When most people think of technology at Interstate 35, they think of the students’ Chromebooks and the school’s Internet, but in reality the I-35 Technology Department is responsible for so much more. The Interstate 35 Technology Department consists of only two employees - Technology Director Heather Wells and employee Bryan Sheets,Technology Specialist. This two-person team is responsible for maintaining and updating all the technology in the District which includes all classroom and auditorium equipment, student and staff devices, software accounts, the District security cameras, electronic door access, phones, bells, clocks and of course, the District’s Internet and on-site servers. Whew!
One of the most visible technology devices within the District are the student Chromebooks. Interstate 35 is currently a one-to-one district from 1st through 12th grades. In the elementary classrooms (1st - 4th) each classroom is equipped with a cart of Chromebooks for each student in the classroom to use throughout the day. The middle school and high school students are issued a Chromebook at the beginning of the year and are allowed to take it home in the evenings to complete school work. One of the biggest responsponsibilities of the Technology Department is ensuring the student Chromebooks are in good working order. In addition to the student Chromebooks, the District owns approximately 200 iPads which are used in the DayCare, PreSchool and Kindergarten classrooms, the technology classroom, and elementary library by students. The Technology Department maintains all the iPads and is responsible for installing and maintaining the apps on each iPad.
Along with student devices, the Technology Department also maintains the staffs’ school-owned individual devices. Nearly every staff member at Interstate 35 is issued an individual device for school-related use. The Technology Department put in place a plan to begin transitioning staff to Chromebooks which are larger and faster than students’ Chromebooks, and are designed specifically for teachers. Making this switch will save the District over $80,000 every upgrade year (teacher devices are replaced and updated every four years). “Making this switch required a lot of research, thought, and discussion. I know a lot of teachers really like having a laptop, but as we have developed our District into a Google School and having everyone on the same platform is important. I reached out to many other technology directors in the state and a large number of districts are also moving teachers to Chromebooks,” Director Heather Wells. Along with the minimum of $80,000 saved on the devices, the District will also save nearly $10,000 a year by no longer needing to download Microsoft software onto teachers’ laptops and moving to online Microsoft accounts.
In addition to maintaining each of the individual devices in the District, the Technology Department maintains the Google accounts for every user in the District as well as nearly all of the other educational software accounts such as Go Guardian, FlexiSched, ESGI, Turnitin, Kajeet, BrainPop, Edgenuity, Abcya, MobyMax, and FAST.
The I-35 Technology Department also plays an integral role in the District’s security. The Technology Department is responsible for maintaining the security camera system’s physical cameras as well as the software needed to store and review footage, and maintaining user access. Along with the security cameras, the Technology Department maintains the door access system to allow building access to staff and public members. In January 2024, the school transitioned staff building access from nondescript fobs to photo ID badges. Over the 2024 summer, the District, with the Technology Department’s support, will begin transitioning community access of the building from the same nondescript fobs to photo ID badges as well. This update will ensure everyone with access to the I-35 facilities will have a photo ID badge. A lesser-known security tool I-35 uses is an emergency communication application. Director Wells ensures all new staff members have access to the application by creating a user account and making sure each staff member has access to it.
In order to keep all things running smoothly we must have a high functioning internal data system. For the last 12 years, Technology Specialist Bryan Sheets has been responsible for updating and maintaining the District’s server system, and is available nearly 24 hours a day to ensure our servers are functioning at peak performance. “We had a situation a few months ago - the air conditioning unit in our main server room went down - and Bryan was on-site throughout a Saturday night and into Sunday morning to ensure our servers didn’t overheat and go down until we could get someone in to fix the AC unit,” Technology Director Heather Wells. Without the servers, the school loses more than just the Internet; the school’s phones system, our PA system, the clocks, and the bell systems all rely on the servers and are serviced through the Technology Department.
One of the least known responsibilities of the technology department is our District’s marketing platform (Apptegy), the school website, I-35 app, and the District’s social media platforms. Most of the updates and changes made to the District website are made directly by Heather Wells; information created by teachers and administrators to be shared out via our school social media accounts (Facebook, Instagram, and X) is pushed out through our school marking platform Apptegy, which is linked to the District social media accounts, and sent out by Wells. District-wide updates, emergency notices, and weather related notifications that are sent out via Infinite Campus and the District social media sites.
In order to maintain our system, Wells seeks grants to help off-set the cost of equipment and software. Every year the Technology Department files for the Universal Service Schools and Libraries Program, commonly known as "E-rate," which provides discounts of up to 90 percent to help eligible schools and libraries in the United States obtain affordable telecommunications and internet access. Heather Wells also wrote a request to the Interstate 35 Education Foundation to purchase three interactive display boards for support classrooms that did not have projectors, and is currently researching other funding opportunities to help update more of the current projectors in the District to interactive displays.
Many of the Technology Department responsibilities go largely unnoticed - the team works diligently to maintain a solid operating system. If issues do arise, staff members are asked to alert the Technology Department via an online work order form created so repairs can be scheduled and a record of work can be maintained. Unfortunately, some issues arise outside of the school day and even on weekends. Both Heather Wells and Bryan Sheets make themselves available outside of contract hours to provide necessary support in order to keep all of Interstate 35’s systems online and operational at times.
Keeping our systems up and running takes tremendous attention to detail and an ability to troubleshoot and problem solve. We are thankful for our team and all they do. We are better as a result of their work and commitment.
