with 24/7 network and Internet access, we are only “dabbling around the edges” of technology implementation.
If I were in a school today, I would be working to integrate mobile devices (smartphones, iPads) into the school network. I would be involved in figuring out How School Wireless Networks CAN support student owned mobile devices.
“The growing presence of smart phones and student owned mobile devices (iPhones, iPads, Android, etc.) in K-12 schools is a major concern for IT Directors and school administrators everywhere. It’s one of those things that everyone knows is there, but don’t know how to control. So most schools adopt a “no cell phone” policy and don’t allow students to bring their own mobile devices to school. Most administrators do this because of the very real risk of viruses from those devices and no way to enforce the CIDA law that requires K-12 Schools have appropriate content filtering.”
Reality Check
While many of us, including me, are thinking one-to-one computing and high speed broadband, many schools are so short of funding or have such outdated facilities that none of this tech talk makes any sense. Schools are being forced to “make do.”
Because they cannot afford to purchase equipment, they find themselves considering band-aid approaches to technology integration. They consider allowing teachers to bring their personal equipment and having students BYOD (bring your own device) while all the time knowing full well that many of their students have no such devices.
Times are tough even in the most unlikely places. In fact, things are so bad some schools can’t even find a place to plug in their few interactive whiteboards. Take Falls Church High School, a diverse, high-poverty school located in Falls Church, VA. Keep in mind that Falls Church High School is a part of the Fairfax County Public Schools and is in the second wealthiest and highest educated large county in the entire nation.
According to a recent Washington Post article, “there are holes in the ceiling at Falls Church High School. Heating registers are rusted and corroded; sinks are stained; mold creeps along walls. And parents are fed up. “This is a good school,” said James Stocking, father of two Falls Church students. “But we have people trying to move out of my neighborhood so their kids don’t have to go here.”
Even if teachers and students wanted to bring their own devices, there wouldn’t be any place to plug them in. At Falls Church, “electrical wiring doesn’t support interactive whiteboards, said Principal Cathy Benner, and the computer lab has to be jury-rigged to support enough machines.”
If this is happening at Falls Church High School in one of the nation’s wealthiest districts, it is hard for me to believe that there aren’t more schools out there that are in the same boat.
Principal Cathy Benner is in a difficult position. Her building is “crumbling.” Families are pulling out their children and leaving to attend other schools. The community expects Benner to advocate for their school. The school district expects Cathy to be a “team player.” If she doesn’t advocate energetically for the school, she will lose community support. If Benner advocates too vociferously, the higher-ups will withdraw their support. She is literally between a rock and a hard place.
Cathy Benner can’t level the playing field with technology, because she can’t afford it and, even if she could afford technology, she couldn’t plug it in. However, the expectations for student achievement at Falls Church continue to go up and up. Like Kevin Lowndes, Principal of Wheaton (MD) High School, and many of her fellow school leaders who serve the underserved, Cathy Benner must improve student achievement or Fairfax County Schools will replace her with someone who will.
The Bottom Line
School reform leaders say that they want the best school leaders and teachers working with the neediest students. However, Falls Church High School is but one example of how schools serving underserved populations are neglected and ignored by their own districts, who, in effect, are making a conscious choice to leave some schools and students behind.
Situations like Falls Church only serve to drive many school leaders away. As long as serving the underserved is perceived to be a “career killer” these schools will suffer. Technology for my students was a necessity. For school leaders with crumbling buildings like Cathy Benner, tech talk is simply a nicety.
