AI, Infrastructure, and the Evolving Role of Technology Leadership in Independent Schools
In this episode, technology leaders from independent schools discuss the complexities of their evolving roles. They share insights on managing AI integration, ensuring data privacy, and developing comprehensive business continuity plans. The conversation also explores strategies for fostering strong technology departments and the importance of community and collaboration in navigating the challenges of technology leadership.
Resources
- Knowledge-ABLE: Igniting a New Generation of Lifelong Learners, book providing a framework for effective learning that extends beyond traditional education
- UpLearn, LLC, educational consulting company
- The Pingry School
- New Jersey Association of Independent Schools
- Link to episode “Christina and the Dudes”
- Skill Struck, online learning platform including “Chat for Schools”
- Resources, from National Business Officers Association (NBOA)
- Resources, from ATLIS
- ATLIS Leadership Institute
- Technology Leaders in Independent Schools (TLIS) certification
- Nick Burns, IT Guy, SNL sketch with Jimmy Fallon
- ATLIS Annual Conference 2025
Transcript
Peter Frank:
Phil, welcome to Talking Technology with ATLIS,
Peter Frank:
the show that plugs you into the important topics and trends for
Peter Frank:
technology leaders all through a unique Independent School lens.
Peter Frank:
We'll hear stories from technology directors and other
Peter Frank:
special guests from the Independent School community,
Peter Frank:
and provide you with focused learning and deep dive topics.
Peter Frank:
And now please welcome your host. Kristina Lewellen,
Christina Lewellen:
Hello everyone, and welcome back to
Christina Lewellen:
talking technology with Atlas. I'm Kristina Lewellen, the
Christina Lewellen:
President and CEO of the Association of Technology
Christina Lewellen:
Leaders in Independent Schools. And
Bill Stites:
I am Bill Stites, the Director of Technology at
Bill Stites:
Montclair Kimberly Academy in Montclair, New Jersey. And
Hiram Cuevas:
I'm Hiram Cuevas, Director of Information Systems
Hiram Cuevas:
and Academic Technology at St Christopher school in Richmond,
Hiram Cuevas:
Virginia.
Christina Lewellen:
Hey, good morning, gents. How you doing?
Christina Lewellen:
Hello. It's cold today. It is cold. And I know that there's
Christina Lewellen:
been, you know, between the wildfires in California and the
Christina Lewellen:
weather on this side of the country, where we all are
Christina Lewellen:
located, lots of disruptions to learning. Did you guys miss some
Christina Lewellen:
school days coming off of the holiday and into the first part
Christina Lewellen:
of the year?
Hiram Cuevas:
We sure did. We actually had a water crisis here
Hiram Cuevas:
in Richmond, Virginia, where the pumps went down during that
Hiram Cuevas:
first snowstorm, and so the city of Richmond had no water for
Hiram Cuevas:
four days.
Christina Lewellen:
Yeah, when I was at the Virginia Association
Christina Lewellen:
of Independent Schools a couple weeks back, the talk of the town
Christina Lewellen:
was, Do you have water? How long did you have no water? What do
Christina Lewellen:
we do without water? So that cannot be a good situation. I'm
Christina Lewellen:
glad that you guys are restored at this point.
Hiram Cuevas:
We are all restored, and we did go virtual
Hiram Cuevas:
for one day, but that was all we needed. Awesome.
Bill Stites:
Jersey has been largely open and running. I
Bill Stites:
shouldn't say I laugh, but when the south gets snow and what
Bill Stites:
happens in areas where you're not accustomed
Christina Lewellen:
to it? Oh, Virginia is shut down. Yeah, I
Christina Lewellen:
can only imagine, like we are a mess right now. Yeah,
Bill Stites:
my wife's from Vermont, so she laughs at me
Bill Stites:
every time I complain about snow here. And then when we hear
Bill Stites:
about snow anywhere, kind of below Washington, DC, it's
Bill Stites:
probably the same type of thing. So, but no, we're all good.
Christina Lewellen:
It's awesome, though, if you're a
Christina Lewellen:
transplant, I mean, I've said it before on the pod. I'm from
Christina Lewellen:
Buffalo area, and so when it snows, I go to the gym, I go to
Christina Lewellen:
Costco, like, it's a good day for me, because I'm fine. I'm
Christina Lewellen:
good. You know
Bill Stites:
what? It's interesting, like, you're fine.
Bill Stites:
And, like, if you grew up around, it's everyone else
Bill Stites:
that's, like, moving around that you need to be, like, really
Bill Stites:
mindful of. For
Christina Lewellen:
the most part, they're home. They're
Christina Lewellen:
afraid. So if you go out in the thick of it, you're usually
Christina Lewellen:
pretty safe. Yeah, I think,
Hiram Cuevas:
unfortunately, a lot of people think, because
Hiram Cuevas:
they have four wheel drive, they can drive in anything and can't
Hiram Cuevas:
drive
Hiram Cuevas:
on ice. Doesn't matter.
Christina Lewellen:
Stay in your lane. Folks. Stay in your lane.
Christina Lewellen:
Well, we're gonna do that today. Stay in our lane because we had
Christina Lewellen:
had a podcast not long ago that we recorded just the guys and
Christina Lewellen:
me, and we kind of re introduced ourselves, and we're gonna drop
Christina Lewellen:
that one sooner rather than later. And so it's a good follow
Christina Lewellen:
up. I wanted to kind of stay in the lane of technology
Christina Lewellen:
leadership. We've been in a space with this podcast where
Christina Lewellen:
we've been talking a lot about Ed Tech leadership, and we've
Christina Lewellen:
had some really notable, incredible humans on our pod
Christina Lewellen:
that we I'm not even sure why we snagged them. They were good
Christina Lewellen:
guests for us, and we learned a whole lot. But I really want to
Christina Lewellen:
stay in the space of technology leadership at our schools,
Christina Lewellen:
because I think there's a lot going on. I think our tech
Christina Lewellen:
directors are feeling it like feel it all the feels in terms
Christina Lewellen:
of the stuff that's being juggled. And so Bill and Hiram,
Christina Lewellen:
I got from you guys your take on how things are going at your
Christina Lewellen:
schools. This week, we're going to welcome in a couple of
Christina Lewellen:
additional technology leaders, some of my absolute favorites. I
Christina Lewellen:
know that you guys feel the same way we're welcoming today.
Christina Lewellen:
Bradley lands. Brad is the award winning author of a book which
Christina Lewellen:
is pretty incredible, but also is the Chief Technology Officer
Christina Lewellen:
at the Langley school here in McLean, Virginia, and so
Christina Lewellen:
probably dealing with some snow yourself. Are you guys open
Christina Lewellen:
today? Brad or no,
Bradley Lands:
so we are technically open, but it's a
Bradley Lands:
faculty work day, and so faculty can work remotely if they need
Bradley Lands:
to, but our campus is open for business. Love it,
Christina Lewellen:
and also welcoming from New Jersey and
Christina Lewellen:
one of Bill's BFFs. We'll get into that. Steve France from the
Christina Lewellen:
Pingree school, you're the Director of Technology at the
Christina Lewellen:
Pingree school. I had the opportunity to come up and visit
Christina Lewellen:
the Pingree school extension not long ago, which was kind of
Christina Lewellen:
cool. Are you guys open for business and enjoying the start
Christina Lewellen:
of your
Steve Frantz:
year? We are. We even made it open for a day of
Steve Frantz:
service yesterday, which was a little bit of a struggle. We
Steve Frantz:
literally had our facilities team like plowing grass so that
Steve Frantz:
we had additional parking at our extra campus. Gotta love
Christina Lewellen:
all these interruptions. So before we go
Christina Lewellen:
down the path, I am going to let you guys in. Going to let you
Christina Lewellen:
guys introduce yourselves a bit more and give a little bit more
Christina Lewellen:
of your background. You are Atlas die hards and the smiling
Christina Lewellen:
faces I see around every corner at the conference. So it's a
Christina Lewellen:
real pleasure to have you guys here, and I'll do my best to
Christina Lewellen:
keep bill and Hiram under control. But I never make any
Christina Lewellen:
warranties or promises, so my lawyer. Told me to say that,
Christina Lewellen:
let's start where I know it's going to go. So maybe if we do
Christina Lewellen:
it in the beginning, when I'm a little sharper and I can keep it
Christina Lewellen:
under control. Bill, you went to college with Steve.
Bill Stites:
I did if anyone's looking for the dirt, if
Bill Stites:
anyone's going to write a book, if anyone's going to do
Bill Stites:
anything, you either talk to Steve or, in particular, his
Bill Stites:
wife, who I went to school with, as well. I can actually say I've
Bill Stites:
known Steve's wife longer than Steve's known his wife. Did
Christina Lewellen:
you introduce them? No, that would
Christina Lewellen:
have been fun.
Hiram Cuevas:
I thought Bill was gonna say Friendster or MySpace.
Steve Frantz:
Could you imagine if I had that hanging over
Christina Lewellen:
my head? That's true. It's bad enough as
Christina Lewellen:
it is, Right? Steve, it
Steve Frantz:
is. It definitely is. But yeah,
Bill Stites:
we went to college together at Montclair State,
Bill Stites:
many, many moons ago, and then ended up living in the same
Bill Stites:
development, which is where we bumped into one another, and
Bill Stites:
where I've originally put forth the idea of Steve coming to work
Bill Stites:
with me here, and then Kay, which is just where it all kind
Bill Stites:
of came together on the school technology side. I
Christina Lewellen:
love that. So Steve, let's go to your
Christina Lewellen:
journey first. Then since Bill kind of did the bump set there,
Christina Lewellen:
we now know that with an unfortunate run in in your
Christina Lewellen:
neighborhood, you ended up being pulled into, well, fortunate or
Christina Lewellen:
unfortunate, I'm not sure yet. Let's see that you got pulled
Christina Lewellen:
into the Independent School world, and you worked with Bill
Christina Lewellen:
for a while. So tell us a little bit about your background and
Christina Lewellen:
why did you stay? He pulled you in, and then you're still here.
Christina Lewellen:
So tell us your story. Well, to give it
Steve Frantz:
a little context, like we ran into each other at
Steve Frantz:
the video store. So just time frame, right? Like it gives you
Steve Frantz:
a good timeline on this. I miss the video
Christina Lewellen:
store. Yeah.
Bill Stites:
Gotta love blockbuster. VHS, not DVD. Were
Christina Lewellen:
you kind did you rewind?
Steve Frantz:
As a former video store employee, I always rewind,
Steve Frantz:
Okay, excellent. I got a job, and I was working in the graphic
Steve Frantz:
arts world, working on computers all the time, because, like,
Steve Frantz:
anytime that a computer went down, we were down. So I learned
Steve Frantz:
how to repair things very quickly. Bill got the bump to
Steve Frantz:
the Director of Technology at MKA, and was looking for a new
Steve Frantz:
technician. And he's like, how would you feel about working in
Steve Frantz:
a school? And I was like, Yeah, I'll give that a try. That was
Steve Frantz:
in 1999 so I put in 14 years under Bill's tutelage.
Unknown:
Shall we say that's more like a sentence,
Christina Lewellen:
a sentence, then you got paroled. I did Time
Christina Lewellen:
with Bill. I did a lot of time with Bill. Did you get out with
Christina Lewellen:
time served?
Steve Frantz:
I'm still paying. I'm on like, some level of
Steve Frantz:
probation, I guess, at this point still. But about 12 years
Steve Frantz:
ago, I took a role at the Pingree school, basically a
Steve Frantz:
lateral move to be a little closer to home. I had one year
Steve Frantz:
old at home that I wanted to spend a lot more time with, and
Steve Frantz:
basically helped Pingree launch a bunch of different initiatives
Steve Frantz:
here and took over the director role almost two years ago now.
Christina Lewellen:
Awesome. Congratulations. Thank you.
Christina Lewellen:
Let's shift to Bradley for a second. Brad Tell me a little
Christina Lewellen:
bit about your journey, and before we get too far,
Bradley Lands:
go Dukes. Yeah, go Dukes. Absolutely. I did
Christina Lewellen:
not graduate from I'm from New York, but my
Christina Lewellen:
youngest is a Duke dog at JMU, and she's pursuing accounting.
Bradley Lands:
Awesome. Yeah. So I went to school at JMU, and
Bradley Lands:
that's kind of how I ended up staying in the Northern Virginia
Bradley Lands:
area after I got my teaching degree, but I always knew I
Bradley Lands:
wanted to be a teacher. So my background is actually in
Bradley Lands:
education. I started off my career as a middle school math
Bradley Lands:
and science teacher, and my short story is just saying yes
Bradley Lands:
pretty much to everything. It was always like yes, and so my
Bradley Lands:
principal at the time asked me to step into our CTE role of
Bradley Lands:
career and technical education. So I said, Sure, and you know, I
Bradley Lands:
had to get certified, and I ended up teaching technology
Bradley Lands:
after that. And so after that, I became an instructional
Bradley Lands:
technology coach, and then got my admin degree. And I was
Bradley Lands:
really passionate about technology and education, and I
Bradley Lands:
just wanted to pursue that as my next career move. And so I ended
Bradley Lands:
up at the Langley School, where I was the Director of Technology
Bradley Lands:
and Innovation for nine years, and then most recently, two
Bradley Lands:
years ago, I became the chief technology officer at the
Bradley Lands:
Langley school. And so I have a unique perspective, because my
Bradley Lands:
background is in education, and I have had to come a long way to
Bradley Lands:
learn all about the IT side, the networking infrastructure and
Bradley Lands:
Atlas has definitely helped me with that a lot. So I'm happy to
Bradley Lands:
be here. Thank you so much for having me.
Christina Lewellen:
Yeah, thank you guys both. So I want to jump
Christina Lewellen:
into something, as I mentioned in our intro, I had just
Christina Lewellen:
recently had a conversation just the three of us, our co host
Christina Lewellen:
podcast, where I asked the guys a bit about what they were
Christina Lewellen:
seeing and feeling as tech director. And so I'd like to ask
Christina Lewellen:
both of you what your top priorities are right now, what
Christina Lewellen:
are some of the things that you're thinking about, what are
Christina Lewellen:
some of the projects that you're working
Steve Frantz:
on at your schools? So from my perspective,
Steve Frantz:
you know, AI is all the discussions and meetings that we
Steve Frantz:
have, particularly with our ed tech side of the school,
Steve Frantz:
figuring out what tool you. Going to use, where you're going
Steve Frantz:
to go with those tools. What's the line in the sand as to where
Steve Frantz:
you're allowed to use those tools, both for the students and
Steve Frantz:
for the educators? So that's a big part. And then on the other
Steve Frantz:
side of things, we're always keeping up with, like, you know,
Steve Frantz:
the newest technology, and there's always big upgrades
Steve Frantz:
happening in the school. So like, we have a full switch
Steve Frantz:
replacement happening this year, which is something that, aside
Steve Frantz:
from my department, nobody sees, nobody knows about. But it's an
Steve Frantz:
enormous expenditure of money, and it's a lot of time, and it's
Steve Frantz:
a lot of effort, and like looking at all the different
Steve Frantz:
resources that are available, all the different new things on
Steve Frantz:
the market, and figuring out which tool to go if we switch up
Steve Frantz:
technology that we've currently been using, and what path we go
Steve Frantz:
down on that front too? Yeah,
Christina Lewellen:
like switches and changing s is are
Christina Lewellen:
like the most thankless jobs, right? Because nobody really
Christina Lewellen:
knows all the work that goes into it. It's a massive lift,
Christina Lewellen:
and then at the end of the day, it's the same as yesterday,
Christina Lewellen:
right? To the outside world, yes, when you're looking at
Christina Lewellen:
tools, where would you say your line is? Are you kind of pro AI?
Christina Lewellen:
Are you concerned about like as a school?
Steve Frantz:
So from the school, there's still a lot of
Steve Frantz:
discussion happening, because there are some very strong
Steve Frantz:
opinions, and there are people that are very pro tools and
Steve Frantz:
figuring out great ways to use them, and we're trying to figure
Steve Frantz:
out some cool ways that we can use them outside of the
Steve Frantz:
classroom to show our community the power of the tools like one
Steve Frantz:
of the things that we're currently doing is we're working
Steve Frantz:
on putting a bot together right now that is going to contain all
Steve Frantz:
the information from like our handbooks, our different
Steve Frantz:
protocols within the school, how to access different resources
Steve Frantz:
within the school so that instead of you having to, like,
Steve Frantz:
search through a resource page within our portal, you can go to
Steve Frantz:
the bot and say, you know, type in a question. It's like, you
Steve Frantz:
know, how do I log into ADP? Or what is the best way for me to
Steve Frantz:
change my FSA contributions? And hopefully, the bot will deliver
Steve Frantz:
the correct answer, which is the other piece that we're kind of
Steve Frantz:
dealing with too, you know, like we're feeding the content in. So
Steve Frantz:
we, we actually did go with a product that we're still kind of
Steve Frantz:
playing with and testing that puts like, kind of like guard
Steve Frantz:
rails on our information, and it's not allowing all of our
Steve Frantz:
school information to go out into, like, the greater engine,
Steve Frantz:
right? So, you know, we're putting that box around our
Steve Frantz:
information, but we're hoping that the systems will still,
Steve Frantz:
like, deliver the information in an appropriate and helpful way,
Steve Frantz:
because that'll be a good way to get buy in from members of our
Steve Frantz:
community. Yeah,
Bill Stites:
absolutely. Steve, what is the tool that you're
Bill Stites:
using? Because this is something that I've gone down the road
Bill Stites:
with on a couple of occasions. We talked to like Hudson Harper
Bill Stites:
and other people on the pod about that, in terms of, like,
Bill Stites:
trying to figure those things out. And it's those guard rails.
Bill Stites:
It's protecting your own information, like I played with
Bill Stites:
po and a few others, you know. But again, these are largely
Bill Stites:
bots that once you make available, they're open in
Bill Stites:
public. There's not a way to contain it to just your
Bill Stites:
community, and then again, those guard rails around the actual
Bill Stites:
information that you're putting in that it's not feeding the
Bill Stites:
larger llms that are out there. So what is the tool? And how
Bill Stites:
have you thought about and talked about those pieces?
Steve Frantz:
We had a task force, as most schools do. We
Steve Frantz:
played with a bunch of the different education tools that
Steve Frantz:
were available, and we landed on school AI as a tool that we were
Steve Frantz:
going to go with. And school AI has great feature sets for
Steve Frantz:
educators, and they have some great ways for them to put
Steve Frantz:
together lessons and different things that they're going to
Steve Frantz:
utilize the AI tools that they can just then push into our LMS
Steve Frantz:
Schoology. But we're still kind of in that process where we're
Steve Frantz:
playing so we've purchased school AI as like our platform
Steve Frantz:
for the school, and within that, we can build our own bots, and
Steve Frantz:
we can feed our own information into those systems. When
Bill Stites:
that bot is then available. Is there a way in
Bill Stites:
which you can make it so that it's only people that are at a
Bill Stites:
Pingry domain? How do you control access to that bot?
Steve Frantz:
Oh, yeah. So it's, again, it's a walled garden, so
Steve Frantz:
you have to have a pingree.org email address to get into the
Steve Frantz:
system, and it's going through our single sign on with Google
Christina Lewellen:
and Brad, how about you? What are you
Christina Lewellen:
seeing and what are you kind of wrestling? Any cool projects on
Christina Lewellen:
the horizon at the Langley school.
Bradley Lands:
Yeah, so with other schools AI has been a huge
Bradley Lands:
initiative for us. And in addition, you know, just upping
Bradley Lands:
our cyber security and looking into data privacy and security
Bradley Lands:
policies such as data retention, looking at data retention
Bradley Lands:
schedules, and then also developing a strong business
Bradley Lands:
continuity plan has been a really big project for us.
Bradley Lands:
Coming out of the pandemic, a lot of people realize that we're
Bradley Lands:
moving a lot of data into the cloud, way more than we even
Bradley Lands:
used to. And so schools are starting to realize how much
Bradley Lands:
data we have in the cloud, and looking to come up with really
Bradley Lands:
strong data retention plans and schedules to make sure. We are
Bradley Lands:
being responsible and safe with that data. But I'd love to speak
Bradley Lands:
a little bit about AI, because it was actually one of our
Bradley Lands:
annual priorities this year. And so we had a really big
Bradley Lands:
initiative moving forward with AI, and we had a task force as
Bradley Lands:
well. The first thing we did was develop a policy, both for
Bradley Lands:
faculty and staff, and then we created a separate policy for
Bradley Lands:
students. And then after we had a policy, we were reviewing
Bradley Lands:
different tools, and school AI is amazing, we ended up going
Bradley Lands:
with a slightly different tool just because we thought it met
Bradley Lands:
our needs a little bit better. But this one's really under the
Bradley Lands:
radar. It's called Chat for schools, and it's developed by
Bradley Lands:
skill struck. And there are a couple things about it that I
Bradley Lands:
really like it operates very similarly to school AI and the
Bradley Lands:
fact that it is domain protected, you have to log in
Bradley Lands:
with Google two factor authentication, the single sign
Bradley Lands:
on. Then it's limited to our domain, but it has two portions.
Bradley Lands:
One portion is for the faculty and staff, or the employee side,
Bradley Lands:
which actually integrates Chat, GPT, 4.0 and then the student
Bradley Lands:
side actually integrates Claude, which is more designed for not
Bradley Lands:
giving you direct answers, but more of the coaching, the kind
Bradley Lands:
of the mentor model, which is really neat. And for teachers,
Bradley Lands:
they can easily integrate their Google Classroom, rostering with
Bradley Lands:
it. And then they can enroll students by integrating Google
Bradley Lands:
Classroom, and they have the ability to look at all of their
Bradley Lands:
students, chat log and their history. So there's a lot of
Bradley Lands:
transparency that goes along with that. I think we set up all
Bradley Lands:
the right moves in terms of setting everything up, security
Bradley Lands:
wise, digital privacy wise, making sure that it all checks
Bradley Lands:
out because, like school, AI chat for schools, allows content
Bradley Lands:
to come in, but it does not go back and train the LLM, which is
Bradley Lands:
really nice. And so it does have those safety features built in,
Bradley Lands:
as well as content filters. And so if a student were to enter
Bradley Lands:
into the chat bot, it has a series of content filters that
Bradley Lands:
can actually be customized, and it can raise a little flag that
Bradley Lands:
notifies the teacher or the admin if something was entered
Bradley Lands:
inappropriately or dangerous. And so, you know, we have the
Bradley Lands:
tech side, I think, pretty well figured out, which is great. The
Bradley Lands:
hardest part is figuring out how teachers can use it responsibly
Bradley Lands:
and safely and ethically with their students. And so we're
Bradley Lands:
still trying to figure out what are some good ways that students
Bradley Lands:
might be able to learn about the technology, and how might they
Bradley Lands:
utilize it in specific use cases without them losing those
Bradley Lands:
fundamental skills and without them becoming too dependent on
Bradley Lands:
it. And so that's what we're still trying to figure out.
Steve Frantz:
What's your buy in look like currently? So it's
Bradley Lands:
been mixed, for sure. I've led a lot of
Bradley Lands:
different trainings with faculty staff, and then particularly our
Bradley Lands:
middle school students in seventh and eighth grade. And at
Bradley Lands:
first it was very low, until they saw how powerful it was.
Bradley Lands:
When we did an active training workshop, and I actually asked
Bradley Lands:
them to use a template prompt, and they got to see the
Bradley Lands:
reactions and the results firsthand, they were like, wow,
Bradley Lands:
this is really, really powerful. And then started having
Bradley Lands:
discussions such as, how might you be able to use this in your
Bradley Lands:
unique role here at Langley, you know whether you're on the
Bradley Lands:
business side or whether you're a teacher, right, and then
Bradley Lands:
working within their department to come up with really effective
Bradley Lands:
ways to add prompts to help them with their administrative tasks
Bradley Lands:
that will hopefully alleviate more time for them to focus on
Bradley Lands:
what really matters, You know, their students and helping our
Bradley Lands:
school be successful.
Hiram Cuevas:
So I have a follow up for both of you. I'm kind of
Hiram Cuevas:
on that bus of wanting to have a bot here as well. Would love to
Hiram Cuevas:
throw in all sorts of information doing so much work
Hiram Cuevas:
in the cyber area. As Bill knows, we're very worried about
Hiram Cuevas:
data privacy. Are any of you concerned with, God forbid
Hiram Cuevas:
something happens where those guard rails are actually
Hiram Cuevas:
breached. It's not a matter of, is it going to happen? It's just
Hiram Cuevas:
a matter of when it's going to happen. I mean, we're seeing
Hiram Cuevas:
what happened to Power School recently. We've seen what has
Hiram Cuevas:
happened to other major players. It seems like there's so much
Hiram Cuevas:
information out there. God forbid you're throwing in
Hiram Cuevas:
business office plans or development plans into your bot,
Hiram Cuevas:
and all of a sudden now it gets exposed thoughts.
Steve Frantz:
It's scary. It definitely is, and that's the
Steve Frantz:
thing. It's not a matter of like, if it's when it just seems
Steve Frantz:
that there's security breaches happening all over the place, to
Steve Frantz:
places that you think are secure, and you know you're
Steve Frantz:
relying and most of the services that we're using these days are
Steve Frantz:
cloud based, and you know we don't control access to the
Steve Frantz:
information. And it's always going to be a concern. Yeah,
Steve Frantz:
it's
Bradley Lands:
definitely a concern, and I think schools
Bradley Lands:
should be addressing it. What we've tried to do is build into
Bradley Lands:
our policies very specific expectations and guidelines on
Bradley Lands:
how our employees should actually use the tool, and so we
Bradley Lands:
have constant reminders such as making sure you don't put any
Bradley Lands:
private information in make sure that you don't put any sensitive
Bradley Lands:
data into your prompts or to your chat bots, and making sure
Bradley Lands:
that you don't enter any real per. Proprietary information
Bradley Lands:
that could potentially get out there. So our system only uses
Bradley Lands:
data that we input. It doesn't source any of our internal
Bradley Lands:
documentation or, you know, backgrounds, documents or files
Bradley Lands:
that we have. So right now, it's just the data that we enter. But
Bradley Lands:
you know, if you were to think of using something like Google
Bradley Lands:
Gemini in your Google workspace account, you know, Google Gemini
Bradley Lands:
is supposed to be pulling all of your data that's in your Google
Bradley Lands:
Drive, that's in your Gmail so that's another layer of data
Bradley Lands:
privacy that you are going to have to think about, and we're
Bradley Lands:
going to have to think about if we use some sort of tool that
Bradley Lands:
will be integrated with all of our files and all of our data.
Bradley Lands:
But right now, the current tool that we use is just based on
Bradley Lands:
user input.
Bill Stites:
I think those pieces in particular around, you
Bill Stites:
know, what you decide to put in, I mean, Brad, before you went
Bill Stites:
down the road with Google, I was thinking about, you know, all
Bill Stites:
right, well, the stuff that you might put in to create these Q
Bill Stites:
and A box, it's not necessarily confidential information. It's
Bill Stites:
not necessary, but it's generally policies and
Bill Stites:
information that might not necessarily be made publicly. It
Bill Stites:
might be like something that was in a PDF that you put on your
Bill Stites:
schools, faculty or staff portals, you know, those types
Bill Stites:
of things. But when you mention what is potentially or is
Bill Stites:
happening with regard to the way in which things like Google are
Bill Stites:
looking at everything that you've got, those are definitely
Bill Stites:
those moments where you know, you kind of like, take a deep
Bill Stites:
breath, and you're like, Okay, let's really try to understand
Bill Stites:
this and figure this out. There was a post recently up on the
Bill Stites:
community board on the ATLAS website, about what's available
Bill Stites:
for Gemini and what's not and what's free and what's part of
Bill Stites:
it for education versus what you actually have to pay for and
Bill Stites:
back and forth. So it's definitely not clear. It's
Bill Stites:
definitely not easy, and it's definitely concerning in terms
Bill Stites:
of what's going on. The one thing I wanted to bring up when
Bill Stites:
it comes to school leadership is the business continuity work,
Bill Stites:
the number of conversations you and I have had around this, both
Bill Stites:
formally and informally. You know, seeing the ways in which
Bill Stites:
you've been going out and gathering all of this, I'm not
Bill Stites:
sure people are really aware of the work that you've been doing
Bill Stites:
at the school there, to really formally pull all of this stuff
Bill Stites:
together to answer a lot of those questions about, again,
Bill Stites:
you mentioned, data retention is just one of them, but all these
Bill Stites:
policies and procedural type things around the way in which
Bill Stites:
we run school, the way in which we operate, in the way in which
Bill Stites:
systems work, and what happens when those systems don't work,
Bill Stites:
is an area of leadership that I really think that you've stepped
Bill Stites:
out on, and you've really done a lot of work on, and If you can
Bill Stites:
kind of enlighten the larger community about what it is
Bill Stites:
you've been doing, because I think it's an area of leadership
Bill Stites:
in our space that we all think about and worry about, but
Bill Stites:
you've actually started to do a lot about it.
Bradley Lands:
Wow. Thank you so much, Bill. I really appreciate
Bradley Lands:
that it's been something that I have seen as a gap that needs to
Bradley Lands:
be filled. I've been using lots of Atlas resources, which has
Bradley Lands:
been super helpful. You know, looking at different cyber
Bradley Lands:
security plans, looking at different data backup plans, all
Bradley Lands:
kinds of templates that are in the Atlas, 360 manual, which has
Bradley Lands:
been really, really helpful. But I noticed one thing that's been
Bradley Lands:
really difficult to find is an actual full on business
Bradley Lands:
continuity plan that involves the entire school, right? Those
Bradley Lands:
other documents are within the technology department
Bradley Lands:
specifically. So what's needed is really for the senior
Bradley Lands:
leadership team at your school to really sit down together and
Bradley Lands:
work hand in hand to develop a fully comprehensive policy that
Bradley Lands:
goes through lots of different scenarios, ones that are not
Bradley Lands:
just technology focused or technology related. And so I've
Bradley Lands:
been the leader on our task force for our business
Bradley Lands:
continuity team, and it's been really insightful, partnering
Bradley Lands:
with our Director of Operations, with our director of academic
Bradley Lands:
programming, and also with our Director of Communications. And
Bradley Lands:
so the four of us have really been meeting once a month to
Bradley Lands:
fully build out a comprehensive business continuity plan, and
Bradley Lands:
we're going to eventually put that final template, or that
Bradley Lands:
final version, before our head of school and our CFO, and then
Bradley Lands:
we're also going to put it forward toward our broader
Bradley Lands:
senior leadership team to get feedback and review. And we're
Bradley Lands:
actually at the place now where we have a fully functioning
Bradley Lands:
draft that we're ready to share out, and so our goal is to have
Bradley Lands:
this fully completed for the next school year, for 2526
Christina Lewellen:
that's awesome. So it's not just for
Christina Lewellen:
technology, no. What are some of the weird things that you didn't
Christina Lewellen:
necessarily think about that ended up being in the draft that
Christina Lewellen:
you have right
Bradley Lands:
now? There were just so many different types of
Bradley Lands:
emergencies and crisis that could happen. One of them could
Bradley Lands:
be a faculty member gets really injured, or it could be a threat
Bradley Lands:
to your school's reputation. And so something that would really
Bradley Lands:
have to involve your entire senior leadership team thinking
Bradley Lands:
about what steps need to be taken first and then how. Do we
Bradley Lands:
first, contain the situation, incident responses first, then
Bradley Lands:
you think about business continuity second, and then
Bradley Lands:
finally, third, you think about, how can you continue to resolve
Bradley Lands:
this issue, reflect and try to tweak any of your current
Bradley Lands:
policies so that you know how to move forward. Lots of different
Bradley Lands:
things can happen in a school and creating this business
Bradley Lands:
continuity plan is just so helpful, because it's like a
Bradley Lands:
handbook ready to go in case anything happens. And I've
Bradley Lands:
actually gotten some templates from NBOA, which has been really
Bradley Lands:
helpful. They have a couple different templates that I
Bradley Lands:
looked at and was like, Yeah, I think this would work for us. Or
Bradley Lands:
no, this part probably isn't going to work for us. And we
Bradley Lands:
took that along with Atlas resources, along with having
Bradley Lands:
really positive conversations with people, and kind of
Bradley Lands:
developing our own unique business continuity plan that
Bradley Lands:
really addresses our schools specific needs and our action
Bradley Lands:
steps in an event that's really incredible.
Christina Lewellen:
I'm sure that's going to be very useful.
Bill Stites:
One of the things I'm curious about is where
Bill Stites:
within that, and it was great to hear who's involved with that,
Bill Stites:
because it's not just the tech thing, right? Where did the idea
Bill Stites:
for looking at this start? Did it come from you? It did okay.
Bill Stites:
And again, how did you get the buy in to kind of get that
Bill Stites:
going? Because I think even amongst the school as a whole, I
Bill Stites:
mean, we talk about it a lot, but the school as a whole often
Bill Stites:
doesn't see it as this comprehensive need, and how did
Bill Stites:
you develop that buy? In?
Bradley Lands:
Great question. So a couple years ago, we
Bradley Lands:
partnered with education collaborators, right? And they
Bradley Lands:
did a cyber security audit for us. And in the cyber security
Bradley Lands:
audit was a category of business continuity, and at that time, we
Bradley Lands:
realized we really didn't have any policies in place. We had
Bradley Lands:
procedures and actions, but we really didn't have any written
Bradley Lands:
policies for an incident response plan or a cyber
Bradley Lands:
security breach. And so we were able to, over time, fill in
Bradley Lands:
those gaps. But then one of the items was still business
Bradley Lands:
continuity plan, and I was thinking, wow, this is an area
Bradley Lands:
that we really need to have, you know, just for risk mitigation,
Bradley Lands:
and I couldn't find any really strong resources of any
Bradley Lands:
independent schools that actually had a fully functioning
Bradley Lands:
business continuity plan. And so I was like, Hey, this is an
Bradley Lands:
opportunity to do some real groundbreaking work here, and
Bradley Lands:
I'm really excited to do it. And then once we saw that, it was a
Bradley Lands:
category, our senior leadership team backed me up and said,
Bradley Lands:
yeah, if this is a cyber security audit and this is a gap
Bradley Lands:
that we have, you know, we fully support this. And so I asked if
Bradley Lands:
I could be the task force lead on this, and our Head of School
Bradley Lands:
was like, yes, absolutely, you know, don't forget to include
Bradley Lands:
these people. I think this would be a really well rounded team so
Bradley Lands:
that you could kind of cover all of your bases. And we started
Bradley Lands:
that in September of this year, and we've been meeting once a
Bradley Lands:
month ever since. And so our goal is to have a, again, a
Bradley Lands:
working plan by next school year.
Hiram Cuevas:
You need to present this at Atlas, if you
Hiram Cuevas:
haven't done so already, exactly,
Christina Lewellen:
it's gonna be a great topic for future
Christina Lewellen:
conversation. Well done.
Bradley Lands:
And again, this isn't going to be perfect,
Bradley Lands:
right? This is like the first iteration. But I hope that
Bradley Lands:
regardless of what our actual plan looks like, I hope that I
Bradley Lands:
can talk to other people and say, This is the process that we
Bradley Lands:
did. These are the steps that we took to hopefully guide some
Bradley Lands:
other schools and other institutions on similar steps
Bradley Lands:
that they might be able to take within their school and their
Bradley Lands:
product might look completely different, right based on their
Bradley Lands:
schools need, but going through the process and being able to
Bradley Lands:
speak on that process, I think could be helpful. What did you
Bradley Lands:
find were your biggest risks? Great question. In terms of
Bradley Lands:
risks, I'm not sure, but we try to address the potential risk if
Bradley Lands:
that were to happen, and so we kind of mapped out lots of
Bradley Lands:
different possible scenarios, and what our response would be
Bradley Lands:
for those different types of scenarios, and that included
Bradley Lands:
creating an incident response team right then and there,
Bradley Lands:
assigning specific roles, and then making sure that you assign
Bradley Lands:
a scribe to be able to document, because you're going to have to
Bradley Lands:
fill out a lot of paperwork afterwards, you know, you're
Bradley Lands:
going to have to fill out a lot of forms, and you're going to
Bradley Lands:
have to report but one thing that our school recently did, we
Bradley Lands:
have a sub committee of our board that is our audit and risk
Bradley Lands:
management committee, and our head of school actually led a
Bradley Lands:
risk management conversation. And so the last year, we
Bradley Lands:
actually had a spreadsheet, and we had different faculty and
Bradley Lands:
staff and senior leadership team members complete this Google
Bradley Lands:
form where we kind of identified risk areas at our school, and we
Bradley Lands:
kind of rated them zero through 10. And so with this result, our
Bradley Lands:
head of school aggregated this data, and we came up with a risk
Bradley Lands:
analysis based on our own input. And so we were able to rate
Bradley Lands:
every single type of event that could occur and where we thought
Bradley Lands:
our current risk was, and then we were able to use that to help
Bradley Lands:
form different categories that informed us on our business
Bradley Lands:
continuity plan. And so a lot of them were things that could hurt
Bradley Lands:
our reputation, student safety, student security, cyber
Bradley Lands:
security, those were the top hits that we thought would
Bradley Lands:
probably be the highest. Focused on the risk assessment. I think
Christina Lewellen:
this leads us well into the next topic of
Christina Lewellen:
conversation that I wanted to bring up anyway, and that is
Christina Lewellen:
that things have gotten complicated in the realm of
Christina Lewellen:
technology leadership in independent schools, and you
Christina Lewellen:
just rattled off a bunch of things that even if technology
Christina Lewellen:
is only one tiny piece of it, it's something we're still
Christina Lewellen:
thinking about, like security cameras, or whatever that might
Christina Lewellen:
be. So I'd love to ask both of you how you think the role of a
Christina Lewellen:
technology leader at an independent school has changed,
Christina Lewellen:
and I think that obviously it's changed a lot from 20 plus years
Christina Lewellen:
ago, but what about just even since the pandemic, once we all
Christina Lewellen:
came back from the pandemic knowing what we know now and all
Christina Lewellen:
the tools we acquired and everything that's happened with
Christina Lewellen:
AI, it has gotten a lot more complicated. How would you
Christina Lewellen:
characterize that shift? Even in the last five years,
Steve Frantz:
we have a lot more cameras in our school. It's
Steve Frantz:
actually kind of interesting. It's like the focus has changed
Steve Frantz:
from just being the, you know, the people that keep the
Steve Frantz:
computers running in the office, to managing security systems
Steve Frantz:
throughout the school, managing print systems throughout the
Steve Frantz:
school. It's like, we don't have desktop printers anywhere.
Steve Frantz:
There's like, you know, copy centers that are full of copiers
Steve Frantz:
that are managed by our team, but we spend a lot of time one
Steve Frantz:
either just like, figuring out places where there are areas of
Steve Frantz:
concern, or we're patching holes along the way where it used to
Steve Frantz:
be that we spend a lot of time, just like, you know, making sure
Steve Frantz:
that the day to day was kept up and running. Things have just
Steve Frantz:
gotten a lot more expensive, too. It's been interesting. Our
Steve Frantz:
budgets keep going up and up and up because we have just growth
Steve Frantz:
around the school. Everywhere we go, our number of employees in
Steve Frantz:
the school over the past like five or six years, has increased
Steve Frantz:
by 15%
Bradley Lands:
Yeah, that's great point, Steve. And you
Bradley Lands:
know, in addition to that, our cognitive load and our hardware
Bradley Lands:
load has sky rocketed as well. And what happens, unfortunately
Bradley Lands:
in our department, a lot of times, is that we continue to
Bradley Lands:
keep adding more devices and new software. And rarely do we get
Bradley Lands:
rid of anything. And so we have to continue to learn and adapt
Bradley Lands:
and be responsible for more and more equipment and more and more
Bradley Lands:
online accounts. And it becomes overwhelming a lot of times. And
Bradley Lands:
if you were to look at your own organization's data map, you
Bradley Lands:
know how complicated that must be with all those online
Bradley Lands:
services and figuring out what flows into what, you know, it
Bradley Lands:
just continues to get more complex and more complex. And so
Bradley Lands:
in addition to the budget, you know, it's just cognitive load
Bradley Lands:
and being able to manage more and more devices and more and
Bradley Lands:
more platforms every year, let alone having to learn a new
Bradley Lands:
generative AI solution. You know, on top of everything, the
Bradley Lands:
way technology moves so fast, it's hard to catch up, and it's
Bradley Lands:
a lot of time and energy to catch up as well, while still
Bradley Lands:
maintaining all of your current systems
Bill Stites:
that you have in place. When Steve was here with
Bill Stites:
me at MKA, it was great because Steve was my right hand. We
Bill Stites:
worked well off of one another. It was great because we were
Bill Stites:
able to accomplish different things now, Steve, you know, I
Bill Stites:
don't have a Steve. Steve now has an APU. And at Pingree, if
Bill Stites:
you don't know, a poo is basically Steve's. He's a
Bill Stites:
wizard. Mr. Wizard, that's where I was going to go. I call up who
Bill Stites:
when I have questions. You know, we work through those things.
Bill Stites:
And Brad, you mentioned this, you know, in terms of that
Bill Stites:
cognitive load, the sheer amount of things Steve rattled off,
Bill Stites:
like all of those different things that when Steve and I
Bill Stites:
started together, we weren't even thinking about. It was
Bill Stites:
things that didn't even resonate with us in terms of even being a
Bill Stites:
concern. And now that they are all there. And I think one of
Bill Stites:
the questions again, I'll go back to a recent survey that was
Bill Stites:
posted on the the Atlas community board about what
Bill Stites:
staffing looks like. How do you see each of you maintaining that
Bill Stites:
cognitive health around trying to learn all these things,
Bill Stites:
remaining sane? Or how have you either added or outsourced a lot
Bill Stites:
of that over time? Have your respective staffs gone
Hiram Cuevas:
up in size as a result of this cognitive load we
Steve Frantz:
have. We've added, like, a technician, slash
Steve Frantz:
security technician role to the tech department. He was a member
Steve Frantz:
of our facilities team, and was already running wires for us,
Steve Frantz:
and he was part of, like, you know, that team. But like, you
Steve Frantz:
know, anytime we needed data runs, run. He was doing that
Steve Frantz:
stuff. We had him trained in terminating fiber. But like now,
Steve Frantz:
like he's responsible for connecting door lock mechanisms,
Steve Frantz:
putting up our security cameras all over the place. We have 300
Steve Frantz:
plus cameras throughout our three campuses. We're making
Steve Frantz:
sure that we have every ounce of the basically non teaching space
Steve Frantz:
covered, just so that we can make sure that we have the
Steve Frantz:
resources available for anything you know, like if there's an
Steve Frantz:
emergency that happens in the school that we have footage that
Steve Frantz:
we can direct people to the right location, because we can
Steve Frantz:
actually see it live on the camera. We also use our cameras
Steve Frantz:
often to help the. Kid find a misplaced laptop that they swore
Steve Frantz:
was in the cafeteria and that they left it in the cafeteria,
Steve Frantz:
but then we have the footage of them walking out of the
Steve Frantz:
cafeteria with the laptop in their hands. Some of those
Steve Frantz:
things are fun. We have, like these little detective jobs that
Steve Frantz:
go on, but we expanded our team to do that. We're looking at
Steve Frantz:
expanding to an additional role of like, a theater tech director
Steve Frantz:
that's going to handle some of the AV needs that go on
Steve Frantz:
throughout the school. Because, like, right now, my team is
Steve Frantz:
responsible for, like, anytime we do a stream of something
Steve Frantz:
like, we're taking care of that we don't manage the theater, but
Steve Frantz:
we manage the technology within the theater. I have a knowledge
Steve Frantz:
about, like, wireless microphones that I did not have
Steve Frantz:
a little while ago. Like I'm literally sitting inside of our
Steve Frantz:
podcast studio, there's mics and headphones all around me that
Steve Frantz:
are part of a system that I didn't know about. So one of the
Steve Frantz:
things that I loved about this world and this job is that it's
Steve Frantz:
constantly changing, but that change has been on overdrive,
Steve Frantz:
particularly since the pandemic. Yeah,
Bradley Lands:
and for our school, I wouldn't say we've
Bradley Lands:
added any positions, but in working with education
Bradley Lands:
collaborators, we were able to partner with them to help us
Bradley Lands:
rethink or restructure our technology department. And so
Bradley Lands:
that was really helpful, by thinking of what our school's
Bradley Lands:
needs are, and then what are the positions that make the most
Bradley Lands:
sense to be able to handle the load for those needs? That's
Bradley Lands:
kind of how I recently stepped into my new leadership role of
Bradley Lands:
Chief Technology Officer, because we had kind of it, and
Bradley Lands:
we had academic technology, but we didn't really have anyone
Bradley Lands:
with oversight that would be able to kind of manage all the
Bradley Lands:
technology at the school level. And so we did a technology
Bradley Lands:
restructure within our department, which really, really
Bradley Lands:
helped. And then last year, we started partnering with a local
Bradley Lands:
MSP to offload some of our network services for our network
Bradley Lands:
management, which has been really helpful, so that we could
Bradley Lands:
focus more on the people interactions at our school,
Bradley Lands:
helping students, helping the business office, helping our
Bradley Lands:
teachers and have most of our networking needs outsourced. You
Christina Lewellen:
guys have come through the Atlas community
Christina Lewellen:
and taken advantage of a lot of resources, whether it's the
Christina Lewellen:
Atlas Leadership Institute or now you're both T list
Christina Lewellen:
certified. A big part of my role is I travel around the country.
Christina Lewellen:
I get into a lot of rooms with heads of school, and I try to
Christina Lewellen:
advocate for technology leaders and help them see how complex
Christina Lewellen:
this role has gotten, even to the point where T list can help
Christina Lewellen:
them sort out hiring challenges. Because even hiring people into
Christina Lewellen:
our communities is not necessarily the easiest thing to
Christina Lewellen:
do. How in the world do you capture in a single job
Christina Lewellen:
description everything that the technology leader at a school is
Christina Lewellen:
doing that is getting more and more difficult, and it's
Christina Lewellen:
definitely giving the Atlas leadership a cause for pause.
Christina Lewellen:
We're trying to sort through that, because succession issues
Christina Lewellen:
will be an issue that we deal with here in our industry in
Christina Lewellen:
very short order. So I'm just curious why you guys pursued
Christina Lewellen:
those initiatives, and do you think that it helped? Do you
Christina Lewellen:
think that it helped you sort all of this complexity? Yeah,
Bradley Lands:
I'd be happy to share my story. So a couple
Bradley Lands:
years ago, we had our network engineer decide to retire after
Bradley Lands:
30 years at working in our school, and he literally built
Bradley Lands:
the infrastructure from the ground up, and he contained a
Bradley Lands:
lot of institutional knowledge. And so when he left, it was
Bradley Lands:
really challenging trying to get all of his institutional
Bradley Lands:
knowledge documented somehow for our team to be able to implement
Bradley Lands:
moving forward. And so that was the main reason why we decided
Bradley Lands:
to do a technology restructure at our school is really thinking
Bradley Lands:
about, do we want to have another person who has all this
Bradley Lands:
institutional knowledge in this one particular area? How can we
Bradley Lands:
distribute some of this leadership and some of these
Bradley Lands:
different tasks in a way that makes a little bit more sense?
Bradley Lands:
And how do we create a succession plan moving forward?
Bradley Lands:
And so that was really helpful, and I very much wanted to be a
Bradley Lands:
part of this new team. And so as soon as this happened, I
Bradley Lands:
actually applied for the Atlas Leadership Institute. When we
Bradley Lands:
found out that our network engineer was leaving, I didn't
Bradley Lands:
know what our school is going to do. All I knew was that I need
Bradley Lands:
to learn more about networking and infrastructure so I can help
Bradley Lands:
our school, because I was in the academic role pretty much single
Bradley Lands:
handedly. And so going through that Atlas Leadership Institute
Bradley Lands:
was so helpful to help me with a mentor, you know, talking one on
Bradley Lands:
one, learning more about networking and IT
Bradley Lands:
infrastructure, meeting with other people in the Atlas
Bradley Lands:
Leadership Institute community, working on projects together.
Bradley Lands:
That whole year was just amazing, because we were working
Bradley Lands:
on really complex problems, collaboratively working together
Bradley Lands:
and coming up with real solutions that we would be able
Bradley Lands:
to implement in our own schools. And so after going through that
Bradley Lands:
Atlas Leadership Institute, it kind of gave me more confidence
Bradley Lands:
and more knowledge and experience to be able to take on
Bradley Lands:
more responsibilities in slightly different roles that I
Bradley Lands:
had before. And then finally. Me getting the T list certification
Bradley Lands:
also kind of validated that I have learned so much more in the
Bradley Lands:
last couple of years, and I have done a lot of professional
Bradley Lands:
development. And for me, it was kind of more validation, like,
Bradley Lands:
Yes, I am ready to step into this new role. I feel confident
Bradley Lands:
I have that was community behind me. I have so many people I
Bradley Lands:
could reach out to, whether it's resources or just having
Bradley Lands:
conversations. And so it was been extraordinary going through
Bradley Lands:
the Atlas leadership program itself, and then just continuing
Bradley Lands:
to stay connected and looking at all the forums and the
Bradley Lands:
community. And I just feel so supported. And I feel like Atlas
Bradley Lands:
has really helped me to grow professionally, to help prepare
Bradley Lands:
me for this role that I'm in now.
Steve Frantz:
And then I couldn't agree more, it's like
Steve Frantz:
the Leadership Institute was great in that it built out my
Steve Frantz:
professional network 10 times what I had had, and it
Steve Frantz:
distributed it from being like this small, tight group in like
Steve Frantz:
the New Jersey area, to being across the country, our little
Steve Frantz:
mini cohort group that I had from Within the Leadership
Steve Frantz:
Institute still meets on a regular basis and has zoom
Steve Frantz:
calls, even though we've been graduated since last March or
Steve Frantz:
April, and just going to the conferences as well. Actually,
Steve Frantz:
like, you know, all you have to do is just kind of hang around
Steve Frantz:
with Bill and you're like, literally meet everyone, because
Steve Frantz:
he seems to know everybody at the conferences.
Bill Stites:
I was waiting for that the mayor of Atlas,
Steve Frantz:
following him around, you get exposure to a
Steve Frantz:
lot of people that you wouldn't necessarily get exposure to, and
Steve Frantz:
that it actually is very helpful, because then you have
Steve Frantz:
those people in your back pocket when you have questions.
Christina Lewellen:
Yeah. I mean, we're truly a community,
Christina Lewellen:
and Bill is a great question asker. I mean, he even asked our
Christina Lewellen:
staff some questions recently about a platform that he was
Christina Lewellen:
curious about, and he asks the right people the right
Christina Lewellen:
questions, and that's part of what the Atlas community brings,
Christina Lewellen:
I think, is that it's a place where you can go and ask
Christina Lewellen:
questions and they actually know what you're talking about. We're
Christina Lewellen:
not enterprise, we're not a business, we're not higher ed.
Christina Lewellen:
There are unique circumstances to independent schools. We're
Christina Lewellen:
also not public. And so that brings with it some challenges
Christina Lewellen:
from the tech side of things, for sure,
Bill Stites:
I think that's a big piece of what you were all
Bill Stites:
saying as well, is how quickly this moves. I always laugh at
Bill Stites:
the people who will dub themselves the expert in this,
Bill Stites:
because it moves so fast, and that's what I've said all along.
Bill Stites:
I may not have the answer. I most likely don't, but I know
Bill Stites:
where to turn to ask the question to get that, Steve, I
Bill Stites:
think you alluded to it in terms of, like, just your experience
Bill Stites:
with the T list broadening out from our New Jersey group, which
Bill Stites:
is a very robust group, to that larger national community. It
Bill Stites:
just expands your repertoire and that Rolodex of people you can
Bill Stites:
turn to in ways that I think very few others have the
Bill Stites:
opportunity to do. To
Steve Frantz:
go back to like, the staffing related questions,
Steve Frantz:
one of the things that I've found, and one of the things
Steve Frantz:
that my team does, is like, we make sure that there's overlap.
Steve Frantz:
There's not one person that's just responsible for like one
Steve Frantz:
thing. There are two people that have overlap in their roles to
Steve Frantz:
make sure that if like somebody goes down, for the count, for
Steve Frantz:
whatever reason, we have somebody who can still handle
Steve Frantz:
90% of what that initial person was responsible for. But on the
Steve Frantz:
other side of it, looking for like the person to fill a role
Steve Frantz:
these days is like looking for that unicorn, like pulling
Steve Frantz:
somebody from corporate IT, where the world is extremely
Steve Frantz:
different, and the relationships with the users is very
Steve Frantz:
different. There has to be like a growth plan, and just getting
Steve Frantz:
like a corporate IT person up to speed on working in an
Steve Frantz:
educational environment, because it's a very different world.
Hiram Cuevas:
What do you mean? I can't use this software.
Steve Frantz:
I have strong tech users, and I have less strong
Steve Frantz:
tech users. Sometimes you have to hold hands a little bit more,
Steve Frantz:
and you have to talk at a level that the user is going to
Steve Frantz:
understand. So you know, me throwing it around a bunch of
Steve Frantz:
like acronyms is not helpful, but me talking to the level of
Steve Frantz:
the user is useful and helpful, and I think that's one thing
Steve Frantz:
that our department does really well. You know, we have an
Steve Frantz:
environment that's inviting. We have a couch, we have a coffee
Steve Frantz:
table. People come sit down and we'll have discussions with us.
Steve Frantz:
Sometimes they sit down a little too long, and sometimes they
Steve Frantz:
discuss a little too long, but in general, it's a welcoming
Steve Frantz:
environment, and we have those spaces where you can sit at a
Steve Frantz:
table and work together side by side, and we can have the spaces
Steve Frantz:
where you can have the conversations. And I think that
Steve Frantz:
that also helps getting buy in from your community, because
Steve Frantz:
like, if they feel comfortable talking to you, they're going to
Steve Frantz:
ask the right questions. You're going to be able to ask them the
Steve Frantz:
questions, and you're going to be able to ask for their
Steve Frantz:
assistance in trying something new or doing something
Steve Frantz:
differently, and they're going to be a little more receptive, I
Steve Frantz:
think so.
Christina Lewellen:
What makes for a good technology
Christina Lewellen:
department, given all these things that we've been talking
Christina Lewellen:
about, if you were to look from the outside, in a strong tech
Christina Lewellen:
department, what is the characteristics of. That tech
Christina Lewellen:
department.
Steve Frantz:
I think it has to be a yes environment more than a
Steve Frantz:
no environment. I think that that is helpful in getting the
Steve Frantz:
ball rolling. I think, again, having a team that is receptive
Steve Frantz:
and helpful is key. You know, like, there's the old SNL skit
Steve Frantz:
with the tech guy who would just, like, push you out of the
Steve Frantz:
way, like, literally knock your chair over trying to get to your
Steve Frantz:
computer so you can put hands on the computer. You need to let
Steve Frantz:
the user do the work whenever possible. And I think that that
Steve Frantz:
is helpful. And you need to have the people that can do for us,
Steve Frantz:
you know, like, we don't outsource anything, all of our
Steve Frantz:
infrastructure, all of our work. You know, we have APU, like Bill
Steve Frantz:
had mentioned, APU is he's literally like an enterprise
Steve Frantz:
risk management box in our organizational chart, because he
Steve Frantz:
was a student at our school. He started the tech department at
Steve Frantz:
our school, and has been a consultant at our school since
Steve Frantz:
1993 and he has institutional knowledge that we can't replace,
Steve Frantz:
but he shares as much as he can, and he will teach you how to do
Steve Frantz:
the things that you need to do. So you need the members of the
Steve Frantz:
team that are not worried about losing some rung on the ladder
Steve Frantz:
because they've shown you how to do something that takes away
Steve Frantz:
from like, their special skill set. It's a big part, like we
Steve Frantz:
are a very collaborative group, you know, like if we have to
Steve Frantz:
climb up on a ladder and help run a wire, we do that. If we
Steve Frantz:
need to bring a speaker set to like a classroom because
Steve Frantz:
somebody else on our team can't do it and get everything up and
Steve Frantz:
running, we do it so, like you see every member of my team
Steve Frantz:
doing a little bit of everything, it
Christina Lewellen:
reminds me of when we asked on Jeff
Christina Lewellen:
Dayton's episode, what's the weirdest thing that you get
Christina Lewellen:
asked to do as a tech director? And he said, somehow I got
Christina Lewellen:
involved with fixing bikes. It doesn't surprise anybody. Brad,
Christina Lewellen:
how would you answer that question? What do you think a
Christina Lewellen:
strong tech department looks like today?
Bradley Lands:
Steve shared so many great things. One thing
Bradley Lands:
that I always try to keep in the back of my head is that we're in
Bradley Lands:
the service industry, and so having really good relationships
Bradley Lands:
is really important, and doing something which I learned from
Bradley Lands:
Dan Pink called up service, it's providing a better service
Bradley Lands:
experience than the user would anticipate or expect. And I
Bradley Lands:
think that's really important, because we're always trying to
Bradley Lands:
combat the unfortunate stereotype of tech departments,
Bradley Lands:
you know, being condescending or being rude. You know, did you
Bradley Lands:
restart it? Did you unplug it? Did you plug it back in? And so
Bradley Lands:
battling that negative stereotype every single day by
Bradley Lands:
trying to provide up service, I think is really helpful. And
Bradley Lands:
then the second thing is just being a lifelong learner,
Bradley Lands:
knowledge and experience is one thing. People can always learn
Bradley Lands:
systems. People can always learn new technology, new devices, new
Bradley Lands:
programs. I think the attitude is, what's most important, it's
Bradley Lands:
the mindset that you're adaptable, you're flexible, you
Bradley Lands:
can always learn. And if you don't know the answer, that's
Bradley Lands:
okay. We'll find a way to find the answer. It's not all about
Bradley Lands:
how much knowledge you have or how many skills you have. I
Bradley Lands:
think it's more about the growth mindset and being flexible and
Bradley Lands:
adaptive.
Christina Lewellen:
Bill and Hiram, Do you guys agree with
Christina Lewellen:
that assessment? Does that make for a good tech department? I
Christina Lewellen:
think sounds pretty good.
Bill Stites:
Absolutely, 100% I just wonder where Steve got all
Bill Stites:
of his ideas from I was singing about the couches, the tables,
Bill Stites:
the coffee machine. I don't know where he would have picked
Bill Stites:
those. Jenny zagriello, oh, okay, thank you No. But I think
Bill Stites:
those are definitely those types of things. I think the one
Bill Stites:
caveat is when Steve said, try to beat the office that says yes
Bill Stites:
more often it needs to be yes with like, maybe a non verbal,
Bill Stites:
like Aster expire when you kind of say it, because you have to
Bill Stites:
really understand the level of detail to the Yes. But I think
Bill Stites:
that helps, because people expect this to be easy because
Bill Stites:
they don't know differently. It's our job to make it seem
Bill Stites:
easy without them having to feel that. Because if we want them to
Bill Stites:
really adopt and use these tools and to feel comfortable coming
Bill Stites:
in, that tone needs to be set early and often totally
Hiram Cuevas:
agree with that bill. I mean, it's so important
Hiram Cuevas:
for folks to feel like their ideas can be met with the
Hiram Cuevas:
service that we can provide. Sometimes it's just a matter of
Hiram Cuevas:
providing a little bit of the detail so that they can manage
Hiram Cuevas:
the expectation.
Christina Lewellen:
Before we start wrapping up, I want to ask
Christina Lewellen:
Brad, you were compelled to write a book, can you tell us a
Christina Lewellen:
little bit about that?
Bradley Lands:
Sure, it was during the pandemic I saw that
Bradley Lands:
there were lots of teachers that were kind of getting out of the
Bradley Lands:
profession. It was too hard, it was too daunting. There were too
Bradley Lands:
many expectations of them. And I had always kind of wanted to
Bradley Lands:
write a book for a long time, and I had been slowly writing a
Bradley Lands:
blog, and I had been slowly collecting different quotes from
Bradley Lands:
some of my favorite books, and I thought it was just the right
Bradley Lands:
timing, and I. Wanted to create a book that I thought could be
Bradley Lands:
uplifting, could be encouraging, but also offer some practical
Bradley Lands:
strategies and advice from lots of different research and
Bradley Lands:
experience that I had encountered in my profession.
Bradley Lands:
And so I created a book. I did it pretty much by myself, even
Bradley Lands:
though I had a lot of eyes on it that were really helpful. I did
Bradley Lands:
hire a professional editor, which is, like a non negotiable.
Bradley Lands:
That's something that you always have to do. But I also did
Bradley Lands:
everything on a Chromebook, because that was the device that
Bradley Lands:
we supplied our students with. And I wanted to prove as like a
Bradley Lands:
sub goal, that I could actually write a book, a professional
Bradley Lands:
book, get it on the marketplace and sell it all by using a
Bradley Lands:
Chromebook. I think that was a really powerful sub goal of
Bradley Lands:
mine, and I'm really proud that I was able to do it, all of my
Bradley Lands:
illustrations that I did, Google Drawings, you know, my website,
Bradley Lands:
that I had Google Sites, my documents, Google Docs. I did
Bradley Lands:
everything from my Google Drive workspace account, and so I
Bradley Lands:
thought that was really, really cool, and it was just something
Bradley Lands:
I was really passionate about. It was my passion project that I
Bradley Lands:
was able to eventually turn into a product. And it's something
Bradley Lands:
I'm really proud of. The work that I've done, the research
Bradley Lands:
that I've collected, and the conversations that I've had with
Bradley Lands:
people, and I'm hoping that even if one or two people read the
Bradley Lands:
book and they find one thing that was really inspirational or
Bradley Lands:
one strategy that they could take away from it, then that
Bradley Lands:
will truly fill my heart. So it was a fun project. Thanks for
Bradley Lands:
asking.
Bill Stites:
That's awesome. So, but how I know that you came out
Bill Stites:
of the classroom versus coming out of it directly is that you
Bill Stites:
actually wrote something that someone's going to have to read.
Bill Stites:
Because if there's anything texts don't do is we never read
Bill Stites:
anything. Steve will read it when you record the audio book
Bill Stites:
version of it. There's
Christina Lewellen:
apps for that. You can just have aI read
Christina Lewellen:
it to you, I guess, right, exactly No,
Bill Stites:
but I love it. I think it's great to be able to
Bill Stites:
get that out there, to share that with everyone, and the fact
Bill Stites:
that doing it using the tools that we're trying to get
Bill Stites:
everyone to buy into, I think sends a message all unto itself,
Bill Stites:
which is fabulous.
Bradley Lands:
Well, thank you guys. I appreciate you asking
Bradley Lands:
about that. So
Christina Lewellen:
we're heading into Atlas annual
Christina Lewellen:
conference season, and we will be celebrating 10 years, believe
Christina Lewellen:
it or not, of Atlas conferences, which is kind of crazy. So my
Christina Lewellen:
question for all four of you is, what are you looking for this
Christina Lewellen:
year at the Atlas conference?
Steve Frantz:
Well, Brad Lee's presentation, clearly, I know
Hiram Cuevas:
one thing the conference always does for me,
Hiram Cuevas:
and it doesn't have to be the 10 year, but the 10 year has a
Hiram Cuevas:
special spot in my heart is the fact that it rejuvenates me.
Hiram Cuevas:
It's at a time of year where the requests are coming in, end of
Hiram Cuevas:
school activities are piling up, and you're already gearing up
Hiram Cuevas:
for summer all at the same time, if not sooner. So it's very
Hiram Cuevas:
cathartic for me to leave the conference and be re energized
Hiram Cuevas:
for the weeks to come. Plus, I get some quality Stites time.
Bill Stites:
I think for me, one of the things that I'm looking
Bill Stites:
forward to this year in particular, I mean, it's nice
Bill Stites:
that it's the 10 year, the fact that it's in Atlanta, which is,
Bill Stites:
I'll just say, is easy to get into and out of, from a flight
Bill Stites:
standpoint, really has made it something that we're making an
Bill Stites:
event of here within the team. So I'm going to be bringing, I
Bill Stites:
think we have a total of, including myself, six people.
Bill Stites:
We've got our three campus ed tech folks coming. We've got our
Bill Stites:
coordinator of information systems, we've got our k8
Bill Stites:
director of stem coming and myself. So it's going to be an
Bill Stites:
opportunity to really get them out, to see what happens within
Bill Stites:
the larger community, to be able to come together as a team,
Bill Stites:
because we don't often get, you know, where three campuses
Bill Stites:
spread out all over the place, to really get together and spend
Bill Stites:
some quality time as a team as well. So it's really an
Bill Stites:
opportunity for us to build, not only our own professional
Bill Stites:
knowledge and growth, but build as a team as well. Because if
Bill Stites:
there's anything I really like to do at an atlas conference,
Bill Stites:
it's to go out and have a nice meal with everyone, to sit down
Bill Stites:
and have a nice beverage, because I think a lot of those
Bill Stites:
conversations that we have they occur in the sessions. They
Bill Stites:
occur between the sessions, but they really occur like maybe in
Bill Stites:
the morning, if you're in the gym, or if you're at night, when
Bill Stites:
you're in the lobby and you're doing all those things you get
Bill Stites:
together, or when Alex Inman throws a party for everybody and
Bill Stites:
everyone shows up, all of those things that you do, you're
Bill Stites:
building team in ways that you don't have the opportunity to do
Bill Stites:
on the day to day when we're doing school. I'm gonna see
Steve Frantz:
my Atlas, like small cohort. I'll see some of
Steve Frantz:
the other members of like my leadership institute, small
Steve Frantz:
cohort. But I think my whole small cohort has put in to go. I
Steve Frantz:
don't know if everybody's been approved just yet, but hopefully
Steve Frantz:
they will be. So we always have a great time just reconnecting,
Steve Frantz:
even though we do see each other almost every other week on a
Steve Frantz:
zoom call, just to catch up and vent and just chat about stuff.
Steve Frantz:
I also look forward to finding out the things that I don't know
Steve Frantz:
that's a fun part of this, like look. Through, like the
Steve Frantz:
offerings and being like, I have no idea what they're talking
Steve Frantz:
about here. And like, reading a little deeper and be like, I
Steve Frantz:
think I need to go to that. And those are always the fun ones,
Steve Frantz:
where you can pick up some new knowledge, because again, like I
Steve Frantz:
said earlier, it's always changing as much as we try to
Steve Frantz:
keep up on things there. People are thinking in different ways
Steve Frantz:
and thinking about things differently than you are, and
Steve Frantz:
it's great to get that experience, get that
Steve Frantz:
presentation, you know, under your belt, so you can kind of
Steve Frantz:
bring it back to your school,
Bradley Lands:
absolutely. And for me, it's just the
Bradley Lands:
relationship building, extending in network, seeing people in
Bradley Lands:
person. You know, we do a lot of virtual calls, and we stay
Bradley Lands:
connected virtually, but just there's nothing that replaces
Bradley Lands:
seeing people in person. And it's just so great to hang out
Bradley Lands:
with people that, you know, meet new people. And I was just
Bradley Lands:
thinking about this, it would be really fun for the 10 year to
Bradley Lands:
really reflect and think about, you know, how much Atlas as an
Bradley Lands:
organization, has grown in those 10 years, and then also
Bradley Lands:
reflecting as what are some new challenges in technology that
Bradley Lands:
our community is facing right now, and what are still some of
Bradley Lands:
the challenges that haven't changed in those 10 years. And I
Bradley Lands:
just love trying to problem solve when we go to these in
Bradley Lands:
person conferences, whether it's like a side conversation during
Bradley Lands:
a break, whether if it's at dinner, whether if it's during a
Bradley Lands:
session, just talking with people always learning new
Bradley Lands:
things, asking what their solutions are at their school,
Bradley Lands:
and then trying to collaboratively problem solve
Bradley Lands:
some things that we're all going through together. Yeah,
Christina Lewellen:
and I would add, I'm literally looking
Christina Lewellen:
forward to the vendor community being there. You guys are always
Christina Lewellen:
at Atlas. You understand that I always give the big speech from
Christina Lewellen:
the podium, which is these companies that are at Atlas
Christina Lewellen:
specifically are there to support and uphold independent
Christina Lewellen:
schools, because it's easy for them to be elsewhere. There are
Christina Lewellen:
bigger events, there are larger trade shows, where they can go
Christina Lewellen:
and spend their money and get a lot more eyeballs, which is why
Christina Lewellen:
I always really appreciate that they're there for our people and
Christina Lewellen:
our community. The vendors who come to the Atlas conference are
Christina Lewellen:
no joke like they're there to earn in the business, yes, but
Christina Lewellen:
also to be partners with independent school
Christina Lewellen:
technologists, and that is something that is very near and
Christina Lewellen:
dear to my heart. And I don't take lightly. There are some new
Christina Lewellen:
companies that we haven't worked with before. I think that the
Christina Lewellen:
reputation is sort of getting out that if you want to have a
Christina Lewellen:
conversation with independent school tech leaders, this is
Christina Lewellen:
where you go to have those conversations, and I really
Christina Lewellen:
value that. So I'm really proud of our vendor community for
Christina Lewellen:
being so supportive, and proud of our independent school
Christina Lewellen:
technology community for spending time with them and
Christina Lewellen:
making them a part of the event, rather than something separate
Christina Lewellen:
or an add on. They're right there with us. They're having
Christina Lewellen:
meals, and the vendors are taking part in the conversations
Christina Lewellen:
during sessions, and I just love seeing that, because I think
Christina Lewellen:
that we bring a better product to our students and to our
Christina Lewellen:
schools if we're solving problems together, like you guys
Christina Lewellen:
said. So guys, this has been incredible. I'm so grateful that
Christina Lewellen:
you guys took the time out of your days, your busy schedules,
Christina Lewellen:
to spend some time with us on the pod. It's long overdue. Brad
Christina Lewellen:
and Steve. I know we're gonna see each other shortly at the
Christina Lewellen:
Atlas conference, but until then, thank you so much for
Christina Lewellen:
being here and thanks for sharing your perspective. Feel
Christina Lewellen:
free to come back anytime and join us so that we can have more
Christina Lewellen:
conversations.
Bradley Lands:
Thank you so much for having us. It was great.
Bill Stites:
Thank you So Brad, I want to let you know too. Just
Bill Stites:
as we were closing out here, I just hit purchase on Amazon, so
Bill Stites:
consider your book having one more reader, and as I read it, I
Bill Stites:
will actually record it, so Steve can actually then process
Bill Stites:
the book as well. So I'll do an audio book. The last
Steve Frantz:
thing I want to hear is more me. Is you read a
Steve Frantz:
book to me.
Christina Lewellen:
I think that would be fabulous, actually. And
Christina Lewellen:
then we can record your reaction to listening to Bill Stites in
Christina Lewellen:
your ear for the audiobook, it'd be pretty good.
Bill Stites:
Hiram and I will do it. Yaba,
Hiram Cuevas:
David, do
Christina Lewellen:
alright guys. Thanks so much. Have a
Christina Lewellen:
great day.
Peter Frank:
This has been talking technology with Atlas,
Peter Frank:
produced by the Association of Technology Leaders in
Peter Frank:
Independent Schools. For more information about Atlas and
Peter Frank:
Atlas membership, please visit the atlas.org if you enjoyed
Peter Frank:
this discussion, please subscribe, leave a review and
Peter Frank:
share this podcast with your colleagues in the independent
Peter Frank:
school community. Thank you for listening. You.
