TECHNICALLY SOUND

The challenges of integrating technology

During a routine life-cycle management planning session, it became apparent to the Charleston County School District (CCSD) that legacy, analog PA systems were not providing the necessary features for ever-changing dynamics in today’s K-12 landscape. In addition, classroom-based sound reinforcement systems were showing a decline of use and function. After many vendor interactions, Tom Nawrocki and his team identified a solution that would combine the PA function and classroom sound enhancement.

This new system provided bell schedules, PA functions, and enhanced room speakers for teacher microphones that placed multiple speakers in the classroom that provided sound closer to all students. The same device that acts as a microphone enables a teacher to press a button sequence that sends an alert to the office and shows their location on a map, which helps office staff or emergency responders find them quicker in an emergency. The system also ties into the digital signage and teacher display boards for emergency notifications.

“The main lesson we learned is that technology is constantly changing and improving,” says Nawrocki, Executive Director of Network Operations and Cybersecurity. “By changing the paradigm from the habit of just replacing systems with ‘like’ systems to seeking more advanced systems with integrations, there is a cost savings on multiple levels.”

“By changing the paradigm from the habit of just replacing systems with ‘like’ systems to seeking more advanced systems with integrations, there is a cost savings on multiple levels.”

— Tom Nawrocki, Executive Director of Network Operations & Cybersecurity, Charleston County School District

Today, embracing new technology can be a game-changer for K-12 operations—technology that can enhance everything from school PA systems, classroom learning and administrative efficiency. The nationally accredited Charleston County School District (CCSD) is the second-largest school district in South Carolina, representing a unique blend of urban, suburban, and rural schools along the Atlantic coast. CCSD serves approximately 50,000 students in 88 schools and specialized programs.

So when it comes to delivering the best in technology for CCSD, Nawrocki says the key lies in identifying, integrating and using the technology. With so many technological enhancements on the market today, being able to stay current on what is available and how it can help your district is crucial. “We have constant communication with good VARs (Value-Added Resellers), webinars and trade publications. I also stay in close contact to similar sized districts across the country to see what others are doing.”

The CCSD team also participates in various training programs. For example, for district-wide building-based solutions, the vendors Nawrocki and his team use provide training to school staff. For IT-specific solutions, vendor training is utilized, while online training is utilized where appropriate.

Moves in action

When Florida’s third largest school district, Pinellas County Schools, set out to find an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system, Director of Purchasing Joe Benjamin, NIGP-CPP, CPPO, CPPB, decided to conduct his due diligence. With 67 school districts in the state, Benjamin reached out to some of his colleagues to see what they were using. He found a collection of software applications that help school districts manage their daily operations, including finance, human resources, and more, and an ERP system that helps centralize data, automate tasks, and improve compliance and employee satisfaction.

For his part, Benjamin wanted to see how the other schools rated their systems, how the implementation went and whether they would do anything differently. He also examined the possibility of piggybacking a recent award from one of those districts and if it would work for Pinellas County Schools. In addition, he studied Gartner chart ratings on best-in-class ERP systems.

His research led Pinellas County Schools to Focus, a relatively new and somewhat K-12 centric ERP system in the marketplace. The company’s beginnings in K-12 software came through and has been expanded via a Student Information System utilized by many Florida school districts. “The programmers for the company are very flexible and seem to be eager to make requested modifications where they make sense,” Benjamin says. “We are the biggest client to date, with 14,000 employees (the largest employer in Pinellas County) and 130 schools.”

After the completion of its gap analysis, the Pinellas County School district will move to staff training in early 2025 and go fully live in October 2025. Benjamin says the Focus ERP system offers a three-year minimum of accessible data storage and an additional four years of data history that can be archived in keeping with state retention requirements. It also is as paperless as possible, offers ease in answering FOIA requests, including electronic redaction of sensitive or trade secret information, and has robust remote connectivity. There also is problem-solving support within 24-hour response.

“It’s a matter of knowing you are going through a process of understanding whether what you choose will realize true process improvement,” Benjamin says. “Will the changes or improvements have changed the way I do business today and is the change a benefit to the organization or is it just a workaround? Once the implementation is complete, what kind of support will we have in subsequent years, and what does that cost us? If we have ideas of how the system(s) could be better, is there a process for submitting system enhancement requests? If there is, how often can we expect those enhancements to be created and implemented?”

“It’s a matter of knowing you are going through a process of understanding whether what you choose will realize true process improvement.” 

— Joe Benjamin, Director of Purchasing, Pinellas County Schools

With so many variables in play and stakeholders involved, Benjamin says each district must run through the course in its own manner. “School districts are a very different animal. I’ve worked for an aviation authority, two cities and two counties in central Florida and, while best practices are the same, operationally school districts are very different, mainly due to the multiple funding sources school districts draw from each having their own requirements of how that money may be spent. Reporting requirements for school districts is very stringent and they are one of the most audited government entities, again because of the multiple funding sources. With all of that said, my advice to my fellow school districts is to make sure that every department has documented their as-is requirements, specifying what is mandated and what can be changed.” As technology becomes a cornerstone of today’s K-12 landscape, school districts continue to find innovative ways to integrate it effectively into classrooms. The key is finding the right type of collaboration from all stakeholders involved on the way to helping prepare students for a digital future.