How To Completely Undo Your IT Management

Truly this is not an article on how to dismantle the technical support mechanism at your school. It is however, a recounting of actual experiences – some of them unpleasant – that you should avoid; that is if you wish to have a better technical management support mechanism in place.

Although it is less painful to consider other’s mistakes, making them yourself has a silver lining. Your mistakes can always be used to point out a bad example, which can be instructive …. to others.

 Here are five of the most common self-defeating behaviors we have seen while managing charter schools:

1.       Paying for advice, then completely ignoring it
2.       Allowing everyone to develop their own agenda
3.       Making significant technology related expenses without involving IT
4.       Expecting short turnaround times for complex projects
5.       Assuming IT management grasps the political and leadership challenges in your school

Paying an expert for advice, then completely ignoring it

Several years ago a generous benefactor came to the religious community where we rented facilities for a small K-4 charter school. He had a terminal condition and was offering a generous gift of money to buy computers for both the school and the religious community (they had educational activities during the week).  I was asked to advise them about the best use of this generosity.

After considering the budget, the stated educational objectives, the current infrastructure, and the cost of managing the resources going forward; we proposed a solution to buy 20 laptop PC’s.   They would integrate seamlessly into the existing infrastructure at the school and add to the collection of PC’s currently used to form a full computer lab.

Unfortunately, at the same meeting, was an individual who had much greater influence with the kindly old gentleman, who was an unflinching MAC user; who, without any of the above mentioned considerations, persuaded the benefactor in the direction of using Apple Macs instead.

Please don’t misunderstand, I liked the MAC’s just fine, but given all of the other considerations it was not a good choice. Three months later I was asked to purchase software for the school/congregation to turn these perfectly good MAC’s into PC’s so they could be used with the existing systems and processes the rests of the school was using.

Presumably you have a relationship with a trusted technology consultant as part of your IT management. If that is not the case, you might consider making some changes. And when you seek advice, carefully consider completely ignoring it.

Allowing everyone to develop their own agenda

Want to stimulate creativity by engaging all levels of your staff in a brainstorming exercise of new ideas? Watch out! If you do this without a mechanism to vet those ideas, debate those ideas, and build consensus around the winning ideas you might be causing more damage than good. Trying to herd cats seems a helpful illustration of this concept, which has at its root great potential, but undirected creates chaos, division, power struggles, and politics.

We welcome creativity, the introduction of new ideas, insight into new discoveries, and the development of improved technology. We applaud all those who keep striving to do things better.

However, when those expressions of creativity become individual agendas, it can be detrimental to the organization as a whole – unless there is consensus building, implementation planning, and adequate training.

Several years ago an ambitious technology teacher determined that interactive white boards were an essential part of the classroom experience. And she was quite persuasive. The school purchased and installed the technology at great expense. The perfectly functioning whiteboards were rarely used by even the supporters of the technology and never used by those who did not want it in the first place.

When lesson plans and teaching styles have to be adapted to adopt a new technology, the failure rate rises in proportion to the change required. And without significant buy-in, a top down implementation, and significant training these kinds of projects will fail.

If you cannot manage the process of building consensus and properly implementing a project, then at least do it in a pilot program where the technology can be proved, and likely improved upon, without breaking the bank.

Making significant technology related purchases without input from IT

So common is this scenario that you only have to say these two words “Surprise, Surprise!”, and most technicians immediately know they have been handed a poorly specified, often incompatible, or otherwise problematic new piece of hardware or software to install.

“And could you have it installed yesterday?”

Not long ago we reviewed the USAC Form 471 for a small K-4 charter school that had been approved for over $25,000 of servers, switches, wireless controllers, and access points. While the expected reimbursement was exciting and gratifying, the components specified were not appropriate for the size and makeup of the schools infrastructure. It was the equivalent of putting Boeing 777 engines on a Piper Cub.

Granted, there are times when purchasing decisions cannot wait. And perfect scenarios don’t exists in every school where decisions are adequately considered and due diligence provided. And in a large view, this is a process of continual improvement.

Nevertheless, do yourself a huge favor and run technology purchasing past your IT team and avoid the headaches for both of you. There are two benefits in doing this. First, you will have a much greater chance of getting the right equipment and you may also spend less for the solution.

And this is especially germane to new construction or remodeling projects. Finding that you need a dozen new CAT6 network cables installed is exponentially more difficult after that final coat of paint has been applied.

Expecting short turnaround times for complex projects

Whenever I hear the preface of “How soon can you…” I wonder if adequate consideration has been given to a project or purchase. It’s understandable, logistics now make PC’s appear overnight and you can have an entire computer lab sitting in boxes ready for installation in a few days.

But that does not always happen. We recently placed an order for new lab equipment and were given a 10 day delivery notice. Three weeks later part one of two arrived and it was a full month before the final components were delivered.  It was embarrassing for us and understandably frustrating for the school waiting for the project to be completed.

From a cost perspective, rushing a project universally equates to added costs. And inadequate planning is the most common reason for projects to go awry.

Investigate early, specify clearly, and communicate regularly with your provider about order processing, shipping points, tracking numbers, and any known shipping delays.

Assuming IT grasps the political and leadership challenges of your school

Our management model and the model used by many charter schools are to utilize part-time support resources. In fact our most efficient model places support engineers in the school only a few times each week. And presumably that time is spent solving complex technical issues, rather than circumnavigating power struggles, personality clashes, and addressing individual agendas.

In large measure these are the realities of any organization, so one of the most powerful tools we have used to overcome these very normal challenges is to hold periodic (monthly at least) Technology Advisory Committee (TAC) meetings.

TAC meetings are an invaluable source of information for all involved. Problems can be better identified, the merits of proposed projects can be openly debated, and consensus can be built. A well formed TAC will consist of Technology Managers, Administrators, Department Heads, and representatives of other significant stakeholders. Parent and BOD representatives are especially helpful in this exchange and often provide invaluable “end user” insight.

Summary

Placing your technology team into the appropriate organizational level is an important first step in improving your IT management. Consider that most fortune 500 companies now have Chief Information Officers as part of the highest levels of their management team.

Information systems drive so much school activity and management process that you cannot afford to view IT as the guys who fix computers. And tolerating inadequate IT support staff is very costly. If you don't have the level of expertise you need, get it.

For concrete ways to do this, consider making improvements in the five areas listed above. A helpful moniker is “Just do it!”,… not “Let’s undo it”.

Why you need an e-Rate consultant (and why it cannot be me)

Imagine receiving a coupon in the mail that was redeemable at any grocery store which offered you 70% off of all bread, milk, eggs and meat. Eligibility for the coupon was conditioned upon stating your house had a refrigerator to store the items and completing a few forms before your first shopping spree. In these resource constrained times, few of you would pass up such an opportunity!

Now imagine driving to the store intending to use your coupon to find that only bread and milk were available to you, because of your income. Imagine further that it would take you several hours if not days, to complete the forms required to redeem your coupon, and that the store providing the groceries was prohibited from talking to you about how the coupon worked or how to use it. Additionally, imagine being scheduled for training meetings to learn how to complete the forms which have very time sensitive windows for completion and a long list of approved uses for the discounted groceries. And finally imagine being required to plan your menu 3 – 5 years in advance for your most costly groceries, which of course had to be approved by a complete stranger.

Your coupon suddenly becomes not quite so appealing.  Yet giving up a 70% discount (or more) on items you use every day is very appealing, and for some, quite necessary! What do you do?

This is the “stranger than a reality show” world of e-Rate at a large majority of Charter Schools. Does this sound familiar? Here is the corollary:

• E-Rate is the coupon, USAC controls who gets them, and the relative prosperity of your student’s families is part of your eligibility
• CIPA (Child Internet Protection Act) compliance is your refrigerator, which you must have to even be considered for eligibility
• Your technology service provider is the grocery store who is prohibited from assisting you in obtaining your coupon
• The groceries for which you seek the coupon are your telephone, internet, email, website, and related technology equipment bills

So how do traditional school districts do this? It usually boils down to economy of scale (which most Charter Schools don’t have). Traditional districts are sufficiently large and the funds so significant, that they can afford to hire full-time e-Rate staffers.  Such is not the case with most freestanding Charter Schools.

Is it any wonder that the Charter School Community has difficulty obtaining their fair share of e-Rate funding? With few exceptions what I observe is a complete disaster; in one case the financial losses exceeded one hundred thousand dollars (yes that is six figures worth) in a single school year. And this even happened at a school where financial management was outsourced by supposed professionals, which is truly perplexing.

Here are the most common mistakes I observe regarding e-Rate:

• Attempting to do this without a significant investment in training and time. This is not a good second duty for a principal or math teacher.
• Assuming you are ineligible for reimbursement. Certain expenses are always eligible for reimbursement, regardless of your free and reduced lunch count.
• Failing to utilize a family survey to get a more accurate e-Rate discount. This is especially important where “free lunches” run counter to social norms..
• Structuring technology resources in manner that is ineligible for reimbursement or incorrectly classifying the expenses as priority two.
• Believing (erroneously) that the money is too insignificant to justify the effort 

For most charter schools, this is simply not a task that you should attempt on your own, unless you belong to a consortium of schools that can afford a full-time professional. If you doubt my advice, all that is needed to prove my point is a simple search at the official USAC website which maintains a complete database of e-Rate reimbursement. For example, in the State of Utah in FY 2010 fewer than a dozen charter schools received any e-Rate reimbursement that was not filed by an e-Rate professional.

In states that have a large population of freestanding Charter Schools, an e-Rate consortium is an excellent idea. It essentially brings the economies of scale to individual Charter Schools by filing e-Rate as a group. However, this requires a high degree of co-operation and may provide fewer benefits for some within the consortium than others. Getting independent and highly individualistic charter schools to co-operate seems to be a challenge.

For these reasons, we strongly encourage the use of e-Rate professionals, but it is important to do your homework when selecting an e-Rate professional. There are no formal credentials in the world of e-Rate consultants, although the e-Rate Management Professionals Association is attempting to change that. In our experience, fees range widely, as do the personal interaction with your staff. Some companies provide a mostly web-based do-it-yourself interface; others have a very personal and accountable approach. Our recommendation is Kellogg & Sovereign, LLC located in Ada, Oklahoma.

Now for the “not me” part of this article. By statute, technology service providers are restricted in many aspects of the e-Rate process, especially in the pre-bid time frame. This is to prevent undue influence and fraud associated with contracting procedures, and rightly so. E-Rate fraud has been problematic in the past, which is inexcusable, but understandable as the amount of money involved is significant.

So what’s the bottom line? Decide now to get some professional assistance for your e-Rate process. We are well into the FY 2012-13 e-Rate program year. In the worst case scenario you will be dollars ahead for telephone, fax, email, and web hosting costs each month; and in the best case scenario you will receive a huge discount on those expensive technology upgrades every few years.

In these resource constrained times, you simply cannot continue to ignore this important funding mechanism.