Thank you for allowing me to address The Governor’s Education Transformation Task Force meeting in Pittsgrove, New Jersey. Your work is greatly appreciated. This is a follow-up to the comments I made at the meeting.
I am a Small Business Owner in New Jersey. My company, 11th Hour, provides technology advising and consulting to K-12 schools primarily in New Jersey. I am a former K-12 teacher (two different districts) and District Technology Coordinator. I have a Masters Degree in School Leadership and have passed the Praxis examination for the Principal Certificate of Eligibility. I’ve also consulted for Fortune 500 companies as a network engineer. Lastly, I have a daughter beginning public school Kindergarten in September. This isn’t a sales pitch for my company, particular technologies, vendors, or solutions. It is based on my professional and academic experiences over the last 15 years.
An interesting phenomena occurs in schools and discussions around improvement. Usually discussions of 21st Century learning, innovation, and education reform are devoid of the technical infrastructure in our schools. We strive to ensure our students have the literacies to succeed in the 21st Century. We want them to be great citizens. We want them to be competitive in the global workforce. However, we very rarely talk about the technology literacy of school systems. I would contend that an important component of successful students is having a technical vision for schools. While curriculum, teachers, instruction, assessment, staff evaluations, school culture, and facilities play a vital role, the technical infrastructure is the conduit for which this learning occurs. The technologies mentioned in this position paper lay the foundation for innovation and fiscal responsibility.
Two current technologies – virtualization and cloud computing – are greatly shifting the technology paradigm for schools. Students (and all school stakeholders) can have ubiquitous access to their applications and data anytime and anywhere as a result of cloud and virtualization technologies. This technology can also provide great cost savings for schools in terms of capital expenditures and operating expenses. The amount of hardware needed to perform the same tasks is reduced. The reduction in hardware requires less energy, heating, and cooling providing additional cost savings. Having to manage less or little (in the case of cloud computing) reduces operational expenses.
This paradigm shift is still taking shape in all industries as organizations from Fortune 100 companies to the smallest non-profit settle on the best, most cost-effective technologies that produce the best return on investment. The single greatest need my company sees is the need for schools to have some guidance in the areas of adopting this technology. Right now markets and the private sector are driving the adoption. However, as markets are concerned with bottom lines and revenue streams, the best interest of the student learning and tax payers aren’t always kept in focus. We see schools being proposed $40,000 to $70,000 email upgrade solutions when the same commodity services can be had for $1500 to $2000 (cheaper or somewhat more expensive depending on the district size ) for hosted solutions. These solutions benefit the service provider vendors not the schools, students, and taxpayers. Email management can be complex and burdensome especially for districts with limited staff resources. Allowing it to be hosted by a reputable provider frees up time and resources allowing them to focus on the core mission of schools – learning. This is just one example.
Also, it is often said that most organizations spend 70%-80% of their IT budgets just on maintaining the current state of technology. Schools are no different from our experiences. The two mentioned technologies – cloud computing and virtualization – can provide cost savings. These cost savings can be redirected to student learning and staff. As with any cost and financial model, there is always room for interpretation or debate but there is enough anecdotal, empirical, and historical data to demonstrate there can be financial savings with cloud and virtualization technologies. Admittedly, it isn’t as rosy as many vendors claim but there still can be a significant benefit. Conversely, schools can spend money on solutions that do not leverage this new technology.
Small school districts, often with limited financial means, appear to be on the backside of the adoption curve of these technologies. Faced with aging technologies and limited staff, they could greatly benefit from the virtualization and cloud technologies as capital and operating expenditures are lower – albeit there is usually larger year 1 capital expenses. The overall savings and benefits to students can be significant. I was just in a small school district yesterday that could benefit greatly from this technology.
I realize that proposing regulations or any guidance may be counter to the Task Force’s mission; however, at this time, the confluence of the paradigm shift driven by the current cloud and virtualization technologies, the current economic climate, and the private sector/market driving adoption, vision, guidance and leadership from New Jersey can bring about fiscal savings. This savings can be realized through allowing resources to be focused on teaching and learning.
Vision, guidance, and leadership doesn’t have to be in the form of burdensome regulations or statutes. It can come in the form of training much like the statewide Alan November 21st Century series did a couple of years ago. It can also be in the form of technology plan requirements that ask schools their cloud adoption and virtualization strategies and vision. The state need not recommend or endorse products, services, or vendors. Rather, school technology leaders can be offered the opportunity to see this technology, the global market, how its changing the technology paradigm, its impact on learning, and the potential cost savings. Most importantly, they can become informed consumers as there is no universal solution for every school. And please note, I am not advocating or suggesting 11th Hour provide this training.
I greatly appreciate your time. Please don’t hesitate to contact me should you have any questions. My contact information is:
Edwin Wargo, Partner
11th Hour
617 Stokes Road, Suite 4-205
Medford, NJ 08055
856-599-5175
Respectfully submitted,
Edwin Wargo
