Relationships and Roles: Peter Antupit on Leadership in Independent School Technology
Join us as we welcome Peter Antupit, CIO of Crystal Springs Upland School, to explore strategies for managing expectations, fostering relationships across departments, and navigating the evolving landscape of technology in education.
Resources
- Crystal Springs Uplands School
- ATLIS Leadership Institute
- More than 870 school technology job descriptions -- can we share? YES
- Flint, AI tool for schools
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.
Bill Stites:
And I am Bill Stites, the Director of
Bill Stites:
Technology at Montclair Kimberly Academy in Montclair, New
Bill Stites:
Jersey.
Hiram Cuevas:
And I'm Hiram Cuevas, Director of Information
Hiram Cuevas:
Systems and Academic Technology at St Christopher school in
Hiram Cuevas:
Richmond, Virginia.
Christina Lewellen:
Hello, gentlemen. How are you today?
Christina Lewellen:
Well,
Hiram Cuevas:
winding down my spring break here, but you know
Hiram Cuevas:
it's
Christina Lewellen:
all good, yeah, tell me a little bit about
Christina Lewellen:
your spring breaks. So do you guys each get like, a week off,
Christina Lewellen:
and what did you do with it? At
Bill Stites:
MKA, the school is closed for two weeks, so all the
Bill Stites:
faculty and students are out for the two weeks, but in on the IT
Bill Stites:
side of the house. And if you're a 12 month employee, as we are
Bill Stites:
here, you have one week off and you have to work one week. So
Bill Stites:
you can pick and choose and coordinate that. And it's kind
Bill Stites:
of like our mini summers. We try to get as much done in two weeks
Bill Stites:
as possible. It's like project time. You've got stuff going on,
Bill Stites:
you're running from here to there, but it's a good time to
Bill Stites:
get stuff done, because it gets you a head start on the summer
Bill Stites:
in some cases, or allows you to pick up on areas where you've
Bill Stites:
may have missed something that you need to get to just to close
Bill Stites:
out the school year.
Christina Lewellen:
Yeah, sort of like a lingering To Do List
Christina Lewellen:
sort of thing. Yeah, 100%
Hiram Cuevas:
that's a really interesting schedule. Do all the
Hiram Cuevas:
local schools, in terms of athletics and whatnot, have a
Hiram Cuevas:
similar two week hiatus in the spring? No,
Bill Stites:
it's mostly the independence, but for the
Bill Stites:
students and for the families, there's like a family week, and
Bill Stites:
then there's like a sports week or a Travel Week, where we will
Bill Stites:
do international trips or trips around the US that we might do
Bill Stites:
that relate to some of our academic programs. And then
Bill Stites:
there is an athletics week. So if you are participating in a
Bill Stites:
sport, and that sport in particular, maybe they travel
Bill Stites:
some of our teams go down your way down to Virginia, to the
Bill Stites:
Carolinas. I can remember with Sean going down to Florida for
Bill Stites:
baseball. So there are different things like that. And again,
Bill Stites:
those don't line up necessarily with the public schools in the
Bill Stites:
area. A lot of the independents are along the same line, but
Bill Stites:
most of the seasons aren't starting until everyone gets
Bill Stites:
back and we're in it, so we time it out that way. It's all part
Bill Stites:
of the calendaring process, which, as we know, calendaring
Bill Stites:
is a four letter word in most schools, and it definitely keeps
Bill Stites:
things fun and interesting Absolutely. Yeah,
Christina Lewellen:
there's AI tools for that. How about you?
Christina Lewellen:
Hiram, what do you do on spring break? We
Hiram Cuevas:
have had years and years of my wife and I having
Hiram Cuevas:
separate spring breaks. She works for a Catholic High
Hiram Cuevas:
School, and so they actually have spring break when it spring
Hiram Cuevas:
closer to Easter. So I did a staycation with my daughter,
Hiram Cuevas:
who's back from Virginia Tech, and while she slept in, I have
Hiram Cuevas:
been doing tons and tons and tons of yard work, which has
Hiram Cuevas:
been fabulous because I've been catching up on some books, some
Hiram Cuevas:
audio books, been having some fun going to the dump on a
Hiram Cuevas:
regular basis to clear out all this winter brush that has been
Hiram Cuevas:
left behind from all these storms. The
Christina Lewellen:
weather has been cooperating in Virginia. I
Christina Lewellen:
know that we had another Atlas board level meeting this week,
Christina Lewellen:
and Hiram is like, Yeah, I'm here, but I'm gardening. I'm in
Christina Lewellen:
my yard, so I'm gonna not be on camera. I gotta respect that
Christina Lewellen:
you're at least joining meetings during your spring break. So
Christina Lewellen:
thanks for that. Your dedication to the Atlas community. Well,
Christina Lewellen:
today, you guys, we are welcoming a good friend of our
Christina Lewellen:
community. Peter, anti pit, you are the CIO of Crystal Springs
Christina Lewellen:
upland school joining us from the West Coast. Peter, how are
Christina Lewellen:
you today?
Unknown:
Doing well, thanks enjoying a little bit of rain,
Unknown:
which is nice for us, but I already missed the sun, and it's
Unknown:
only been 24 hours of drizzle. Oh
Christina Lewellen:
my gosh, Californians, they missed the
Christina Lewellen:
sun after one day. I
Unknown:
am so spoiled. My blood is so thin,
Christina Lewellen:
it's bad. So what's your spring break like
Christina Lewellen:
out there?
Peter Antupit:
We've just come off what we call a balance
Peter Antupit:
break, where kids were actually off for two days. So they had a
Peter Antupit:
four day weekend. We had a comment writing day, so faculty
Peter Antupit:
were basically gone. Administrative staff was doing
Peter Antupit:
stuff on site. Tuesday was a PD day, so we had like, this mini
Peter Antupit:
break for kids. But we do, like Bill we do two weeks later on,
Peter Antupit:
and we do international travel trips and things like that. And
Peter Antupit:
like Hiram, my wife and I almost never get the same break. She's
Peter Antupit:
also a teacher, so all the joys doing lots of projects. We're
Peter Antupit:
excited for our spring break. We are renovating 100 year old
Peter Antupit:
mansion that, of course, it is in the basement of as well as it
Peter Antupit:
always is, yeah, usually. So we're moving over office. Is
Peter Antupit:
over our spring break, so that's exciting. We'll squeeze
Peter Antupit:
everything in. It's a great purge opportunity. So a little
Peter Antupit:
bit like Hiram, just like getting rid of stuff. And I'm
Peter Antupit:
the worst. I'm like, we're gonna need that adapter. And the guys
Peter Antupit:
still look at me, like, No, we won't just get rid of the
Peter Antupit:
adapters. And if we do, we'll buy it on eBay, just let it go.
Christina Lewellen:
So Peter, tell us a little bit about your
Christina Lewellen:
path you are now the CIO. Let's start with your school too. In
Christina Lewellen:
case folks don't know about the school that you serve, tell us a
Christina Lewellen:
little bit about that and how long you've been there. But then
Christina Lewellen:
let's also talk about your journey and how you got to where
Christina Lewellen:
you are today. So
Peter Antupit:
Crystal Springs, upland school, affectionately
Peter Antupit:
known as crystal is a six to 12 school. We were one campus with
Peter Antupit:
about 350 kids. We're between San Francisco and San Jose day
Peter Antupit:
school, college prep, 612, and we split off into two campuses
Peter Antupit:
in 2017, so got to be part of that amazing ground up
Peter Antupit:
construction project of an entire campus California,
Peter Antupit:
Silicon Valley land is tight, so it's nine acres. Is spacious,
Peter Antupit:
nine or 10 acres. So we are squeezing about 220 kids into
Peter Antupit:
our new middle school campus, and it's not really squeezed at
Peter Antupit:
all. And then we now have 350 just nine to 12 kids on our
Peter Antupit:
Upper School campus here in Hillsboro. It's a great school.
Peter Antupit:
I love it. I've been here 12 ish years. I started in 2012 we did
Peter Antupit:
a little wrap around, around, sort of our senior leaders and D
Peter Antupit:
level folks. And I'm now more tenured than I ever thought I
Peter Antupit:
was, but that's great. You know, a bunch of different roles here.
Peter Antupit:
I am an advisor, club, mentor ish, but I actually don't do
Peter Antupit:
anything except take attendance, which is the best kind of
Peter Antupit:
mentoring for what they need right now. The highlight of my
Peter Antupit:
job is actually advising. I've been advising ninth and 10th
Peter Antupit:
graders, and this year, had the opportunity to advise co advise
Peter Antupit:
11th graders, and I'll see them like through 12th grade. And
Peter Antupit:
it's really great. It's such a highlight to actually be with
Peter Antupit:
kids in a low stakes kind of environment, I've been out of
Peter Antupit:
the classroom for 27 years, or something like that. What did
Peter Antupit:
you teach? I started my journey at the landmark school at
Peter Antupit:
Massachusetts, a school for dyslexics. I was there for seven
Peter Antupit:
years, and I taught wood shop, I taught math, I taught English, I
Peter Antupit:
even taught a social skills class. It's a residential
Peter Antupit:
school. So as a residential team leader, also that was
Peter Antupit:
foundational to everything that was much more valuable than
Peter Antupit:
college was. I mean, that was like real life learning. It was
Peter Antupit:
amazing. And I think I'd bring all of that working with neuro
Peter Antupit:
diverse students to everything I do.
Christina Lewellen:
Yeah, I bet it's hard to leave that behind
Christina Lewellen:
once you know those skills and, yeah, what did you go to college
Christina Lewellen:
for? I mean, like, was this, like, part of a surprising
Christina Lewellen:
journey for you? You ended up teaching everything?
Peter Antupit:
Yeah, so it wasn't. I went to school in
Peter Antupit:
middle of New York State, a small school called Hobart
Peter Antupit:
College. Hobart, William Smith colleges, small liberal arts
Peter Antupit:
school.
Christina Lewellen:
I know that school I grew up in Western New
Christina Lewellen:
York. There you go. I went to SUNY Geneseo and Rochester
Christina Lewellen:
Institute of Technology for my master's degree. So I know
Christina Lewellen:
Hobart.
Peter Antupit:
It's kind of the mud belt. I don't know what else
Peter Antupit:
to call it. Yeah,
Christina Lewellen:
it really is. It's very gray and brown,
Christina Lewellen:
especially this time of year. No wonder you love the sunshine.
Christina Lewellen:
I'm gonna give that one to you. To be honest,
Peter Antupit:
I heard that it's beautiful in the summer, but
Peter Antupit:
college students were never there in the summer. So, like, I
Peter Antupit:
no idea. I just have to take everyone's word for it. So I
Peter Antupit:
actually went to school for psychology and teaching. I left
Peter Antupit:
there with a teaching certificate. It's a very cool
Peter Antupit:
program where you couldn't major in education. You had to major
Peter Antupit:
in the discipline that you wanted to teach, and then you
Peter Antupit:
went into, like, took extra seminars, and went into
Peter Antupit:
classrooms starting your sophomore year and just doing a
Peter Antupit:
couple hours a week until you built up to your student
Peter Antupit:
teaching your senior year. And that was, again, sort of, I
Peter Antupit:
mean, not really that alternative, but really that
Peter Antupit:
deep dive into subject matter, and then learning how to teach
Peter Antupit:
was really great. So
Christina Lewellen:
you were at landmark for a while, and you
Christina Lewellen:
had this like really well rounded, including some computer
Christina Lewellen:
science. You had a lot of experience, and kind of bounced
Christina Lewellen:
around to support whatever that residential school needed. So
Christina Lewellen:
given that you had all this different experience, why did
Christina Lewellen:
you end up pursuing the Director of Technology path, as
Peter Antupit:
everybody falls into this job. And I've heard
Peter Antupit:
you all say before. You know, nobody aspires to be a director
Peter Antupit:
of technology when they're 12. The Director of Technology, I
Peter Antupit:
should say, is just a computer department head at the time I
Peter Antupit:
was at the Lower School campus, smaller campus, like 100 kids,
Peter Antupit:
and she decided she didn't want to do anymore. It's like, Sure,
Peter Antupit:
I'll do it. Whatever we were teaching logo is no big deal. We
Peter Antupit:
were doing some word processing, basic stuff. And then I got kind
Peter Antupit:
of interested in a little bit of the hardware part, crimping cat
Peter Antupit:
three wires for Apple talk. So that's big fun. Way back.
Peter Antupit:
Machine grew at the department a little bit. You know, increase
Peter Antupit:
the offerings for kids, and then decide I want to go get a
Peter Antupit:
master's in technology and education. So I took off and did
Peter Antupit:
that, and that was another really wonderful experience. Was
Peter Antupit:
able to do a practicum in some public schools, which gave me a
Peter Antupit:
whole different lens to see things I'm a public school kid.
Peter Antupit:
So that was really nice to be able to be back in a public
Peter Antupit:
school, but then also saw the challenges there, and honestly
Peter Antupit:
didn't want to deal with it. I mean, you know, there's this
Peter Antupit:
sort of the level of stress and anxiety, and it didn't appeal to
Peter Antupit:
me, and I knew I couldn't put my whole heart into it. Hats off to
Peter Antupit:
public school folks everywhere. It's becoming more and more
Peter Antupit:
difficult, as I've seen, but I found much more of a calling in
Peter Antupit:
independent schools at my first job at Michelle Obama Brooks was
Peter Antupit:
there for 15 years. It's a great run. Did a little teaching there
Peter Antupit:
too. It was a pre K to eight. Luckily enough, my son got to go
Peter Antupit:
there for a bunch of years. Ran into folks that I taught with,
Peter Antupit:
most recently at NAIS, where I saw Kristina as well. Folks are
Peter Antupit:
now heads of school and doing amazing things at other places.
Peter Antupit:
So it's really a great place to be while I was there, and then
Peter Antupit:
stuff changes, and found myself out in California
Christina Lewellen:
at this job, that's a pretty big culture
Christina Lewellen:
shift, right? Like from an East Coast school, especially
Christina Lewellen:
northeast to Northern California. What was that shift
Christina Lewellen:
like? Because it's still an independent school, and there's
Christina Lewellen:
certain pillars of excellence, I'm sure. You know, we're kind
Christina Lewellen:
of baked into both entities. But was there kind of a cultural
Christina Lewellen:
shift students, the programs, the parents, that kind of thing.
Peter Antupit:
So mostly because my previous Michelle Brooks is a
Peter Antupit:
K to eight, and Crystal Springs is a 612 so I was like, Ah,
Peter Antupit:
scary high school students, I don't know. And it wasn't scary
Peter Antupit:
high school students at all. The shift was different in the
Peter Antupit:
pressures, mostly that we see kids enduring to perform, to be
Peter Antupit:
more than their best selves. Sometimes the whole college prep
Peter Antupit:
thing is real and the stress is real, and that is ramped up over
Peter Antupit:
the past decade. There's no doubt about it, that's been a
Peter Antupit:
shift. Parents are still lovely. Honestly, I can't complain about
Peter Antupit:
the parents. They're great. Kids are wonderful. There is a lot of
Peter Antupit:
parallel between the Boston area and the San Francisco area, so I
Peter Antupit:
didn't see as much as I expected, truthfully. And we
Peter Antupit:
have a lot of transplants, actually, from the northeast,
Peter Antupit:
working here, we could almost have an affinity space of
Peter Antupit:
transplants. There are that many of us.
Bill Stites:
Both. My parents were public school teachers. It
Bill Stites:
runs in the family, the teaching gene. My parents actually came
Bill Stites:
here and spent the day with me. They wanted to see what the
Bill Stites:
school was like and the school was school was gracious enough
Bill Stites:
to let them come and spend the day and go around and see things
Bill Stites:
and observe classes. I remember my father when he left for the
Bill Stites:
day, he looked at me and he said, You'd be crazy to ever
Bill Stites:
leave that place. And I think it was because, you know, he had
Bill Stites:
heard me talking about the things that we were doing, and
Bill Stites:
then seeing it in action, between the size and just what
Bill Stites:
you can do as a teacher, what you can do from an
Bill Stites:
administrative perspective, what you can do when you've got an
Bill Stites:
independent school culture, when we think about the pipeline of
Bill Stites:
leaders in independent schools, being able to Sell the private
Bill Stites:
school, the independent school model, to people who may have
Bill Stites:
come out of just simply a public school education and don't have
Bill Stites:
that background, what did you see in that comparison that you
Bill Stites:
made as being some of the struggles and benefits of going
Bill Stites:
between the two of them? Because I think if we can identify what
Bill Stites:
those are, we can do a better job of building our own
Bill Stites:
pipelines of people when we have to have those conversations and
Bill Stites:
bridge that gap between the knowns and the unknowns. So
Peter Antupit:
with the caveat that this was 27 years ago, so
Peter Antupit:
things have changed, but there were some things definitely even
Peter Antupit:
way back my student teaching, I remember the administrators
Peter Antupit:
being kicked out of a faculty meeting because it was now time
Peter Antupit:
to talk about union business, and that was like, what aren't
Peter Antupit:
we all in this together? Aren't we supposed to be student
Peter Antupit:
focused? And I remember my supervising teacher being told
Peter Antupit:
that she shouldn't be staying past 4pm because it makes all
Peter Antupit:
the other union employees look bad, and so putting in that
Peter Antupit:
extra effort is discouraged. Again, that was a long time ago,
Peter Antupit:
but I don't think it's probably changed that much. That's the
Peter Antupit:
other thing change, if you need to implement change here, you
Peter Antupit:
know, in an independent school, there's usually an avenue that
Peter Antupit:
you can take that doesn't take six years. So the rapid
Peter Antupit:
iteration is huge. The autonomy is huge. The support, I think
Peter Antupit:
it's easier to gather allies in an independent school, because
Peter Antupit:
you're tighter, you're smaller, there's not as many levels of
Peter Antupit:
bureaucracy.
Hiram Cuevas:
Peter, I had a very similar experience. I had
Hiram Cuevas:
the. Opportunity to work with underachievers in science
Hiram Cuevas:
education as part of a grant in state of Virginia. When I
Hiram Cuevas:
interviewed at St Christopher's, knowing it was an all boys
Hiram Cuevas:
school, I was like, it's so quiet. What's going on? I didn't
Hiram Cuevas:
quite understand it. It's because there weren't any
Hiram Cuevas:
struggles in hallways. I mean, boys were being boys, and they
Hiram Cuevas:
were talking and conversing and being a little silly at the
Hiram Cuevas:
middle school, but it was just a vast difference between my
Hiram Cuevas:
public school experience and my private school experience. The
Hiram Cuevas:
curriculum that I was able to develop and the amount of
Hiram Cuevas:
funding I was actually able to get to help get the science
Hiram Cuevas:
program going and then eventually the technology
Hiram Cuevas:
program going. The three of us have quite the range of
Hiram Cuevas:
experience. You said 27 years? Bill's over 30. I'm at 34 are we
Hiram Cuevas:
seeing a change, not only in the students, but also the teachers
Hiram Cuevas:
that are going into this space? Yeah, so I
Peter Antupit:
did a little homework. I've been listening to
Peter Antupit:
past podcasts, full disclosure, not a past listener, current
Peter Antupit:
participant, but I'm instantly hooked. I'll name it. I'm like,
Peter Antupit:
instantly hooked. I'm like, Why haven't I been listening to this
Peter Antupit:
all along? And the gentleman who is on from the Southern
Peter Antupit:
Association of Independent Schools, so hit home. Yeah. Brad
Peter Antupit:
Jacobsen, I think we are seeing, how do we bring the loyalty and
Peter Antupit:
the lifestyle folks together? How do we bridge that gap when
Peter Antupit:
we get folks in, and it's, I think, first acknowledging that
Peter Antupit:
gap, just faculty wise, where we see folks being most
Peter Antupit:
instrumental, I think, is where their creativity is coming in,
Peter Antupit:
and that is a factor, I think, of their lifestyle. So the newer
Peter Antupit:
folks that we're bringing in, I think, are bringing this energy
Peter Antupit:
that we've been missing at times where we've been sometimes
Peter Antupit:
loyalty gets stuck in systems and the lifestyle can bring that
Peter Antupit:
energy and innovation.
Christina Lewellen:
So one of the things that I like to
Christina Lewellen:
clarify, Peter is what your role is responsible for at your
Christina Lewellen:
school, because we don't ever see two job descriptions the
Christina Lewellen:
same. What does your day to day look like? What is your area of
Christina Lewellen:
responsibility? And I guess maybe part and parcel is what is
Christina Lewellen:
not in the technology realm falling under you. Yeah, I'm
Peter Antupit:
just generally annoying. I poke myself into all
Peter Antupit:
sorts of places where you wouldn't expect to see a CIO.
Christina Lewellen:
I mean, I think that's a good tech
Christina Lewellen:
director, to be honest,
Peter Antupit:
because it's all relational, right? It's all
Peter Antupit:
about moving the school forward and what role technology places.
Peter Antupit:
We'll get to the ALI stuff, but I've learned so much from being
Peter Antupit:
a part of the Ali and the early e cat stuff that I bring to my
Peter Antupit:
work. So day to day will be a zoom, meeting with the tech
Peter Antupit:
department, boxes and wires, going over tickets, talking
Peter Antupit:
vendors, oi, vendors these days, vendors, service providers.
Peter Antupit:
Brutal. We feel your pain. I'm fortunate enough to be on the
Peter Antupit:
senior leadership team that meets a couple times a week,
Peter Antupit:
talking to folks in HR, not about HR issues, but about
Peter Antupit:
onboarding and off boarding advisory a couple times a week,
Peter Antupit:
working with other departments, admissions, advancement, again,
Peter Antupit:
poking my nose in places, you know, where we've had some rapid
Peter Antupit:
turnover in a position it's a tech adjacent position, asking
Peter Antupit:
them, Should we be reevaluating what we're actually looking for
Peter Antupit:
and thinking about a different way to staff this, which really
Peter Antupit:
has, I have no business even talking about, but I do those
Peter Antupit:
kinds of things. I'm also the ed tech guy, which is what I like
Peter Antupit:
to say I do most poorly, and so I've been pushing myself to do
Peter Antupit:
more of that Ed Tech work with folks, and if we touch on it,
Peter Antupit:
you know, we're doing a lot more thinking about AI, which has
Peter Antupit:
been great, because it's bringing the Ed Tech part
Peter Antupit:
forward in our mission here. So that's part of it. I'm all over
Peter Antupit:
the place. I actually had an advisee, an 11th grader, who
Peter Antupit:
came down to my office. He's a new advisee of mine, said, I
Peter Antupit:
didn't know you had an office. I just thought you walked around
Peter Antupit:
all day with your coffee mug. That's it like, that's, I think,
Peter Antupit:
the ideal tech director is you're not sitting in your
Peter Antupit:
office, you're actually roaming around, and you're visible, and
Peter Antupit:
you're talking to people, because that's how you find out
Peter Antupit:
what's happening in a school, doing rounds. You're doing
Peter Antupit:
rounds.
Bill Stites:
Yeah, and Peter, it doesn't surprise me listening to
Bill Stites:
the way in which you describe your job because the one thing I
Bill Stites:
need to thank you for, and I think a lot of people need to
Bill Stites:
thank you for, is that you started collecting job
Bill Stites:
descriptions and shared those out. I still have in like my job
Bill Stites:
descriptions folder, in the stuff that I have to manage my
Bill Stites:
team. I have a link to that folder that you put together,
Bill Stites:
because anytime I need to update that job descriptions, I need to
Bill Stites:
work through any of them, I turn to that resource, and I've
Bill Stites:
shared that resource with numerous people asking about
Bill Stites:
what those job descriptions are like. And it was interesting,
Bill Stites:
because that. Folder, and some of the descriptions were really
Bill Stites:
one of my first for as into trying to create an AI bot to
Bill Stites:
help me write descriptions. So I downloaded a bunch of them, I
Bill Stites:
dropped them in the bot, and I said, based on all this
Bill Stites:
information, help me craft the job description around this, and
Bill Stites:
it was helpful. I mean, it wasn't the final description
Bill Stites:
that I use, but it was that idea of, how can I get at those
Bill Stites:
different things. So hearing you describe, given the numbers that
Bill Stites:
you've posted up into that folder, given the numbers that
Bill Stites:
you've probably read, I'm sure you've got all sorts of ideas,
Bill Stites:
but a heartfelt thank you for even thinking to put that
Bill Stites:
together and then sharing it out, because it's been used by
Bill Stites:
me and by others numerous times. Happy
Peter Antupit:
to do it. It's low hanging fruit. And it
Peter Antupit:
started for that same reason. Bill, I was like, Oh, I, you
Peter Antupit:
know, I know I want to hire somebody in this role. There's
Peter Antupit:
got to be a posting somewhere that I can, sort of like, pull
Peter Antupit:
things from before AI, right? And just like, the bullet
Peter Antupit:
points, and I've gone, obviously myself in there, when hiring for
Peter Antupit:
folks, what are the key things? What's fascinating to me is what
Peter Antupit:
seems not relevant to what I want to hire. Just as you said,
Peter Antupit:
Christina, every role is different, and so, like, I don't
Peter Antupit:
need that. And I'm like, some of it is, like, what's the
Peter Antupit:
curiosity as to why they even have to put that in a
Christina Lewellen:
job description. Yeah. Where did
Christina Lewellen:
that grow from? Exactly like
Peter Antupit:
there's only a policy in your handbook because
Peter Antupit:
something went crazy wrong, yep, and you needed to document so it
Peter Antupit:
didn't happen again. So why is that in that job description?
Peter Antupit:
100%
Christina Lewellen:
as you mentioned, you've been involved
Christina Lewellen:
first with what we called the ECAD program, Early Career
Christina Lewellen:
Technology Director, and now it's morphed into the Atlas
Christina Lewellen:
Leadership Institute, and you still remain a program shepherd
Christina Lewellen:
of that really important, critical component of the Atlas
Christina Lewellen:
community. How has Ali changed over the years? You've been
Christina Lewellen:
involved consistently for a long time. Do you think the program
Christina Lewellen:
is pretty similar to where it was in day one? Or do you think
Christina Lewellen:
that we're tackling different and more complex issues now,
Christina Lewellen:
which would probably be my guess,
Peter Antupit:
yeah, you're spot on. You know, early on, the
Peter Antupit:
first couple of cohorts, almost everybody in the cohort could
Peter Antupit:
have taught the cohort. It was much more about getting that
Peter Antupit:
certification, that saying that they had done the program than
Peter Antupit:
actually learning anything, and there was so much learning. I
Peter Antupit:
mean, I put it down as my PD days, because I was learning far
Peter Antupit:
more than they were just wealth of knowledge from folks. I'm not
Peter Antupit:
going to try to list people, because I'll forget somebody
Peter Antupit:
really key, and I don't want to do that. But those early cohorts
Peter Antupit:
were amazing, and it has shifted. We, early on, were
Peter Antupit:
talking more about how to get yourself, I think, at the table,
Peter Antupit:
and to help other people understand what it is you do. So
Peter Antupit:
much more of the self advocacy. And I think when the pandemic
Peter Antupit:
hit, it became a little bit more surfaced as to what we do,
Peter Antupit:
because all of a sudden, everybody had to rely on us for
Peter Antupit:
things, even though we've been doing everything invisible in
Peter Antupit:
the background before. All of a sudden, the visibility
Peter Antupit:
increased. I think we're focusing more now on something I
Peter Antupit:
know you all have talked about, is just the relationship nature
Peter Antupit:
of technology. Technology is relational and emotional, and
Peter Antupit:
aspiring leaders need to know that, so we're focusing a little
Peter Antupit:
bit more on the empathy, on the coming out of your silo, on not
Peter Antupit:
eating lunch at your desk, on You are crazy busy, but you have
Peter Antupit:
to make the time to make those connections. That's a big focus.
Peter Antupit:
We're also seeing some folks now. Many schools have split and
Peter Antupit:
have an ed tech and an IT department. So the crossover is
Peter Antupit:
important to getting people to understand the other side of the
Peter Antupit:
house, and that's also where we're more adaptable, is that
Peter Antupit:
we're able, you know, Ashley just was able, to get somebody
Peter Antupit:
to come in to do a deep dive into the tech side of it
Peter Antupit:
switches, you know, DNS, all that good stuff. When you're one
Peter Antupit:
person shop, you kind of know it all, but we've lost sight of
Peter Antupit:
some of that. That's where I think it's shifted little more
Peter Antupit:
dichotomous, a little bit more emphasis on relational and
Peter Antupit:
empathy, yeah, and
Christina Lewellen:
I think that that's what we're seeing too,
Christina Lewellen:
just in the Atlas community in general, right? We often say
Christina Lewellen:
that they either come in as a former teacher and they're
Christina Lewellen:
comfortable with the ed tech side of the house, but maybe a
Christina Lewellen:
little less comfortable with cyber and student data privacy
Christina Lewellen:
and the IT side, or they come from that it side and they don't
Christina Lewellen:
necessarily know to speak the language of teachers, and that
Christina Lewellen:
that's a challenge, and so really, that Atlas Leadership
Christina Lewellen:
Institute program is meant to bridge that gap for whatever
Christina Lewellen:
side. And by pairing great IT people with great ed tech
Christina Lewellen:
people, the cohort ends up being really robust. And so it
Christina Lewellen:
remains, you know, one of our most popular programs, and I
Christina Lewellen:
think it really helps schools everywhere, because it really
Christina Lewellen:
shores up the other side of the house, whatever that is for. A
Christina Lewellen:
particular person.
Bill Stites:
I've had three people from MKA go through that
Bill Stites:
program, and to that point, most of them came at the job from
Bill Stites:
something other than education. I've mentioned before. My degree
Bill Stites:
is in early childhood education. So I learned the it site as it
Bill Stites:
was developing. You know, over the course of 30 years, started
Bill Stites:
out very basic, but for those that were coming in from the
Bill Stites:
other side of that, I found that the ALI program and going back
Bill Stites:
to the E cat program as being a mentor for those people, it's
Bill Stites:
been really transformative in terms of allowing them to build
Bill Stites:
that base, because it's not only the educational piece that they
Bill Stites:
get. I can remember a conversation I had with someone
Bill Stites:
we had on the pod, Alek Duba, who came from a school
Bill Stites:
background then from Veracross. But even in addition to what he
Bill Stites:
gained and others gained on that educational side, it was also
Bill Stites:
the how does the school work and function? The conversation he
Bill Stites:
had with our CFO about how things work there, so he told me
Bill Stites:
that was one of the best conversations he had as part of
Bill Stites:
the homework that he had to do as part of that program. And I
Bill Stites:
think if anything, the participation in that, what you
Bill Stites:
teach them in the work that you've done, you know, and that
Bill Stites:
you continue to do there, and the work that is assigned to
Bill Stites:
them that they need to bring back, and those relational
Bill Stites:
conversations that you're talking about really do develop
Bill Stites:
our next generation of leaders, or even some of our current
Bill Stites:
leaders, in leveling them up. It does such a good job at that.
Bill Stites:
What
Peter Antupit:
I like about the homeworks is it gives permission
Peter Antupit:
to poke where you wouldn't normally be welcome. And I think
Peter Antupit:
that's exactly it. When does the help desk guy get to talk to the
Peter Antupit:
director of advancement? You know, they don't have a deep
Peter Antupit:
conversation. We always force the CFO conversation because
Peter Antupit:
that's so critical, but we always ask them to do a
Peter Antupit:
secondary Yeah, that's great to hear. Yeah.
Christina Lewellen:
I mean, it's so interesting how the benefit
Christina Lewellen:
is to the individual in the ALI program, but also the school
Christina Lewellen:
you're digging and poking around corners that maybe you don't
Christina Lewellen:
always participate in.
Hiram Cuevas:
I also think it has enhanced their confidence to
Hiram Cuevas:
be able to talk to these physicians as well, because
Hiram Cuevas:
they're not used to it, and they're never interfacing with
Hiram Cuevas:
those members of senior leadership in a way that is
Hiram Cuevas:
meaningful other than perhaps being in a support position.
Peter Antupit:
Yeah, agreed. That's the other thing we're
Peter Antupit:
hoping to do is, you know, every group has to then present out to
Peter Antupit:
the rest of the cohort several times. So we're also working on
Peter Antupit:
those confidence building presentation stuff, and you can
Peter Antupit:
see who's comfortable doing it and who isn't. And people
Peter Antupit:
progress, they get better. One of
Bill Stites:
the things with the cohorts that I'll just mention,
Bill Stites:
I just took a trip up to Vermont with Steve France, who we had on
Bill Stites:
the podcast, again, a li graduate, who's director over at
Bill Stites:
the Pingree school here in New Jersey. And one of the things
Bill Stites:
that I've heard from him, I've heard from Alek, again, who's
Bill Stites:
gone through the program and as well as Jarrell, who, again, all
Bill Stites:
the three people here at MK, is the amount that these people,
Bill Stites:
the three of them, and Steve in particular, as well the amount
Bill Stites:
of time that they've spent with their cohort after the program
Bill Stites:
concludes, they are still getting together, they are still
Bill Stites:
talking, they are still sharing. You know, you mentioned it the
Bill Stites:
relationships. I've talked about it time and time again. You
Bill Stites:
know, it's about building that professional network and those
Bill Stites:
relationships there that make you truly successful. And I
Bill Stites:
don't think, and I don't know whether the Atlas or the ALI
Bill Stites:
participants have even tracked that level of cohesion after the
Bill Stites:
program is closed, but I can tell you straight out, at least
Bill Stites:
from those four people that I'm talking about, they're all still
Bill Stites:
in touch with that group on a regular basis,
Hiram Cuevas:
and so many of them are becoming the new rising
Hiram Cuevas:
stars within this community. I mean, it really is impressive to
Hiram Cuevas:
see the level of talent that's already coming out of this
Hiram Cuevas:
program. Let's
Christina Lewellen:
talk about that. Because I think that we
Christina Lewellen:
often talk about the first gen tech leaders, which I consider
Christina Lewellen:
all three of you to be, because you sort of grew up into these
Christina Lewellen:
positions and now they are a lot more complex. Let's start Peter.
Christina Lewellen:
I'd love to know what sort of trends or issues you're dealing
Christina Lewellen:
with as a tech leader that you really couldn't have imagined.
Christina Lewellen:
Forget 30 years ago? How about like 10 years
Peter Antupit:
ago? The obvious, AI, is the first one, and how
Peter Antupit:
that intercepts with everything we're doing, and I just don't
Peter Antupit:
mean the student side. I mean employees as well. How employees
Peter Antupit:
can use it with efficacy. And efficacy is critical. The
Peter Antupit:
sophistication This is a horrible thing to say, but the
Peter Antupit:
sophistication at which the bullying has progressed, where
Peter Antupit:
technology is a vehicle, is sad, but also true. There's that part
Peter Antupit:
of it as well. So I think, from the faculty side, how ubiquitous
Peter Antupit:
it is, and then how reliant, which is a beautiful thing it
Peter Antupit:
used to be. Do you need to give me this laptop? I'd really just
Peter Antupit:
like to keep using my chalkboard. That has
Peter Antupit:
significantly changed, and
Christina Lewellen:
now if the laptop dies, it's an emergency,
Christina Lewellen:
day or night, right? Oh,
Peter Antupit:
my God. Such an emergency. Such an emergency. I
Peter Antupit:
mean, I feel that
Hiram Cuevas:
go back to old school. Yeah,
Unknown:
yesterday,
Bill Stites:
we were doing some minor updates to our firewall,
Bill Stites:
and it required the firewall to restart, and there was, like,
Bill Stites:
maybe 510, minutes of downtime, and no one's really here. So
Bill Stites:
it's again, perfect time to do it. The people that were in the
Bill Stites:
office is working. They all left because they had 10 minutes
Bill Stites:
without internet, and they were like, we can't get our work
Bill Stites:
done. You know, you tell them that it's going to be temporary
Bill Stites:
Adams, but it was like, What did you do before the computer?
Christina Lewellen:
They said, We're going to Starbucks. We're
Christina Lewellen:
out of here
Bill Stites:
exactly. Yeah, I don't think it was Starbucks to
Bill Stites:
get more work done, but they all left. Yeah,
Peter Antupit:
that's what we're looking at. And of course, just
Peter Antupit:
tech addiction in itself as well. And I will also say not
Peter Antupit:
just for students, but helping pulling back on technology to
Peter Antupit:
help folks find more balance. You know, it was supposed to be
Peter Antupit:
a great relief, right? You're supposed to be able to use
Peter Antupit:
technology to make your life easier. And all it did was an
Peter Antupit:
over communication tool. And so how to scale back and how to
Peter Antupit:
think about what we're asking of our employees, how often we're
Peter Antupit:
asking them to be connected, is a whole other thing. Yeah. I
Christina Lewellen:
mean, it's completely relevant, right?
Christina Lewellen:
Because especially the generation of teachers that are
Christina Lewellen:
a little bit older, they went into this profession thinking
Christina Lewellen:
there would be balance like that was one of the payoffs, right? I
Christina Lewellen:
worry about that too for our teachers, because what used to
Christina Lewellen:
be like summers and evenings and weekends, you know, if not off,
Christina Lewellen:
at least maybe turned down a little bit, and now that's got
Christina Lewellen:
to be really, really hard, not only with the workload and all
Christina Lewellen:
the extra administration stuff, but then also just not being
Christina Lewellen:
able to really shut it off with parents and students always
Christina Lewellen:
needing that last minute, like, I have a quiz tomorrow and I'm
Christina Lewellen:
panicking and I need help or whatever, that's got to be
Christina Lewellen:
really hard for them.
Peter Antupit:
Yes, I will say that our Head of School here has
Peter Antupit:
really tried to push balance, and as simple as doing the Send
Peter Antupit:
Later makes a huge difference, and not willing to implement
Peter Antupit:
multiple communication platforms helps a lot. Also, when you have
Peter Antupit:
too many ways to communicate, people communicate too often,
Peter Antupit:
and I think that that's something we need to look at
Peter Antupit:
seriously, although I'm shocked that at you know, 2am my head of
Peter Antupit:
school needs an iTunes gift card. Ah, but if that happens,
Peter Antupit:
that happens, you know, you
Christina Lewellen:
may not want to fall for that friend. And you
Christina Lewellen:
also mentioned, like with the role of the eyes, the thing
Christina Lewellen:
about the vendors. And I know that, you know, we kind of go
Christina Lewellen:
there a lot, but that's also a big issue in terms of just
Christina Lewellen:
juggling all the various tools. Do you think that teachers are
Christina Lewellen:
burnt out on ed tech tools and using technology. I think we're
Christina Lewellen:
coming back
Peter Antupit:
from the pandemic. Everybody had to then
Peter Antupit:
there was the everybody back to paper and pencil, and I don't
Peter Antupit:
ever want to turn on another screen or look at another kid in
Peter Antupit:
a little box. I think we're starting to see some benefits
Peter Antupit:
past the sphere of AI yesterday during our what we call our PAC
Peter Antupit:
meeting, our professional adult community meeting, our faculty
Peter Antupit:
employee meeting, I was demoing something in Flint and some
Peter Antupit:
folks that I know within departments that are like never,
Peter Antupit:
ever, AI and I built this activity that showed this is how
Peter Antupit:
They can get started to avoid blank page syndrome. And when
Peter Antupit:
they come to you, they have something that started, and how
Peter Antupit:
much further you can get with them in a three minute
Peter Antupit:
conversation, because AI has launched them a little bit,
Peter Antupit:
there was like, an aha moment, and a bunch of folks who were
Peter Antupit:
like, wow, that actually could save me some time. And the idea
Peter Antupit:
that at 10 o'clock at night, a kid who's going to be scared
Peter Antupit:
that they don't know enough about the quiz and drop into an
Peter Antupit:
AI activity and quiz themselves and then feel more confident
Peter Antupit:
that they got this is huge, because we have teachers who
Peter Antupit:
care, right? We all have faculty that care, and some of them are
Peter Antupit:
answering email at 10 o'clock at night, when the kids emailing
Peter Antupit:
and saying, I'm not sure I can take the quiz on photosynthesis.
Peter Antupit:
If we give kids a vehicle which they can be more assured that
Peter Antupit:
they're ready, that's huge.
Christina Lewellen:
Yeah, 100% you know, I have a question for
Christina Lewellen:
all three of you that I don't think that we've really looked
Christina Lewellen:
at before, and that is so AI has been on the scene for a bit.
Christina Lewellen:
And, you know, there's some teachers that are probably just
Christina Lewellen:
kind of exploring on their own. There's others that you guys
Christina Lewellen:
might be spoon feeding some school approved solutions, like
Christina Lewellen:
flint or, you know, if your school uses magic school or
Christina Lewellen:
whatever the tool, whatever the solution. But I find it
Christina Lewellen:
interesting. I was just speaking at a school recently. And I was
Christina Lewellen:
in front of a lot of the schools faculty, and I had this
Christina Lewellen:
impression that the school was probably among the more AI
Christina Lewellen:
forward independent schools, like really encouraging the
Christina Lewellen:
faculty to experiment and to use AI. They have a very clear set
Christina Lewellen:
of expectations for the students, and yet the faculty
Christina Lewellen:
was still quite mixed. You know, as I went in, I kind of went in
Christina Lewellen:
with this assumption, like, oh, you work here, so you must be
Christina Lewellen:
fairly comfortable, confident using AI more regularly than the
Christina Lewellen:
average teacher. Maybe it was a mixed bag. So do you find that
Christina Lewellen:
your faculties are still kind of all over the spectrum when it
Christina Lewellen:
comes to these types of tools? I'll
Bill Stites:
just speak personally to what I'm seeing
Bill Stites:
here is, I think that there is a good degree more hesitation with
Bill Stites:
AI because of some of the unknowns around it, whether it's
Bill Stites:
from is it kid using it or not? Like, how do we know? What are
Bill Stites:
the ground rules that you've set up to determine that? What are
Bill Stites:
they doing with the data? Because that's all we hear
Bill Stites:
about, is we're feeding into these larger models, and being
Bill Stites:
careful about what you feed these things and then generally,
Bill Stites:
like, what is the value? How is it going to either add to or
Bill Stites:
take away from what it is I'm trying to do, I think that there
Bill Stites:
are still more ongoing questions about it that because teachers
Bill Stites:
don't feel like they've got a set frame from which to work,
Bill Stites:
because most of the tools that we've implemented, you know,
Bill Stites:
they come in, you can train around them, you can do PD
Bill Stites:
around them. You can lay down some guidelines that you know
Bill Stites:
it's going to be contained within. And I think at least
Bill Stites:
from an AI perspective, you can lay out those guidelines, but
Bill Stites:
you've got to realize that it's moving so fast, and there's so
Bill Stites:
many different things out there, there's a greater level of
Bill Stites:
apprehension and trepidation about taking that step into it,
Bill Stites:
because you may think you've figured out how you're going to
Bill Stites:
use it or allow its use, and then the next day it could be
Bill Stites:
turned on its ear and completely different.
Hiram Cuevas:
Yeah, I agree with you, Bill. I'm going to take
Hiram Cuevas:
this question Kristina, and look at it from two different ways.
Hiram Cuevas:
And one is how I think our administration has viewed it,
Hiram Cuevas:
and then also how our teachers have viewed it. I think our
Hiram Cuevas:
teachers were pretty excited about it. In some instances,
Hiram Cuevas:
there was a continuum across that. But I'm finding that our
Hiram Cuevas:
teachers are becoming more accepting of the use of AI,
Hiram Cuevas:
especially for their own personal work. And then it's
Hiram Cuevas:
been interesting this particular year for us is I'm noticing that
Hiram Cuevas:
our our administration, has really moved the needle. I think
Hiram Cuevas:
initially they were very cautious, and now I think
Hiram Cuevas:
they're starting to realize that if we don't do this
Hiram Cuevas:
appropriately with our boys, we are actually going to set them
Hiram Cuevas:
behind, and we need to really have a good path for success, to
Hiram Cuevas:
prepare them for the future. Actually, it's not even the
Hiram Cuevas:
future. Prepare them for today, because that is tantamount to,
Hiram Cuevas:
they say, Christopher's education. And we are trying
Hiram Cuevas:
really hard to ensure that we create good leaders, that we
Hiram Cuevas:
create men of character, or phrases, you know, boys of
Hiram Cuevas:
promise, of men of character. So we really want to ensure that we
Hiram Cuevas:
prepare them for this new space. What's interesting is it reminds
Hiram Cuevas:
me of the disruptive nature of laptops when they were first
Hiram Cuevas:
introduced to schools. The challenge is that laptops
Hiram Cuevas:
produce such a burden, I think, on technology budgets and school
Hiram Cuevas:
budgets, that it was able to kind of go at a pace that was at
Hiram Cuevas:
least more reasonable. This is turn schools upside down on its
Hiram Cuevas:
head, and it's the access that people have, the access that
Hiram Cuevas:
students have, and really the ongoing PD that is needed, not
Hiram Cuevas:
only for the faculty and the staff, but for our students and
Hiram Cuevas:
our parents, because they really don't understand all that's
Hiram Cuevas:
involved, particularly in the area of PII. That's my greatest
Hiram Cuevas:
fear, is they're just using this tech, and they just don't
Hiram Cuevas:
whatever it is that they want in there, and they're not
Hiram Cuevas:
considering the implications when they throw in PII. I've
Peter Antupit:
been thinking about this. We haven't surveyed
Peter Antupit:
faculty in a while about their use of AI, and I was thinking,
Peter Antupit:
maybe it's time to do that again. And then I realized, as
Peter Antupit:
soon as we get the data, it's outdated, because everything's
Peter Antupit:
changing, and teachers attitudes are changing so quickly. To
Peter Antupit:
Hiram point about teaching appropriate use, and I know
Peter Antupit:
that's one of the reasons we're using the tool I'll name drop
Peter Antupit:
again, Flint, is because we can put those guard wheels in place.
Peter Antupit:
Because if we don't give them anything to train themselves on,
Peter Antupit:
it's the Wild West, and they're going to go to GPT and just say,
Peter Antupit:
write my paper. But if we set up an activity in Flint that said,
Peter Antupit:
behave like. A tutor and helping students generate ideas, then we
Peter Antupit:
hope that they're going to use that as part of their learning
Peter Antupit:
process, and not just a do for me process. I think that's where
Peter Antupit:
we are with it, and when we can do the PD, we're like so
Peter Antupit:
targeted. I was in the room with an English teacher, and we were
Peter Antupit:
talking about AI, and, you know, the fears of AI writing a paper.
Peter Antupit:
And I said, Well, what if we set up an activity that's helped me
Peter Antupit:
write a thesis and tell the AI, like, straight up, do not write
Peter Antupit:
the thesis, even if I submit one, don't revive like, so
Peter Antupit:
specifically, like, don't do it, don't do it, don't do it. And
Peter Antupit:
then you could see the AI was really that tutor, which is a
Peter Antupit:
great equalizer for kids access to those kinds of resources. And
Peter Antupit:
it was like a light bulb went off, honestly, for the teacher,
Peter Antupit:
it was like, Oh, this could really be helpful. Again. They
Peter Antupit:
can have this whole brainstorming session with AI
Peter Antupit:
before they come to see me, and I'm not helping them with step
Peter Antupit:
one or two, I can help them dig deep and actually enhance their
Peter Antupit:
learning, because they've already got something that's not
Peter Antupit:
so bad, and I can teach them to make it something excellent.
Christina Lewellen:
Yeah, I think that one of the examples
Christina Lewellen:
that I sometimes use is that my daughters, who are in college, I
Christina Lewellen:
often encourage them to put the prompt in from the professor, to
Christina Lewellen:
beat the writers block, and ask the AI, basically to say, what
Christina Lewellen:
questions would I need to answer in order to fully explore this
Christina Lewellen:
prompt? And it just gives a list of questions, and then it gives
Christina Lewellen:
the kids something to start with, to kind of how to wrap
Christina Lewellen:
their brain around it. They're not asking it to outline.
Christina Lewellen:
They're not asking it to write for them, just simply saying,
Christina Lewellen:
what questions would I need to answer if I were to fully
Christina Lewellen:
explore this topic or this prompt? And it gives a whole
Christina Lewellen:
list of them, and it's a great thought starter. And you know,
Christina Lewellen:
that's often an example. I like yours as well, which is like,
Christina Lewellen:
don't give me the thesis, but walk me through it. You know,
Christina Lewellen:
What elements do I need to hit here? And I like that approach,
Christina Lewellen:
and I think that that's how a lot of kids will use it, because
Christina Lewellen:
we very shortly got to this era where it's like, Oh yeah, that
Christina Lewellen:
was written by AI. There's the telltale signs and the bullets
Christina Lewellen:
and the numbered lists. And so you can tell that even in the
Christina Lewellen:
adult world, when something was written by AI, not that there's
Christina Lewellen:
anything particularly wrong with it, depending on the situation,
Christina Lewellen:
but at least using it to get us thinking rather than to do the
Christina Lewellen:
writing for us is, I think, where the real power lies, at
Christina Lewellen:
least at the moment, with this generation of AI. So we'll see.
Christina Lewellen:
So with you guys being first gen tech leaders, and you've been
Christina Lewellen:
around for a while, you're the ones putting together cool
Christina Lewellen:
resources full of job descriptions and the one
Christina Lewellen:
speaking at the Atlas conference and presenting to the Atlas
Christina Lewellen:
Leadership Institute. Where do you turn Peter for your kind of
Christina Lewellen:
inspiration and or your PD, do you still feel like you get a
Christina Lewellen:
lot out of being part of the Atlas community? Because I know
Christina Lewellen:
that I feel that way in the association community, for sure,
Christina Lewellen:
but when you're the one presenting more often than the
Christina Lewellen:
one sitting in the sessions. Where do you kind of get your PD
Christina Lewellen:
from?
Peter Antupit:
Definitely, Atlas. I read almost every post
Peter Antupit:
that comes through is EDL as well. That's it, and the side
Peter Antupit:
posts that go sideways and links, definitely Atlas is the
Peter Antupit:
go to conference in my leadership. I've been going to
Peter Antupit:
NAIS more often the past few years, and seeing benefit there
Peter Antupit:
to get that higher view about what's happening in schools, and
Peter Antupit:
then thinking about how I can support, again, that empathy,
Peter Antupit:
that relational part, what everyone else is going through.
Peter Antupit:
Those are my conferences right now, and I find that that's
Peter Antupit:
really valuable. It's also great to see Atlas folks at NAIS that
Peter Antupit:
aren't in technology anymore, division heads and such, to
Peter Antupit:
Bill's point, earlier, that have moved out of the realm of
Peter Antupit:
technology leaders and actually school leaders. I think you had
Peter Antupit:
talked about that a little bit like, how do we get people to
Peter Antupit:
look a little bit further out? I'm also fortunate enough to be
Peter Antupit:
part of a cohort that Jamie Sullivan at Kesley put together
Peter Antupit:
with Eric Hudson, and we're doing an AI cohort in the Bay
Peter Antupit:
Area. Oh, that's cool. So I'm learning a lot from all of those
Peter Antupit:
folks. That's been really great. I think there are six different
Peter Antupit:
independent schools in that cohort, so we're all chatting
Peter Antupit:
and talking there, and that's great. And then I'm learning
Peter Antupit:
from my peers here just locally what they're talking about. I
Peter Antupit:
love it. You can learn from everywhere, right? And I will be
Peter Antupit:
learning more from the archive of the podcast. You're
Christina Lewellen:
gonna have to go back and be a day one
Christina Lewellen:
listener. We've had some pretty incredible conversations, to be
Christina Lewellen:
honest. We've gotten some great guests to come and be a part of
Christina Lewellen:
what we're talking about. But also, you know, just having the
Christina Lewellen:
regular opportunity to talk shop is kind of cool, you know, and
Christina Lewellen:
just keeping up with what's going on with the trends and
Christina Lewellen:
what you guys are dealing with, for sure.
Hiram Cuevas:
So Peter, you've mentioned going to NAIS so that
Hiram Cuevas:
you can kind of get a more of a 360 view of how the school
Hiram Cuevas:
operates, how. Helped you improve, or has it helped you
Hiram Cuevas:
improve your relationship with your head of school? Yeah,
Peter Antupit:
great question. And funny story, you know, when,
Peter Antupit:
whenever was NAIS was posted conference, I was like, I'll go
Peter Antupit:
if nobody else wants to go, because I feel like we should be
Peter Antupit:
represented there, so I was going to be the sole person
Peter Antupit:
going. And then my head of school said, I'll go too. So it
Peter Antupit:
helped a relationship, because we were there together. We sat
Peter Antupit:
next to each other during the sessions. We talked here and
Peter Antupit:
there and just passing each other in the hallway. I'm very
Peter Antupit:
fortunate. I feel like I have a really good relationship with my
Peter Antupit:
head of school, so sitting through the general sessions,
Peter Antupit:
then talking about the sessions we both attended, absolutely
Peter Antupit:
helped that relationship, and debriefing. What we've heard,
Peter Antupit:
what we saw and what we didn't hear, is also valuable. And
Peter Antupit:
bring it back to the senior leadership team. I did a variety
Peter Antupit:
of sessions there, which also helps bridge that relationship,
Peter Antupit:
because she didn't do anything that I did. So I went to
Peter Antupit:
Kristina session about boards and AI, because that's always
Peter Antupit:
something that's high on the list of things that are on my
Peter Antupit:
plate that she wants me to be addressing and I need to be
Peter Antupit:
addressing. But then I went to a great session about student
Peter Antupit:
perfectionism and what we can do to help combat that. And that's
Peter Antupit:
part of, I mean, my teeny little advising hat, but such a school
Peter Antupit:
wide important thing to be talking about. So going there
Peter Antupit:
absolutely helps that relationship, because it also
Peter Antupit:
demonstrates that I want to be if I'm not already a school
Peter Antupit:
leader and I'm not siloed in this tech directors role, CIO
Peter Antupit:
role,
Bill Stites:
and when you said poking your head in, like going
Bill Stites:
around and just poking yourself into different things. I think
Bill Stites:
conferences like that allow you to poke in from a perspective
Bill Stites:
where you've got some grounding. Something that said, I remember
Bill Stites:
going and presenting at case NACE with our alumni office, and
Bill Stites:
then attending those other sessions. It just helps you be
Bill Stites:
more informed with regards to the conversations that you have,
Bill Stites:
because we all know what we do really touches across all
Bill Stites:
aspects of school. Maybe at a very high level, you're not
Bill Stites:
getting deep into the weeds, but the more you can talk with a
Bill Stites:
level of fluency around these different things, you might be
Bill Stites:
invited into those conversations and not be necessarily poking
Bill Stites:
into them or injecting yourself. Oh, oh, we should bring Bill
Bill Stites:
into this, or bring Peter or Hiram into this, because we know
Bill Stites:
that they were either there or I heard them talking about this.
Bill Stites:
It just you mentioned relationships. It just helps
Bill Stites:
build all of
Peter Antupit:
that. There's a funny way that I've started to
Peter Antupit:
do that as well, which is when I walk the vendor Hall, I go
Peter Antupit:
around, I pick up stuff, and I say, I'm picking this up for a
Peter Antupit:
friend, because I'm not involved. I mean, I chaperone
Peter Antupit:
trips with experiential Ed and trips, but I'm like, I'm going
Peter Antupit:
to pick up all the flyers for all the experiential Ed trips
Peter Antupit:
and hand those off to our person, Emily Clark, and say, I
Peter Antupit:
saw these, and some of them sounded pretty cool. Again, it's
Peter Antupit:
just that opening into a conversation
Christina Lewellen:
that's kind of brilliant. So you bring home
Christina Lewellen:
swag to like, open up a conversation that's fabulous.
Christina Lewellen:
That's a good idea,
Peter Antupit:
right? And it helps. It's like, oh yeah, you
Peter Antupit:
saw that person. They cold called me. Is it worth reaching
Peter Antupit:
out to them? It's like, Yeah, I think so. You know, your book
Peter Antupit:
company that had a slightly different way of thinking about
Peter Antupit:
it. Started a conversation with somebody about yearbook and
Peter Antupit:
such. So all of that stuff helps. That's awesome. So
Christina Lewellen:
Peter, before we finish things up and
Christina Lewellen:
let you go about your day, tell us a little bit about what you
Christina Lewellen:
do when you are not at school,
Unknown:
nothing,
Christina Lewellen:
naps and relaxation.
Peter Antupit:
I am such a home buddy. My wife, like I
Peter Antupit:
mentioned, is a teacher, and she works really hard, so I spend a
Peter Antupit:
lot of time, not a lot of time supporting her. It sounds really
Peter Antupit:
silly, but we have one kid who's off in college. Now it used to
Peter Antupit:
be more around that we're doing a bit more travel now that he's
Peter Antupit:
off, and so that's exciting. We're off to Italy in a couple
Peter Antupit:
of months, looking forward to those types of things. We are
Peter Antupit:
heavily invested in finding out what he's up to. He's a senior
Peter Antupit:
in college, and so he's doing his job search and things like
Peter Antupit:
that. I'm so boring. Honestly,
Christina Lewellen:
I think that sounds blissful trips to Italy
Christina Lewellen:
and like empty nesting. Oh, I love it. I think my blood
Christina Lewellen:
pressure just went down. Listening to you talk about how
Christina Lewellen:
boring your life was. Want to trade. I like the boring. I've
Christina Lewellen:
got one who's a senior, but I got three others who are not.
Christina Lewellen:
Good luck, crazy. It's a hard year. I think, to be a senior in
Christina Lewellen:
college, there's a lot of crazy things going on in the world. So
Christina Lewellen:
can be kind of a tough entry into the real world. Yeah, I
Christina Lewellen:
love that you've spent some time with us, and that we've been
Christina Lewellen:
able to get to know your background a little bit more.
Christina Lewellen:
And I cannot thank you enough for all the time and energy that
Christina Lewellen:
you put into the Atlas community. I know that my staff
Christina Lewellen:
and I all just think so highly of you, and we're so grateful,
Christina Lewellen:
and you're also just so relaxed. Reliable. You may be boring to
Christina Lewellen:
you, but you are heck reliable to us, so we know that we can
Christina Lewellen:
always reach out and get great answers from you. So thank you
Christina Lewellen:
so much for all that you do for the Atlas team. Love this group.
Christina Lewellen:
This was fun.
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
