Restructuring Your District for Technology: Suggestions for How to Review Your Organizational Chart

by Michael J. Johnson, Ph.D.

Published in NSBA's Technology Leadership News. March, 1998

The process that most school districts have used to organize for technology resembles the process with which the city of London streets were planned. London was not laid out North-South or East-West, it more or less just happened by what seemed critical or appropriate or convenient or expedient at the time.

London streets canπt be moved and their disorganization is now part of the charm) we need to review and restructure our organizational charts to maximize our effectiveness with technology and its growing importance in all aspects of education.

Past organizational practices were not necessarily bad, things got done and it took us where we are today. But it becomes apparent when one visits hundreds of schools and school districts nationwide that many districts desperately need to review, study and restructure their organizational approaches to work effectively in today's educational environment

Consider the following common scenarios of organization for technology in a school district:

Scenario A: Under the Business Side of the House

Many school districts first organized technology around or under their business functions as automating business processes became a mission critical problem at some point in every school districtπs history. Consequently, the Business Manager/Chief Financial Officer often retains the Technology Department or many technology functions. The rational for this structure is the reality that if the business function fails, all other functions stop in their tracks.

This MIS (Management Information System ) has become increasing problematic as teachers, students, and campuses become more technology proficient and demand decision making roles. An MIS-favored structure can divide the district against itself, forcing departments and functions to compete with each other for technology resources. I have observed Technology Departments where the MIS side did not speak to those involved with Instructional Technology, like the Hatfields and the McCoys. A clear lack of common understanding of mission and priorities can often prevail to keep things embroiled causing silly inefficiencies and needless problems.

Scenario B: Creation of the Separate Technology Department

Many districts have created a separate Technology Department that is no longer under the Business side of the House. However, the tendency has been to continue the departmentπs business orientation because the directorπs background is in business and finance and perhaps even in industry. Again, needless problems ensue not because people are trying to create them but because many MIS technology directors often misunderstand instructional technology and district staff share no common organizational mission or priorities for technology.

Scenario C: District Technology Proclamations Versus Site-Based Management

Having worked for a school board association and having been a superintendent in very small school districts and deputy superintendent in one of the largest districts, I have seen a wide range of district leaders give in to the temptation to make proclamations. Many have mandated that the district will no longer buy a specific platform or they require a standard machine configuration for every desk across districtwide. The battle then erupts between district and some campuses. The district usually wins and enforces its will but instructional technology looses or takes a giant step backward.

Find Solutions by Focusing on The School District's Core Mission

Does your organizational chartπs placement of the Technology Department provide maximum support to the district's main mission? For example, the districtπs Technology Department and its functions should be focused on that core mission which concentrates on teaching and learning. A school districtπs main mission is not to account for revenue and expenditures or build and maintain computer networks. The business and networking functions provide mission critical support to the organization so that it can carry out its main mission, education. Focusing on the mission statement can provide key directions for how to best reorganize for technology.

Who are the Most Important Clients/customers of the Technology Department and are they responsible for carrying out the main mission? Schools carry out the main mission of the school district at itπs basic level? Does the Technology Department consider those clients (obviously schools) their most important customers and does it carry out that understanding in practice? Who are the other key clients of the Technology Department and does the organizational chart reflect how the department's relationship with them might work best to support the district's main mission?

Are district curriculum support resources best structured to support the districtπs main mission and the integration of technology into that mission? Many district level Curriculum Departments remain completely separate from the Technology Department. With more and more resources and content provided via technology, the separation of curriculum and technological resources is a recipe for disaster. Curriculum support leaders must be directly involved with the Technology Department to effectively support the districtπs main mission.

How are technology resources allocated? Again, the resource allocation process should reflect the district's main mission and that mission's its importance?

Most educational leaders who have tried to answer these questions realize that we have not created school district organizational structures that address them. A few districts have reorganized and created top-level associate/deputy superintendent or comparable positions responsible for the instructional side of the house and all of the technological functions. Others have considered the measure but have concluded there are too few candidates out there with the technology background to handle the position.

Times are changing, with newly updated Educational Administration programs in higher education and with the general increase in technology knowledge and skills among practicing administrators who make the effort to learn. With American K-12 schools spending billions each year on technology, we need to find the best ways to organize for technology to ensure that those vast resources effectively focus on the main mission of our school systems.