Leading Change, Sharing Knowledge: Barry Kallmeyer on Building the Future of Independent School Technology
In this engaging discussion, Barry Kallmeyer, a seasoned technology director, shares his insights on the evolution of the CIO role in independent schools. He delves into the importance of strategic planning, the value of data-driven decision-making, and the critical aspects of leadership, such as succession planning and fostering a collaborative community.
Resources
- Hathaway Brown School
- Zork (playable), text-based adventure game
- Cleveland Browns, struggling American football team
- Philadelphia Eagles, Super Bowl LIX champions known for especially obnoxious fans
- Owl & Hybrid Learning, website built during COVID & shared with the community; highlighted by OWL directly
- Productivity Tools for 2025: Project Management with Asana and Slack, ATLIS webinar
- Scribe, tool to capture how-to content
- IT Glue, IT documentation software
- Technology Leaders in Independent Schools (TLIS) certification, credential demonstrating that a person has the skills and experience to effectively perform the role
- TLIS Prep Program
- TLIS Study Guide
- ATLIS 360 Self-Study Guide, Companion Manual, and Rubric, tools providing a plan to evaluate how your school utilizes technology and the effects it has on the school
- Max Action Arena, VR zombie game at Grand Sierra Resort in Reno, NV
- Center for Institutional Research of Independent Schools (CIRIS), provides resources and support for institutional research practitioners
- Mission & Data, integrated consulting, custom data products, and executive coaching services
Transcript
Peter Frank 00:00:02
Phil, welcome to Talking Technology with ATLIS,
Peter Frank 00:00:05
the show that plugs you into the important topics and trends for
Peter Frank 00:00:08
technology leaders all through a unique Independent School lens.
Peter Frank 00:00:12
We'll hear stories from technology directors and other
Peter Frank 00:00:15
special guests from the Independent School community,
Peter Frank 00:00:17
and provide you with focused learning and deep dive topics.
Peter Frank 00:00:21
And now please welcome your host, Kristina Lewellen,
Christina Lewellen 00:00:25
Hello, and welcome back to talking
Christina Lewellen 00:00:27
technology with Atlas. I'm Kristina Lewellen, the President
Christina Lewellen 00:00:30
and CEO of the Association of Technology Leaders in
Christina Lewellen 00:00:33
Independent Schools.
Bill Stites 00:00:34
And I am Bill Stites, Director of Technology
Bill Stites 00:00:37
at Montclair Kimberly Academy in Montclair, New Jersey, and
Hiram Cuevas 00:00:40
I'm Hiram Cuevas, Director of Information Systems
Hiram Cuevas 00:00:43
and Academic Technology at St Christopher school in Richmond,
Hiram Cuevas 00:00:46
Virginia.
Christina Lewellen 00:00:47
So here we go, and I'm almost afraid to
Christina Lewellen 00:00:51
greet you, because I know what Bill Stites is going to say, so
Christina Lewellen 00:00:54
just go ahead. Go.
Bill Stites 00:00:56
Birds. Go birds.
Hiram Cuevas 00:00:58
Break out the green
Christina Lewellen 00:01:00
we are recording right after the Super
Christina Lewellen 00:01:02
Bowl.
Bill Stites 00:01:04
It's a good thing there's been a day because I got
Bill Stites 00:01:07
it all out of me yesterday, it was like a dress down day here
Bill Stites 00:01:10
at school, so I was, like, all decked out. I can honestly say I
Bill Stites 00:01:15
wasn't the most productive person in the world yesterday,
Bill Stites 00:01:17
because there may have been a lot of highlight watching and
Bill Stites 00:01:21
ESPN listening throughout the day. I'm neither going to
Bill Stites 00:01:24
confirm nor deny that, but let's just say I probably owe the
Bill Stites 00:01:27
school a little bit of time after yesterday.
Christina Lewellen 00:01:30
Well, I started a tally when we got on
Christina Lewellen 00:01:32
our call today here to start the pod, and I believe we're up to
Christina Lewellen 00:01:36
about 12. Go birds.
Unknown 00:01:39
Go. Birds. 13.
Hiram Cuevas 00:01:41
There you go. Well, I
Christina Lewellen 00:01:43
am happy for you. It was a well earned
Christina Lewellen 00:01:46
victory, and I have so many friends who are Philly fans, and
Christina Lewellen 00:01:49
so I gotta say, Go, birds, go birds.
Bill Stites 00:01:53
1415, it's a call and response. If you say it, I
Bill Stites 00:01:57
have to respond. That's how it works. Yeah.
Christina Lewellen 00:01:59
That happens with my kid who goes to JMU? You
Christina Lewellen 00:02:02
know, they yell at each other. I had a friend in town over the
Christina Lewellen 00:02:05
holidays, and she got something on her hoodie, and so she
Christina Lewellen 00:02:08
borrowed my husband's J MU hoodie, and I warned her,
Christina Lewellen 00:02:12
because we were going downtown and having some beverages. And I
Christina Lewellen 00:02:16
said, If you wear that hoodie downtown, someone is gonna say,
Christina Lewellen 00:02:19
Go Dukes. And sure enough, we were literally in the parking
Christina Lewellen 00:02:24
garage, not even barely out of the car, and somebody gave her a
Christina Lewellen 00:02:27
big go, dukes, and she at least knew how to respond. So I
Christina Lewellen 00:02:30
understand the Colin response. Indeed, we are welcoming to the
Christina Lewellen 00:02:35
pod today. Barry cow Meyer, Barry, I'm a little afraid,
Christina Lewellen 00:02:38
because I know how this is going to go, but I also love and adore
Christina Lewellen 00:02:43
you and everything that you contribute in our community. So
Christina Lewellen 00:02:46
I will try to keep the guys under control, but I make no
Christina Lewellen 00:02:48
promises. It's
Barry Kallmeyer 00:02:49
going to be difficult for sure. You know
Barry Kallmeyer 00:02:51
what you're in for? I do. I'm looking forward
Christina Lewellen 00:02:54
to it. Well, Barry, we are glad to have you
Christina Lewellen 00:02:56
here on the pod. Thank you for joining us. You are calling in
Christina Lewellen 00:02:59
from Ohio. Tell everybody a little bit about your job and
Christina Lewellen 00:03:03
who you work for and all that fun stuff.
Barry Kallmeyer 00:03:05
Before I do that, I just need to say, Go
Barry Kallmeyer 00:03:07
browns. Being a Cleveland fan, we were obviously far away from
Barry Kallmeyer 00:03:12
hitting Super Bowl, but someday, so I've been working at Hathaway
Barry Kallmeyer 00:03:16
Brown School for the past 28 years. It's been really an
Barry Kallmeyer 00:03:20
amazing journey. I think about all the changes in my role and
Barry Kallmeyer 00:03:25
the things I've seen and been a part of here at this school,
Barry Kallmeyer 00:03:29
it's just been an amazing journey. I mean, from truly the
Barry Kallmeyer 00:03:33
beginning of technology in schools, I was part of that
Barry Kallmeyer 00:03:38
transition, and just watching that happen and being a part of
Barry Kallmeyer 00:03:41
it, it's been an honor for me. So did
Christina Lewellen 00:03:44
you start as a teacher? Like, what's your
Christina Lewellen 00:03:46
background, and how did you come to be at the school?
Barry Kallmeyer 00:03:48
So, you know, it's interesting. I think back
Barry Kallmeyer 00:03:50
to how in the world did I end up here? And I think it started
Barry Kallmeyer 00:03:54
when I was about 10 years old. And I have an older brother a
Barry Kallmeyer 00:03:58
couple years older. My parents bought us an apple two plus
Barry Kallmeyer 00:04:01
computer. So if you remember those computers, the old
Barry Kallmeyer 00:04:05
greenish screen, we would run programs from a cassette tape.
Barry Kallmeyer 00:04:10
It was just so basic. But they were future thinking, like,
Barry Kallmeyer 00:04:14
let's get the boys this computer. And so I grew up those
Barry Kallmeyer 00:04:18
years after in the house with my brother, just playing with his
Barry Kallmeyer 00:04:21
computer, exploring, learning basic playing. I remember there
Barry Kallmeyer 00:04:25
was this game called short, which was a text based game. You
Barry Kallmeyer 00:04:29
could basically type two words at a time. And so that kind of
Barry Kallmeyer 00:04:34
led to my interest in tech. And then when I was a kid, for three
Barry Kallmeyer 00:04:38
years, I went to summer camp, and I worked there for 11
Barry Kallmeyer 00:04:40
summers in northern Wisconsin, and so I worked there when I was
Barry Kallmeyer 00:04:45
the first year, I think I was 17, up until I was 27 and so I
Barry Kallmeyer 00:04:51
knew I love working with kids. I'm like, How can I do the tech?
Barry Kallmeyer 00:04:54
And they connected the camp. And so I found a teaching job at a
Barry Kallmeyer 00:04:59
public school. School, and two years later, my sister in law
Barry Kallmeyer 00:05:02
saw this ad in the paper for a computer teacher at Hathaway
Barry Kallmeyer 00:05:06
Brown School. I still have the clipping from the newspaper of
Barry Kallmeyer 00:05:10
that job, and that's been in my journey since.
Christina Lewellen 00:05:14
So now, what is your title and what are you
Christina Lewellen 00:05:16
responsible for at the school? Because I've certainly come to
Christina Lewellen 00:05:18
understand that different directors of technology job
Christina Lewellen 00:05:22
descriptions just encompass so many different things. So what
Christina Lewellen 00:05:25
is your day like and what are you responsible for? Yeah.
Barry Kallmeyer 00:05:28
So my title is Chief Information Officer. And
Barry Kallmeyer 00:05:31
like many technology directors, I wear a lot of different hats,
Barry Kallmeyer 00:05:35
and it does look, I think, a little different when we talk to
Barry Kallmeyer 00:05:38
other tech directors. We have a lot of different roles. So my
Barry Kallmeyer 00:05:42
day to day is really varied. I'm fortunate to still have a role
Barry Kallmeyer 00:05:46
in the classroom. You know, I think back to why I went into
Barry Kallmeyer 00:05:51
working in schools, is I love working with students, and so I
Barry Kallmeyer 00:05:54
still teach a couple of grade levels computer science courses.
Barry Kallmeyer 00:05:58
But then my day can be anything from, you know, we just had a
Barry Kallmeyer 00:06:01
meeting this morning talking about thoughts for our website,
Barry Kallmeyer 00:06:05
like, how do you get a font? What does that look like? How do
Barry Kallmeyer 00:06:07
you license it? How do you deploy it to talking about
Barry Kallmeyer 00:06:11
security cameras, I've been filling in to help make badges
Barry Kallmeyer 00:06:14
because we've had a change in personnel who was doing that.
Barry Kallmeyer 00:06:19
Some of it is strategic planning, thinking ahead, and
Barry Kallmeyer 00:06:22
some is just stepping in for the moment when there's a fire to
Barry Kallmeyer 00:06:26
put out, they generally come to the IT department. So
Bill Stites 00:06:31
Barry, I got a quick question for you, and this
Bill Stites 00:06:33
is one I'm always curious about. I've gotten into some
Bill Stites 00:06:36
conversations around how we define different things. You
Bill Stites 00:06:39
know, I was talking recently about how we define
Bill Stites 00:06:41
entrepreneurship here at the school, and in particular when
Bill Stites 00:06:44
it comes to how we define our titles. I've had the title of
Bill Stites 00:06:47
director of technology for a very long time, and you've got
Bill Stites 00:06:51
the title of CIO. I can imagine you didn't come in with that
Bill Stites 00:06:55
title. When did your title change to that and what was the
Bill Stites 00:06:59
evolution behind that change, because I think you see
Bill Stites 00:07:02
different titles now at a lot of different schools, and I'm
Bill Stites 00:07:04
curious about how yours progress to become just that.
Barry Kallmeyer 00:07:08
That's a great question, because we've really
Barry Kallmeyer 00:07:10
gone through some transitions over the past probably 1415,
Barry Kallmeyer 00:07:14
years related to the structure of the department and the title.
Barry Kallmeyer 00:07:19
So, you know, obviously I initially started out as a
Barry Kallmeyer 00:07:21
teacher, and then I stepped into a role that was called the
Barry Kallmeyer 00:07:25
Director of Academic Technology. And at the time when I stepped
Barry Kallmeyer 00:07:29
into that role, they shifted that role to directly going to
Barry Kallmeyer 00:07:35
the head of school. So the head of school and I would meet, we
Barry Kallmeyer 00:07:38
would have those conversations. But paired with that, there was
Barry Kallmeyer 00:07:42
also a director of network technology. And so that person
Barry Kallmeyer 00:07:46
and myself, in a sense, collaborated together on all
Barry Kallmeyer 00:07:49
things technology. But strangely, that person reported
Barry Kallmeyer 00:07:53
to the CFO, and so what we were finding over a course of a
Barry Kallmeyer 00:07:57
couple of years is the direction of the department, it was hard
Barry Kallmeyer 00:08:03
to kind of come up with that consensus and really move us
Barry Kallmeyer 00:08:06
forward. And so there were some pretty significant discussions
Barry Kallmeyer 00:08:10
around, what should it look like at the time? There really
Barry Kallmeyer 00:08:13
weren't that many CIO roles in schools. Our head of school at
Barry Kallmeyer 00:08:18
the time, well, it's pretty visionary about okay, it's I to
Barry Kallmeyer 00:08:22
create one role as the CIO who would then oversee the director
Barry Kallmeyer 00:08:27
of technology, who would report to the ED of school. And so that
Barry Kallmeyer 00:08:31
really allowed us to make decisions at a strategic level,
Barry Kallmeyer 00:08:37
knowing we still have a director of network technology who is
Barry Kallmeyer 00:08:41
hands on into operations and really can make things happen,
Barry Kallmeyer 00:08:45
but really the decisions of the department should be based on
Barry Kallmeyer 00:08:48
the deans of the school, and not whether it's easy for it or not.
Barry Kallmeyer 00:08:52
It's so interesting,
Christina Lewellen 00:08:53
Barry, you've always been the type that
Christina Lewellen 00:08:55
you will reach out to Atlas for data and benchmarking, and the
Christina Lewellen 00:09:00
three of you have been contemporaries for a long time,
Christina Lewellen 00:09:02
so you do Informal Benchmarking with each other, but then you
Christina Lewellen 00:09:06
also were always one reaching out to Atlas, going, Hey, do we
Christina Lewellen 00:09:09
have any information about team sizes or things like that? So in
Christina Lewellen 00:09:12
a lot of ways, you've been a great nudging force to get us
Christina Lewellen 00:09:16
down the path of getting data pulled together that we might
Christina Lewellen 00:09:19
not have available for everybody. Tell me how that
Christina Lewellen 00:09:21
informs some of this evolution. I mean, it seems like every time
Christina Lewellen 00:09:25
you're considering some kind of change, you're looking for
Christina Lewellen 00:09:28
information to help you make that change.
Barry Kallmeyer 00:09:30
Data is such a critical component of our work,
Barry Kallmeyer 00:09:33
I feel like for many of us, especially smaller schools or
Barry Kallmeyer 00:09:38
maybe one person who's running the department. It's like, how
Barry Kallmeyer 00:09:42
do you know whether the decisions you're making make
Barry Kallmeyer 00:09:45
sense? And so by having a community where you can share
Barry Kallmeyer 00:09:48
this data, share your stories, be able to really make some
Barry Kallmeyer 00:09:53
decisions based on the data so important, but something that I
Barry Kallmeyer 00:09:57
think for us, has always helped drive. Decisions. You know, I
Barry Kallmeyer 00:10:01
know, when we first moved to laptops for our faculty, I think
Barry Kallmeyer 00:10:06
I threw out some questions on okay, what are you all doing?
Barry Kallmeyer 00:10:09
How does that work? What kind of laptops, even just from the
Barry Kallmeyer 00:10:12
performance standard, were schools looking at at the time
Barry Kallmeyer 00:10:16
and being able to have those conversations? You know, if
Barry Kallmeyer 00:10:20
you're only talking with the people in your school, you're
Barry Kallmeyer 00:10:23
missing just that huge range of expertise. I always say I know
Barry Kallmeyer 00:10:28
enough about like our wireless to be dangerous, but I rely on
Barry Kallmeyer 00:10:32
other people to help us make that correct decision on okay,
Barry Kallmeyer 00:10:36
what system should we get and how do we deploy?
Hiram Cuevas 00:10:39
And Barry, that's such a great example of making
Hiram Cuevas 00:10:43
sure you're surrounding yourself with team members that are
Hiram Cuevas 00:10:46
really, really bright and are super collaborative. Because our
Hiram Cuevas 00:10:51
roles today, we can't know absolutely everything, and we so
Hiram Cuevas 00:10:56
desperately need to have not only experts in these various
Hiram Cuevas 00:11:00
areas, but the ability to have some cross pollination, when you
Hiram Cuevas 00:11:03
mention that you know just enough about wireless to be
Hiram Cuevas 00:11:06
dangerous, that's such an important factor in these types
Hiram Cuevas 00:11:09
of conversations, because you essentially now know what kinds
Hiram Cuevas 00:11:13
of questions to ask and to pose of the team, so that you can
Hiram Cuevas 00:11:17
derive The data that you want to provide your constituents.
Bill Stites 00:11:22
And Barry, I think about this a lot, this example
Bill Stites 00:11:25
going back to when COVID hit, and the back and forth with you,
Bill Stites 00:11:31
me, Ty and I think a handful of others, when we were trying to
Bill Stites 00:11:35
deploy the owls and just the work that we put in together, we
Bill Stites 00:11:40
each kind of knew different pieces of it, and we were like,
Bill Stites 00:11:43
all right, where can I go? Who can we turn to? And how can that
Bill Stites 00:11:47
work? And I think that's a great example of that, needing to have
Bill Stites 00:11:52
that network surrounding yourself with either people at
Bill Stites 00:11:54
the school or within the Atlas community that can pitch in and
Bill Stites 00:11:58
help. But I think it also speaks to something that I have always
Bill Stites 00:12:04
known and appreciated about you, is your willingness to share and
Bill Stites 00:12:10
not keep information to yourself and really get out and either
Bill Stites 00:12:15
share exactly what it is you're doing so somebody else doesn't
Bill Stites 00:12:18
need to struggle through it, or Like the work that we did with
Bill Stites 00:12:21
those owls, and trying to get ready for what it was going to
Bill Stites 00:12:25
be like to go into COVID, and teaming up with people to put
Bill Stites 00:12:29
together resources that don't just benefit you and your
Bill Stites 00:12:33
school, but benefit the community as a whole. And what
Bill Stites 00:12:37
drives you in that to want to connect in those ways?
Barry Kallmeyer 00:12:41
Yeah, I always believe being able to
Barry Kallmeyer 00:12:43
collaborate in that way, and I think you're bringing up the
Barry Kallmeyer 00:12:46
house is a good example of that, because we all, you know, I
Barry Kallmeyer 00:12:49
remember our head of school, she knew, Okay, the next school
Barry Kallmeyer 00:12:52
year, we have to offer a hybrid option. We have to be able to
Barry Kallmeyer 00:12:56
support our families and knowing, like, oh my gosh, how
Barry Kallmeyer 00:12:59
are we going to figure that out? And so to be able to connect
Barry Kallmeyer 00:13:04
with other schools and throw out ideas and build, I mean, we
Barry Kallmeyer 00:13:08
built that website with all of those resources that any school
Barry Kallmeyer 00:13:13
could access. To me, being able to support each other is just so
Barry Kallmeyer 00:13:18
critically important again, so many of our schools are
Barry Kallmeyer 00:13:22
understaffed. You know, we could probably double our staff and
Barry Kallmeyer 00:13:25
keep ourselves busy. And so knowing that there's never
Barry Kallmeyer 00:13:29
enough time to be able to collaborate with other leaders
Barry Kallmeyer 00:13:33
across the country, other schools, I mean, is only going
Barry Kallmeyer 00:13:36
to benefit us. You know, someone reaches out to me with the
Barry Kallmeyer 00:13:39
question, I'm like, Absolutely, all help. There's four
Barry Kallmeyer 00:13:42
independent schools in the area that we meet fairly regularly,
Barry Kallmeyer 00:13:46
and we always throw ideas to each other about, Hey, you don't
Barry Kallmeyer 00:13:49
counter this. And there's nothing competitive about that,
Barry Kallmeyer 00:13:52
even though we are competitors in this market.
Christina Lewellen 00:13:56
Yeah, that's what I love about this
Christina Lewellen 00:13:57
community. And another thing that I think many of you who are
Christina Lewellen 00:14:03
the first generation technology leaders. All three of you on
Christina Lewellen 00:14:06
this pod are first generation tech leaders, which is such a
Christina Lewellen 00:14:10
great phrase in terms of what it captures. You are all thinking
Christina Lewellen 00:14:14
about the long term in terms of succession planning. I'm not
Christina Lewellen 00:14:18
saying that you're like heading out the door towards retirement,
Christina Lewellen 00:14:21
but it is something that I know. I've talked to Bill and Hiram a
Christina Lewellen 00:14:24
lot about on this pod. Barry, I know in my discussions with you,
Christina Lewellen 00:14:27
you have concerns about this, but it's so interesting because
Christina Lewellen 00:14:31
all three of you have been more than 20 years at your schools,
Christina Lewellen 00:14:34
and you are that first generation of technology leader.
Christina Lewellen 00:14:37
You figured it out as you went. There were a lot of changes
Christina Lewellen 00:14:40
along the way. So now that it is so deeply complex and kind of
Christina Lewellen 00:14:45
ingrained into how you do your jobs every day, how do you hand
Christina Lewellen 00:14:49
over the reins to somebody else, to the next generation of
Christina Lewellen 00:14:54
technology leader?
Barry Kallmeyer 00:14:55
That's a difficult question to answer,
Barry Kallmeyer 00:14:57
and something that for sure. I am starting to think about and
Barry Kallmeyer 00:15:01
trying to figure out, what does that look like? You know, give
Barry Kallmeyer 00:15:05
you an example I had mentioned. I've been helping out printing
Barry Kallmeyer 00:15:08
our security badges for our students and employees, and just
Barry Kallmeyer 00:15:14
going through that process of stepping in to that specific
Barry Kallmeyer 00:15:18
task and trying to figure out, Where are the written
Barry Kallmeyer 00:15:21
instructions, what's the process? And I basically, by me
Barry Kallmeyer 00:15:25
stepping into that role, I've written at least partially,
Barry Kallmeyer 00:15:29
probably 75% of the way there. Here's what needs to happen from
Barry Kallmeyer 00:15:33
A to Z to print these badges. And so I think that for me, has
Barry Kallmeyer 00:15:39
been a really good push to think about, okay, I need to do the
Barry Kallmeyer 00:15:44
same thing with other components of my role and also other tasks
Barry Kallmeyer 00:15:49
in our tech department. Of what are these things that if
Barry Kallmeyer 00:15:52
something were to happen to one of us, someone could step in and
Barry Kallmeyer 00:15:55
replicate that part of the role? There's always trepidation. I
Barry Kallmeyer 00:15:59
think a lot of people worries. Well, that means I'm easily
Barry Kallmeyer 00:16:03
replaceable. And I was pushed back on that because I don't
Barry Kallmeyer 00:16:06
that is just not true, just because there's some
Barry Kallmeyer 00:16:08
instructions for how to print the badges or how to process,
Barry Kallmeyer 00:16:12
you know, iPad deployments, you still need the person to do it
Barry Kallmeyer 00:16:16
and do it efficiently and manage the entire process. So it's just
Barry Kallmeyer 00:16:20
something I think that I am starting to set aside time, and
Barry Kallmeyer 00:16:24
that's the hardest part the time to just think about, okay, what
Barry Kallmeyer 00:16:28
is our priority? What can we focus on? Document really well
Barry Kallmeyer 00:16:32
and be able to know that someone else could pick it up if
Barry Kallmeyer 00:16:35
necessary. And Barry,
Hiram Cuevas 00:16:37
what's interesting is this whole new area of cyber
Hiram Cuevas 00:16:41
that has come into our space has really highlighted policy in
Hiram Cuevas 00:16:46
terms of your disaster recovery, what is the policy surrounding
Hiram Cuevas 00:16:50
doing X, Y and Z? And it's required many of us to take a
Hiram Cuevas 00:16:55
step back to understand, I have it all up here. I get that and
Hiram Cuevas 00:17:01
to put it down on paper, takes a lot of time, which you've
Hiram Cuevas 00:17:04
already articulated, but it just further emphasizes how much we
Hiram Cuevas 00:17:10
have in terms of intellectual property within our minds. And
Hiram Cuevas 00:17:15
to your comment earlier about being able to substitute Barry
Hiram Cuevas 00:17:19
for somebody new to come on in. The other piece that is missing
Hiram Cuevas 00:17:23
from the policy is that network very few people are going to be
Hiram Cuevas 00:17:27
able to come into Hathaway Brown with the same skill set and
Hiram Cuevas 00:17:31
network that Barry possesses. And so just because you have the
Hiram Cuevas 00:17:35
policies and you have the protocols and the step by step
Hiram Cuevas 00:17:39
doesn't necessarily mean it's going to be a one equals one
Hiram Cuevas 00:17:43
with your position. And so often I find it's useful on the
Hiram Cuevas 00:17:47
internal side, so that you do get that cross pollination
Hiram Cuevas 00:17:50
across the team, so that the team members themselves can
Hiram Cuevas 00:17:53
understand and you actually help each other up. I say, Have you
Hiram Cuevas 00:17:56
thought about doing it this way? Well, this is how I actually do
Hiram Cuevas 00:17:59
it in this area, and maybe you can benefit from it, and then
Hiram Cuevas 00:18:02
everybody grows as a result of that cross pollination. I hear
Hiram Cuevas 00:18:07
you. We are all in the same position, yeah,
Barry Kallmeyer 00:18:10
it just goes back. It takes time, and you
Barry Kallmeyer 00:18:12
really have to be helpful. And it's not going to be something
Barry Kallmeyer 00:18:16
that's going to be done in a week. It's going to take
Barry Kallmeyer 00:18:19
multiple years, like we have a document, our internal IT
Barry Kallmeyer 00:18:23
guidelines, that is just a Google Doc, just with random
Barry Kallmeyer 00:18:27
policies, things we've said, Oh, this is what we do when this
Barry Kallmeyer 00:18:30
occurs, or this is a link to this set of instructions. And so
Barry Kallmeyer 00:18:35
just trying to create that, I think this document is maybe
Barry Kallmeyer 00:18:39
three years old at this point, and I continually circle back to
Barry Kallmeyer 00:18:44
that document to add to it, to make changes, but I'm hoping
Barry Kallmeyer 00:18:48
it's something that eventually will help us down the line, when
Barry Kallmeyer 00:18:52
there is a change in leadership.
Christina Lewellen 00:18:53
I just want to mention really quickly,
Christina Lewellen 00:18:55
before we get off this topic, that number one, I give a lot of
Christina Lewellen 00:18:59
credit to the first generation technology leaders in our space
Christina Lewellen 00:19:03
for creating the Atlas community. And so part of that
Christina Lewellen 00:19:06
future network will be what you guys have built. Yes, you can
Christina Lewellen 00:19:09
reach out to each other via text, but those who don't have
Christina Lewellen 00:19:12
the baked in network will be able to find that community with
Christina Lewellen 00:19:16
Atlas. And so first I give all of the first generation tech
Christina Lewellen 00:19:20
leaders, many of whom we've had on this podcast, a lot of
Christina Lewellen 00:19:23
credit. Secondly, I also just want to do like, a quick, weird
Christina Lewellen 00:19:26
product plug. So what you're talking about capturing those
Christina Lewellen 00:19:29
procedures and whatnot. Have you guys used scribe? Have we talked
Christina Lewellen 00:19:33
about that? It's an AI tool that basically, kind of follows you
Christina Lewellen 00:19:36
around and grabs screenshots every time you click. And so
Christina Lewellen 00:19:40
I've been recommending that as I work with tech leaders around
Christina Lewellen 00:19:43
the country who are trying to document processes for business
Christina Lewellen 00:19:46
continuity, the scribe AI tool is pretty groovy, and it
Christina Lewellen 00:19:52
basically creates a tutorial or a user's manual, and some tech
Christina Lewellen 00:19:56
leaders I know are using it to help educators know how to use.
Christina Lewellen 00:20:00
Tool. In other cases, they're using it for some of these
Christina Lewellen 00:20:03
capturing of the institutional knowledge. So we'll throw that
Christina Lewellen 00:20:06
in the show notes, but that's one that Atlas team has used
Christina Lewellen 00:20:09
with great success, because we're a small team, and so if
Christina Lewellen 00:20:13
somebody wasn't available to do a certain task, then having this
Christina Lewellen 00:20:17
manual has been really helpful.
Barry Kallmeyer 00:20:19
Yeah, Scribe is awesome, and it's definitely a
Barry Kallmeyer 00:20:22
great tool. You know, I want to give a shout out, Kristina, to
Barry Kallmeyer 00:20:24
your team, because they recently offered a webinar where they
Barry Kallmeyer 00:20:28
talked about their use of asana and really creating those
Barry Kallmeyer 00:20:32
workflows in Asana. And that's something I went back to my team
Barry Kallmeyer 00:20:36
here, because we actually have been using Asana, but we are not
Barry Kallmeyer 00:20:40
using workflows. I'm like, we need to be able to develop some
Barry Kallmeyer 00:20:43
workflows. Let's get our laptop deployment. So we've got mac
Barry Kallmeyer 00:20:46
deployments. We have PC deployments from start to
Barry Kallmeyer 00:20:49
finish. I want to build a workflow on exactly what happens
Barry Kallmeyer 00:20:53
from the beginning to the end, and those are the kind of things
Barry Kallmeyer 00:20:58
that I think will allow for that succession of well, it's not
Barry Kallmeyer 00:21:03
based on one person who knows all those steps. Those are
Barry Kallmeyer 00:21:06
documented. It is clear so anyone can come in and deploy
Barry Kallmeyer 00:21:11
that device. So Asana, to me, is like, that is all my to do in
Barry Kallmeyer 00:21:15
the next two to three weeks is to develop one of those.
Christina Lewellen 00:21:18
Yeah, it's powerful, if you can unlock it
Christina Lewellen 00:21:21
and take the time, as we say at Atlas, slow down in order to go
Christina Lewellen 00:21:25
fast. It's a really incredible tool, and it kind of one simple
Christina Lewellen 00:21:29
thing, triggers what everybody needs to do. It's a waterfall
Christina Lewellen 00:21:32
effect. It's pretty incredible.
Bill Stites 00:21:34
I'll throw one more on that list for you all. Is
Bill Stites 00:21:37
that a while ago, we were looking at a tool to manage
Bill Stites 00:21:40
passwords, just Password Manager. And we actually got
Bill Stites 00:21:44
turned on to by one of the vendors that we worked with, a
Bill Stites 00:21:47
tool called it glue. And it glue is something that is used by a
Bill Stites 00:21:53
lot of managed service providers to keep track of all of the
Bill Stites 00:21:56
stuff that they need to know about all the clients that they
Bill Stites 00:21:59
work with. And we kind of flipped it around, and we said,
Bill Stites 00:22:01
You know what? We're going to use it internally to keep track
Bill Stites 00:22:04
of all the people that we work with, as well as putting in all
Bill Stites 00:22:08
of those passwords and taking all those things that you might
Bill Stites 00:22:10
use scribe to build for you and lay them in there, as well as
Bill Stites 00:22:14
all these other things with like managing like when licenses
Bill Stites 00:22:17
expire and all these different pieces. So I think it speaks to
Bill Stites 00:22:21
the number of tools that you can use to help manage all this and
Bill Stites 00:22:25
also, again, just thinking about the network right now, in five
Bill Stites 00:22:29
minutes, we've shared three things that I think anyone
Bill Stites 00:22:32
listening can come back and take and really, really run with.
Christina Lewellen 00:22:36
I think that's our new question. Like,
Christina Lewellen 00:22:37
instead of asking, what your favorite coffee is, what about
Christina Lewellen 00:22:40
what is your favorite tech solution at the moment? I bet we
Christina Lewellen 00:22:43
could make a pretty cool list. Yeah,
Bill Stites 00:22:46
but going back to the title and going back to as
Bill Stites 00:22:49
we plan for the future, do you think the title of CIO carries
Bill Stites 00:22:55
more weight to it when you think about somebody coming in after
Bill Stites 00:23:01
you, as compared to any of the other titles that we might have.
Bill Stites 00:23:05
Do you think that title change moving to that will help the
Bill Stites 00:23:10
next person to come in after you and finding that person?
Barry Kallmeyer 00:23:14
Yeah, you know, for a while I didn't think
Barry Kallmeyer 00:23:16
titles mattered, but as I moved through my career, I I think
Barry Kallmeyer 00:23:20
titles do provide some weight to the role. And, you know, I think
Barry Kallmeyer 00:23:26
through my transition into the CIO role, I think it really
Barry Kallmeyer 00:23:32
elevated the strategic nature of the work that it wasn't about me
Barry Kallmeyer 00:23:38
being in charge of plugging in the network cables and the
Barry Kallmeyer 00:23:42
closets and adjusting the wireless. It was really about
Barry Kallmeyer 00:23:46
working to develop the strategic path the school is going to take
Barry Kallmeyer 00:23:52
with our technology in the hands of our kids and our teachers,
Barry Kallmeyer 00:23:55
and really thinking at that high level, whereas you may have a if
Barry Kallmeyer 00:24:00
you're just a role that's like a director of network technology
Barry Kallmeyer 00:24:04
role, which is an important role, it does have a slightly
Barry Kallmeyer 00:24:08
different significance, even though your job description may
Barry Kallmeyer 00:24:11
be very similar, I think it does elevate it. And I do think for
Barry Kallmeyer 00:24:15
schools that are trying to figure out the next step and
Barry Kallmeyer 00:24:18
really elevate their technology work. I think you want to put
Barry Kallmeyer 00:24:23
someone in place who has a title that is going to indicate to the
Barry Kallmeyer 00:24:27
people in that building the importance of
Hiram Cuevas 00:24:30
the work they do. And very externally, I would say
Hiram Cuevas 00:24:33
it also impacts the types of conversations you can have with
Hiram Cuevas 00:24:36
certain vendors. Absolutely.
Barry Kallmeyer 00:24:39
You know, as a first generation technology
Barry Kallmeyer 00:24:42
leader. We're all figuring this out together. I know we've had
Barry Kallmeyer 00:24:46
conversation on, you know, what are best practices for this or
Barry Kallmeyer 00:24:50
that? Because our schools are all so different, the way we've
Barry Kallmeyer 00:24:54
structured things is so different. But I think having
Barry Kallmeyer 00:24:58
that role, that job. Title really does provide that support
Barry Kallmeyer 00:25:03
to be able to have those conversations vendors, anyone.
Barry Kallmeyer 00:25:07
So
Christina Lewellen 00:25:07
Barry, you took the T list, the technology
Christina Lewellen 00:25:11
leader in independent school certification. Obviously you are
Christina Lewellen 00:25:14
aware of it because you're an atlas board member, so you knew
Christina Lewellen 00:25:17
the goals of it and what we were trying to accomplish, and what
Christina Lewellen 00:25:20
the research indicated in terms of why we established it, but
Christina Lewellen 00:25:24
why did you decide to take it
Barry Kallmeyer 00:25:26
when I looked at the TLS and obviously been
Barry Kallmeyer 00:25:29
connected to it over the past year or so, thinking through,
Barry Kallmeyer 00:25:33
you know, this is an important step for me, personally, to be
Barry Kallmeyer 00:25:36
able to sit down and kind of prove to myself is like, yeah,
Barry Kallmeyer 00:25:41
I've done this work. I deserve to be in this position. But then
Barry Kallmeyer 00:25:45
also there was this other part of me that was like, I want to
Barry Kallmeyer 00:25:49
be able to show my colleagues at other schools that anyone can do
Barry Kallmeyer 00:25:53
this. And the importance of really being that example of,
Barry Kallmeyer 00:25:59
you know, this is really an important thing that our
Barry Kallmeyer 00:26:01
community now has, that can really show that you have the
Barry Kallmeyer 00:26:06
skill set and the knowledge base to lead a school. So personally,
Barry Kallmeyer 00:26:12
I was like, I got to do this. I'm just so proud of myself for
Barry Kallmeyer 00:26:16
taking the time understanding what it involved and then
Barry Kallmeyer 00:26:20
sitting for the test. And truly, I don't think I've sat for a
Barry Kallmeyer 00:26:23
high stakes test since I was probably 17 years old when I
Barry Kallmeyer 00:26:27
took the SAT. So it was a little nerve wracking, but I would
Barry Kallmeyer 00:26:31
encourage anyone to take the T list. Yeah. And what
Christina Lewellen 00:26:34
was really interesting to me about that,
Christina Lewellen 00:26:36
Barry, is that at first, you're like, Well, you know, I'm kind
Christina Lewellen 00:26:39
of at the end of my career. Do I really need it? And so I was so
Christina Lewellen 00:26:42
grateful that you decided to take it, because it's important
Christina Lewellen 00:26:45
for people like you, well known first generation tech leaders in
Christina Lewellen 00:26:49
our space, to have those letters after your name. And now you do.
Christina Lewellen 00:26:53
And so just by existing and putting your credentials on
Christina Lewellen 00:26:56
LinkedIn or whatever, folks know what that's all about, if
Christina Lewellen 00:26:59
somebody is thinking about taking the T list. Do you have
Christina Lewellen 00:27:03
any nudge to get them over the line to go ahead and do it? Any
Christina Lewellen 00:27:07
advice in terms of setting for it? I mean,
Barry Kallmeyer 00:27:09
it's definitely a commitment. It's something
Barry Kallmeyer 00:27:12
that you want to take seriously, and you want to make sure you
Barry Kallmeyer 00:27:15
invest the time to really look at what it involves. I know I
Barry Kallmeyer 00:27:22
had signed up for Atlas and offered the T less prep program,
Barry Kallmeyer 00:27:25
which I think was four sessions over a course of four weeks,
Barry Kallmeyer 00:27:29
which was really a great way to learn about the different
Barry Kallmeyer 00:27:34
components of a test. You get a sense of the different questions
Barry Kallmeyer 00:27:39
being asked, and then just kind of sitting down and looking at
Barry Kallmeyer 00:27:42
all the resources that Atlas provided. A lot of reading, a
Barry Kallmeyer 00:27:48
lot of me just kind of thinking through these different
Barry Kallmeyer 00:27:51
scenarios. And so it was definitely a time commitment,
Barry Kallmeyer 00:27:55
but something, I think again, it forced me to stop, to slow down,
Barry Kallmeyer 00:28:00
and to reflect. I do think for a lot of the work that we do, we
Barry Kallmeyer 00:28:06
are putting out fires all the time, but the value of just
Barry Kallmeyer 00:28:10
taking a moment slowing down and digging into all this T list
Barry Kallmeyer 00:28:15
prep was just an amazing opportunity that I feel like,
Barry Kallmeyer 00:28:19
again, like I'm not planning on using T list to find another job
Barry Kallmeyer 00:28:23
anywhere else I am happy where I'm at, but I just learned so
Barry Kallmeyer 00:28:28
much That's
Christina Lewellen 00:28:29
really incredible. Another thing that
Christina Lewellen 00:28:31
you've done that I find really impressive is the way that
Christina Lewellen 00:28:33
you've used the Atlas 360 product, and the way that I sort
Christina Lewellen 00:28:38
of describe Atlas 360 for those listeners who may not
Christina Lewellen 00:28:40
understand. It's a self study guide. It asks a lot of probing
Christina Lewellen 00:28:45
questions. It has prompts in various categories. So
Christina Lewellen 00:28:49
technology for education, you know, teaching learning
Christina Lewellen 00:28:52
technology on the operations side of the house, cyber,
Christina Lewellen 00:28:55
security and safety. So it goes through all of these different
Christina Lewellen 00:28:58
categories and asks relevant questions that your school can
Christina Lewellen 00:29:01
kind of wrestle but it also creates a checklist of various
Christina Lewellen 00:29:06
documents and resources that you should make sure that you have.
Christina Lewellen 00:29:10
Barry, I know that you have been an early adopter of the Atlas
Christina Lewellen 00:29:15
360 Can you describe how it is that you use that at your
Christina Lewellen 00:29:18
school?
Barry Kallmeyer 00:29:19
Well, we initially jumped into it. We
Barry Kallmeyer 00:29:22
were going through our accreditation, and at the time,
Barry Kallmeyer 00:29:27
technology was a little bit of an afterthought to the
Barry Kallmeyer 00:29:30
accreditation. You know, it was mentioned here or there. You
Barry Kallmeyer 00:29:33
could find some stuff in the facility section, but it really
Barry Kallmeyer 00:29:37
was lacking for where I thought technology should be within the
Barry Kallmeyer 00:29:43
accreditation so the 360 guide had recently been published, and
Barry Kallmeyer 00:29:47
we're like, we're going to use that, you know, that really
Barry Kallmeyer 00:29:50
provided the framework that we needed to put all of these
Barry Kallmeyer 00:29:56
random documents and policies and thoughts that we had at
Barry Kallmeyer 00:29:59
format. All together in one place. We ended up creating a
Barry Kallmeyer 00:30:03
Google site, an internal Google site that our school has used
Barry Kallmeyer 00:30:06
just to house our Atlas, 360 technology responses. And that's
Barry Kallmeyer 00:30:12
something I pulled up over the years. It's something whenever
Barry Kallmeyer 00:30:16
we have new people join the IT department or other school
Barry Kallmeyer 00:30:19
leaders, I'll give them access to it, just so they can see how
Barry Kallmeyer 00:30:24
things are laid out within our department, how we support each
Barry Kallmeyer 00:30:27
other throughout the school. It's just been a fantastic
Barry Kallmeyer 00:30:30
guide. And I believe not next year, but then the year after,
Barry Kallmeyer 00:30:34
we have our accreditation self study year. And so I feel like
Barry Kallmeyer 00:30:39
we're 90% of the way there, to be honest, in the work we need
Barry Kallmeyer 00:30:43
to do for that next accreditation, because of the
Barry Kallmeyer 00:30:47
continued development of this
Christina Lewellen 00:30:50
tool, that is a perfect segue for me to
Christina Lewellen 00:30:53
share a little secret just between us friends and all of
Christina Lewellen 00:30:56
our listeners, Atlas is working on taking the Atlas 360 rubric
Christina Lewellen 00:31:03
and creating a product, an interactive survey dashboard
Christina Lewellen 00:31:08
where you can actually answer the questions on the Atlas 360
Christina Lewellen 00:31:12
and give your school a score, and then you'll be able to
Christina Lewellen 00:31:15
benchmark against other schools. And so that's just a little cone
Christina Lewellen 00:31:19
of silence for us and all of our podcast listeners, but that
Christina Lewellen 00:31:22
product is right in the middle of development. It should be
Christina Lewellen 00:31:25
done this summer, we were working with our good friends at
Christina Lewellen 00:31:28
Mission and data to create literally the coolest product,
Christina Lewellen 00:31:32
to be able to not only do what you've done Barry, but now also
Christina Lewellen 00:31:35
score yourself and then see how you stack up against other
Christina Lewellen 00:31:39
schools. So we're really proud of how that suite of products
Christina Lewellen 00:31:43
has continued to evolve. And Barry, you're instrumental in a
Christina Lewellen 00:31:46
lot of that, because you definitely have encouraged me to
Christina Lewellen 00:31:50
look at ways to expand how that product can be used. Some
Christina Lewellen 00:31:55
schools just use it as a tech audit, and they score themselves
Christina Lewellen 00:31:58
on a paper rubric to be able to have important conversations
Christina Lewellen 00:32:03
about what the school is lacking or where the school is
Christina Lewellen 00:32:06
excelling. And now we're going to take that another step
Christina Lewellen 00:32:10
farther and have the benchmark against your peers so that you
Christina Lewellen 00:32:13
can also have meaningful conversations with your
Christina Lewellen 00:32:15
leadership team, like, Hey, we're falling behind in these
Christina Lewellen 00:32:17
areas, and here's how we score compared to other schools of our
Christina Lewellen 00:32:22
XYZ demographic, and so I thank you, because you have challenged
Christina Lewellen 00:32:26
me and the Atlas team to stay on our toes about that product,
Christina Lewellen 00:32:30
because you're just such a super user of it.
Barry Kallmeyer 00:32:33
Well, that is so exciting to hear, because I
Barry Kallmeyer 00:32:35
love that idea of being able to benchmark across other schools,
Barry Kallmeyer 00:32:40
because sometimes you make a decision you're like, is this
Barry Kallmeyer 00:32:42
makes sense? What are other schools doing? And so I love
Barry Kallmeyer 00:32:45
being able to kind of see where we are across other schools. So
Barry Kallmeyer 00:32:50
I'm excited. Sign me up. I'm ready to go. Early Adopter here.
Barry Kallmeyer 00:32:54
That
Hiram Cuevas 00:32:55
is great news. Kristina, I know that many of us
Hiram Cuevas 00:32:58
are participants with the index group, and it doesn't
Hiram Cuevas 00:33:02
necessarily have all the detail that I think this atlas
Hiram Cuevas 00:33:04
benchmarking tool is going to have to be really useful, and so
Hiram Cuevas 00:33:08
I'm very excited about it. And now thank you to Barry, because
Hiram Cuevas 00:33:10
every time he has documentation, he always has this creative
Hiram Cuevas 00:33:13
licensing on the bottoms of his documentation, allowing us to
Hiram Cuevas 00:33:17
share what he's created. And I know I've been grateful for the
Hiram Cuevas 00:33:21
work that you've done in this space as well. Barry,
Barry Kallmeyer 00:33:23
kudos to so many other tech leaders over the
Barry Kallmeyer 00:33:26
years. You know, I want to be where I am without this atlas
Barry Kallmeyer 00:33:30
community and the list serves that have been popular among our
Barry Kallmeyer 00:33:36
group over the years, and it's something that I feel so
Barry Kallmeyer 00:33:39
fortunate to have had others lift me up. And you know, at
Barry Kallmeyer 00:33:45
this point in my career, it's so important that we as these
Barry Kallmeyer 00:33:49
technology leaders continue to lift others up. I'm always happy
Barry Kallmeyer 00:33:54
to do that, Barry,
Christina Lewellen 00:33:55
you've really put your money where your
Christina Lewellen 00:33:57
mouth is on that, because you have stepped into leadership
Christina Lewellen 00:33:59
roles at Atlas, like I know the team turns to you all the time
Christina Lewellen 00:34:03
when we're working on various projects, but one of the ways
Christina Lewellen 00:34:06
that I am most thrilled that you've been involved with Atlas
Christina Lewellen 00:34:09
is that you serve on the board, and obviously that came after a
Christina Lewellen 00:34:14
lot of years of experience. You've been a long time
Christina Lewellen 00:34:16
presenter. You've helped us with a million little projects, and
Christina Lewellen 00:34:20
that obviously prepares you, because you're so well versed in
Christina Lewellen 00:34:23
the Atlas community, that it really prepares you for
Christina Lewellen 00:34:25
something like a pinnacle service on the board. Tell
Christina Lewellen 00:34:28
everybody a little bit what it's been like for you to be on the
Christina Lewellen 00:34:31
board. You're on the executive committee. So you give back in a
Christina Lewellen 00:34:34
lot of ways. You give a lot of time to your community that
Christina Lewellen 00:34:37
maybe people don't really realize.
Barry Kallmeyer 00:34:39
Yeah, you know, it's a lot of behind the scenes
Barry Kallmeyer 00:34:41
work, and I think for me to be able to take off my CIO, my
Barry Kallmeyer 00:34:47
teacher at and be a part of those strategic, forward
Barry Kallmeyer 00:34:51
thinking discussions where the work on the board is deep
Barry Kallmeyer 00:34:55
thinking and big picture, and what's the next 510, years going
Barry Kallmeyer 00:34:59
to look like? And it's so different than my day to day,
Barry Kallmeyer 00:35:03
where so much of it is this operations paired with the
Barry Kallmeyer 00:35:07
strategy. So it's just so much fun to be a part of that, and
Barry Kallmeyer 00:35:13
with a group of people who really come in with so many
Barry Kallmeyer 00:35:17
different experiences in work that they do, and just to be
Barry Kallmeyer 00:35:22
able to continue to support this community. You know, if I had
Barry Kallmeyer 00:35:25
this community 20 years ago, I can only imagine what I would be
Barry Kallmeyer 00:35:30
doing now, and I'm just so honored to be part of it. Well,
Christina Lewellen 00:35:34
I know that the guys are itching because
Christina Lewellen 00:35:38
they want to talk about zombies with you. So I'm going to go
Christina Lewellen 00:35:41
ahead and set a timer and allow free range zombie chat for I'm
Christina Lewellen 00:35:47
not sure how many minutes go
Bill Stites 00:35:50
so Barry, I know for a fact that you were
Bill Stites 00:35:52
involved with picking the location in Reno, and I want to
Bill Stites 00:35:55
thank you for that, because it did have the zombie experience
Bill Stites 00:35:59
in the basement of the casino there that we were able to take
Bill Stites 00:36:02
advantage of. So I don't think I've publicly thanked you for
Bill Stites 00:36:05
that. You know, it made the trip that much more special for
Bill Stites 00:36:08
Hiram, and I sorry that you couldn't join us for a little
Bill Stites 00:36:11
adventure into the immersive world of VR zombies, but it was
Bill Stites 00:36:15
truly a pleasure, and I want to thank you again. So
Barry Kallmeyer 00:36:18
glad to help, so glad to
Hiram Cuevas 00:36:19
help. So Barry, you remember in Orlando, we
Hiram Cuevas 00:36:22
pulled you as soon as you arrived, you know how many exits
Hiram Cuevas 00:36:24
are there to this hotel? And you kind of sat there thinking,
Hiram Cuevas 00:36:27
thinking automatically with four, and you knew exactly how
Hiram Cuevas 00:36:31
many exits there were. So for Atlanta, here's the mission. The
Hiram Cuevas 00:36:35
mission is, we have to save Christina. Who is on your team
Hiram Cuevas 00:36:41
to save Kristina
Barry Kallmeyer 00:36:42
from zombies. I really think that the three of
Barry Kallmeyer 00:36:46
us have been the sort of key zombie aficionados over the
Barry Kallmeyer 00:36:51
years. So I want the two of you right next to me as we are going
Barry Kallmeyer 00:36:55
in and we are taking care of business. I can't think of
Barry Kallmeyer 00:36:59
anyone else who would step up like that,
Bill Stites 00:37:01
a follow up, because you knew exactly what
Bill Stites 00:37:04
the layout was when we were in Orlando, and that was very
Bill Stites 00:37:06
important in all of the locations that you've been to
Bill Stites 00:37:10
for Atlas, for the conference, which conference venue was the
Bill Stites 00:37:15
absolute worst choice when it comes to escaping a zombie event
Bill Stites 00:37:22
for one to occur at these because these are legitimate and
Bill Stites 00:37:25
real world questions.
Barry Kallmeyer 00:37:26
Yeah, yeah. Obviously, I think about this
Barry Kallmeyer 00:37:29
all the time. Anytime I go to a new event. You know, it's a
Barry Kallmeyer 00:37:32
matter of text back and forth as we consider this. Initially I
Barry Kallmeyer 00:37:36
thought Orlando, the hotel, that big open area you could see all
Barry Kallmeyer 00:37:41
the rooms. But then I thought, maybe that's good. You can see
Barry Kallmeyer 00:37:44
them coming. And when I thought about Grand Rapids, that was
Barry Kallmeyer 00:37:47
such an amazing hotel, really, these old spaces, it's like
Barry Kallmeyer 00:37:53
there were so many little hidden cubbies. You could be coming
Barry Kallmeyer 00:37:56
around the corner, back and forth. You never know where
Barry Kallmeyer 00:38:00
they're going to be hiding, Grand Rapids, by far, would be
Barry Kallmeyer 00:38:04
the worst possible place to be in a zombie
Hiram Cuevas 00:38:06
apocalypse. I'm also thinking Washington, DC was
Hiram Cuevas 00:38:10
pretty
Barry Kallmeyer 00:38:11
rough. Oh, all the underground stuff. That is
Barry Kallmeyer 00:38:14
true. You've got the access to the trains. Yeah, that's a good
Barry Kallmeyer 00:38:18
point. Now, you
Bill Stites 00:38:18
didn't know where they'd be coming from. They
Bill Stites 00:38:20
could be coming in from like other areas. Piped in,
Bill Stites 00:38:22
literally,
Barry Kallmeyer 00:38:23
absolutely.
Hiram Cuevas 00:38:24
One last question. Then, mele, weapon of choice.
Hiram Cuevas 00:38:28
What is your weapon of choice? Oh,
Barry Kallmeyer 00:38:30
man, I feel like I would need a good, broad
Barry Kallmeyer 00:38:33
sword, just something you know, really solid on that. Oh, see,
Barry Kallmeyer 00:38:36
you're remembering your sort days. Yes, exactly, exactly. I'm
Christina Lewellen 00:38:41
gonna need to figure out how to be a
Christina Lewellen 00:38:43
zombie, because I feel like I'm screwed. You guys are not gonna
Christina Lewellen 00:38:46
protect me from zombies. This is a mess.
Bill Stites 00:38:48
Now we've got your back. We've already claimed you
Bill Stites 00:38:50
as our one person to save. Okay,
Barry Kallmeyer 00:38:53
thank goodness. Did I hear there's gonna be a
Barry Kallmeyer 00:38:55
zombie aficionado meetup at the annual conference this year? Or
Barry Kallmeyer 00:38:59
was that
Hiram Cuevas 00:38:59
just a rumor? Well, especially if Ramsden
Hiram Cuevas 00:39:01
shows up. Ooh, true.
Christina Lewellen 00:39:03
He will be there, as I understand it. So
Christina Lewellen 00:39:05
what do I need to plan for? I mean, if we're having a zombie
Christina Lewellen 00:39:08
meetup, do I need, like, a themed menu with human brains
Christina Lewellen 00:39:12
and stuff? I don't know how to plan for that. Guys.
Bill Stites 00:39:17
We'll figure it out. I think I know I felt like
Bill Stites 00:39:19
a zombie at the end of some of the nights, that's for sure,
Bill Stites 00:39:21
after many a long day and imbibing in a few cocktails with
Bill Stites 00:39:25
some friends, maybe the morning of maybe not necessarily the
Bill Stites 00:39:28
night. Okay, so
Christina Lewellen 00:39:30
now I'm gonna have our producer put a
Christina Lewellen 00:39:32
timer signal audio into this because we're done with zombies.
Christina Lewellen 00:39:36
I hope you had fun. It'll never happen again to all of our
Christina Lewellen 00:39:39
listeners, I thoroughly and sincerely apologize, these guys
Christina Lewellen 00:39:43
are not stoppable. So with that, Barry, tell me what you're
Christina Lewellen 00:39:47
thinking about and working on at school right now. What are some
Christina Lewellen 00:39:50
of the top priorities that you guys are tackling as we round
Christina Lewellen 00:39:53
out this school year?
Barry Kallmeyer 00:39:54
I think one of the biggest priority right now,
Barry Kallmeyer 00:39:58
especially as we're. We're nearing the approach to our
Barry Kallmeyer 00:40:02
accreditation is there's been a lot of discussions around data,
Barry Kallmeyer 00:40:06
how we as an institution are using data, where's the data
Barry Kallmeyer 00:40:11
live? You know, how do we best leverage data at Hathaway Brown
Barry Kallmeyer 00:40:15
School to help support our strategic plan? How we can
Barry Kallmeyer 00:40:20
support the work we do in our classrooms, and just what that
Barry Kallmeyer 00:40:24
looks like throughout the entire institution. And then kind of
Barry Kallmeyer 00:40:27
connected with that is the conversations around artificial
Barry Kallmeyer 00:40:31
intelligence, and I do think they're connected in many ways,
Barry Kallmeyer 00:40:34
because they think AI can help you with searching that data.
Barry Kallmeyer 00:40:38
And you know, again, you have your own internal sort of AI
Barry Kallmeyer 00:40:41
warehouses, but really thinking about, what does that look like
Barry Kallmeyer 00:40:45
connected to data, and also, of course, AI in the classroom is a
Barry Kallmeyer 00:40:49
big conversation that we're having.
Christina Lewellen 00:40:51
100%
Bill Stites 00:40:52
Barry, I've got to believe that there must be
Bill Stites 00:40:55
something in the accreditation book for 2024, 2025 around data,
Bill Stites 00:41:00
because we're going through the same thing right now. It is been
Bill Stites 00:41:04
something that has been brought up in multiple areas. The one
Bill Stites 00:41:08
thing I think is very interesting in that it's done
Bill Stites 00:41:11
for us here in terms of kind of opening up that door and
Bill Stites 00:41:14
exposing the need for data has really helped us have
Bill Stites 00:41:18
conversations around how we manage our data, who owns our
Bill Stites 00:41:22
data? Who's responsible for our data, the way in which the data
Bill Stites 00:41:27
is going to be brought out of the system, what we're going to
Bill Stites 00:41:30
use it for, and all of those structures that I think you
Bill Stites 00:41:33
know, if you're going to bring like Eric Hileman into a room in
Bill Stites 00:41:36
CIRIS and talk about raising and elevating that level of
Bill Stites 00:41:40
institutional research, like the conversations I'm having right
Bill Stites 00:41:43
now with Steve Valentine here at MKA has been around. What does
Bill Stites 00:41:48
that look like? Is it one person, or is it a team? Is it a
Bill Stites 00:41:51
structured approach that is so much of what I have been happy
Bill Stites 00:41:57
that has been exposed, because I often say, on the IT side of
Bill Stites 00:42:02
things, we're the ones that can structure the systems to hold
Bill Stites 00:42:06
all of it, to gather all of it, but until you really have
Bill Stites 00:42:10
practical applications around how it's going to be used, and
Bill Stites 00:42:14
the reasons for it, something like an accredited re
Bill Stites 00:42:17
accreditation or accreditation report, really gives you, Again,
Bill Stites 00:42:20
that juice to get the job done, in order to use these things in
Bill Stites 00:42:24
meaningful ways.
Barry Kallmeyer 00:42:25
Yeah, and I think there's some trepidation
Barry Kallmeyer 00:42:28
around data. I think it's an overwhelming thing to consider.
Barry Kallmeyer 00:42:33
It's like there's just so much of it. But my thought is, you
Barry Kallmeyer 00:42:36
can't wait for that perfect tool, that perfect time, the
Barry Kallmeyer 00:42:40
perfect person to step in and do this work. I think you have to
Barry Kallmeyer 00:42:44
start somewhere. I look at the work Atlas is doing, CIRIS
Barry Kallmeyer 00:42:48
mission and data, and there's so many great resources out there,
Barry Kallmeyer 00:42:52
so just starting somewhere and knowing that, okay, this is
Barry Kallmeyer 00:42:56
round one of our work with data, and then let's circle back and
Barry Kallmeyer 00:43:00
revise and continue to push it forward. So I think our
Barry Kallmeyer 00:43:03
accreditation in a couple years is going to really elevate this
Barry Kallmeyer 00:43:08
work at our school as we prepare for it. Through the
Barry Kallmeyer 00:43:11
accreditation and then
Bill Stites 00:43:12
after the best analogy I've had is it's going
Bill Stites 00:43:15
to make us all better storytellers. Yes, and I think
Bill Stites 00:43:18
that that's the biggest thing you can think about when you're
Bill Stites 00:43:20
looking at the data, when you're trying to organize the data, is,
Bill Stites 00:43:23
what is that story you're going to tell? How are you going to
Bill Stites 00:43:26
visually represent it? How are you going to frame it? And just
Bill Stites 00:43:30
have a good story? I think if we can do that, we'll really be
Bill Stites 00:43:33
able to get somewhere with the work that we'll do in this area.
Bill Stites 00:43:36
Yeah, I totally agree. And
Barry Kallmeyer 00:43:37
I think our head of school, you know, I look
Barry Kallmeyer 00:43:39
at when she has to get up in front of families or alums
Barry Kallmeyer 00:43:43
raising money, whatever she's doing, she's always telling
Barry Kallmeyer 00:43:46
stories. The importance of those stories, and then the data that
Barry Kallmeyer 00:43:49
supports that is just so important for the work that we
Barry Kallmeyer 00:43:53
do.
Christina Lewellen 00:43:54
And I think that'll be an emerging area for
Christina Lewellen 00:43:56
us as well, the Atlas community, the CIRIS community, there's
Christina Lewellen 00:44:00
data today, and then there's going to be data in a few years,
Christina Lewellen 00:44:03
and that's going to evolve, which is why these important
Christina Lewellen 00:44:06
conversations need to be happening, which I love. So I
Christina Lewellen 00:44:09
appreciate that. Before we let you go, Barry, I've often talked
Christina Lewellen 00:44:12
to the guys about their initial career trajectories and how
Christina Lewellen 00:44:17
that's influenced their work as a technology leader. You have a
Christina Lewellen 00:44:21
bachelor's degree in psychology and Spanish, and then you find
Christina Lewellen 00:44:25
yourself in this technology role. How does that background
Christina Lewellen 00:44:28
in Psych and Spanish impact the work that you do now? Has it
Christina Lewellen 00:44:32
been useful some of those tools,
Barry Kallmeyer 00:44:35
the Spanish? Maybe not as much. You know, I'm
Barry Kallmeyer 00:44:39
fortunate in my role. I'm able to help support some of our
Barry Kallmeyer 00:44:42
global trips over the years. So a year ago, a year and a half
Barry Kallmeyer 00:44:45
ago, in March, I was on our Spain trip, and so I definitely
Barry Kallmeyer 00:44:50
improved my Spanish a little bit, advanced in that trip, and
Barry Kallmeyer 00:44:53
some of it did come back, which I was happy about. But, you
Barry Kallmeyer 00:44:56
know, the psychology major is something that I think, and. Has
Barry Kallmeyer 00:45:00
really helped me as a tech leader, because you understand
Barry Kallmeyer 00:45:03
people, you understand group dynamics, you really understand
Barry Kallmeyer 00:45:09
how to have conversations with people. And so I think about
Barry Kallmeyer 00:45:14
that psych degree and the work I do as a teacher and as a
Barry Kallmeyer 00:45:18
technology leader, it's like that lays the groundwork for my
Barry Kallmeyer 00:45:22
everyday work in what I do. And so 100% I was happy that I had
Barry Kallmeyer 00:45:29
that degree. It's definitely helped
Christina Lewellen 00:45:30
me out a lot. Yeah, I would imagine in
Christina Lewellen 00:45:32
change management, if nothing else,
Barry Kallmeyer 00:45:34
absolutely yes. And I do joke with people here
Barry Kallmeyer 00:45:38
that basically, if something hasn't changed, what's going on.
Barry Kallmeyer 00:45:41
That change is a constant in our work. And having been at the
Barry Kallmeyer 00:45:47
same school for 20 years, people think, why aren't you bored?
Barry Kallmeyer 00:45:49
Like doing the same thing? Was like, No, every two years, three
Barry Kallmeyer 00:45:53
years, I've reinvented myself with my role. And this is
Barry Kallmeyer 00:45:57
amazing. I'm so fortunate. So that change element is huge. Do
Christina Lewellen 00:46:01
you guys find that as well? Bill Hiram,
Christina Lewellen 00:46:03
you've been there a long time. Does it change every couple
Christina Lewellen 00:46:05
years for you?
Bill Stites 00:46:06
Yeah, it's some years. It seems like it changes,
Bill Stites 00:46:08
like every couple of days. But it is interesting. I mean, it
Bill Stites 00:46:12
was funny. You mentioned that, Barry, because I sat down with a
Bill Stites 00:46:15
colleague yesterday and we were going through and updating some
Bill Stites 00:46:19
content on our website around our hiring processes. And it was
Bill Stites 00:46:23
just funny, because I think about when I was doing that work
Bill Stites 00:46:26
on our website, when we were redoing it, when we were
Bill Stites 00:46:29
launching it, and doing all this work, and I was really deeply
Bill Stites 00:46:31
involved with it. I could run the back of that system like I
Bill Stites 00:46:34
wasn't even thinking about it, and I haven't touched it in a
Bill Stites 00:46:37
few years. And it was one of those things where it was like,
Bill Stites 00:46:40
Oh my God, I've got to relearn this again. It all came back
Bill Stites 00:46:42
after a few minutes, but it was like, it processes and changes,
Bill Stites 00:46:47
and we're on to something new. And in a lot of cases, the
Bill Stites 00:46:50
things that you learned two or three years ago, they're not
Bill Stites 00:46:53
around anymore because you've taken them out. So it's an ever
Bill Stites 00:46:57
changing, ever evolving job that always keeps us on our toes and
Bill Stites 00:47:00
keeps us interested in what we do.
Hiram Cuevas 00:47:02
Yeah. I mean, in addition to it ever changing, I
Hiram Cuevas 00:47:04
will say there is some relief in knowing that going through that
Hiram Cuevas 00:47:08
experience, then retain that wisdom for what you encounter in
Hiram Cuevas 00:47:12
the future. You're like, Okay, this is similar to what this was
Hiram Cuevas 00:47:16
like. And if you're a Google school, their dashboard is
Hiram Cuevas 00:47:19
changing all the time without warning. So you'll sit there and
Hiram Cuevas 00:47:23
you go, Okay, this looks very familiar. Let me go back and
Hiram Cuevas 00:47:26
think about this and you realize, all right, I've been
Hiram Cuevas 00:47:29
down this road before. I understand what this is about.
Barry Kallmeyer 00:47:32
Yeah, I think I would be bored if it was the
Barry Kallmeyer 00:47:35
same thing over and over again every year. I love that
Barry Kallmeyer 00:47:39
challenge, and I think so many of the people I've met through
Barry Kallmeyer 00:47:42
Atlas feel the same way. They love these challenges, you know,
Barry Kallmeyer 00:47:47
like, oh, there's this new thing we need to think about. How do
Barry Kallmeyer 00:47:49
we best roll out this new CIS how do we approach these
Barry Kallmeyer 00:47:53
challenges? And I think we all thrive a little bit on the chaos
Barry Kallmeyer 00:47:58
and the change.
Christina Lewellen 00:47:59
I love that. Chaos wranglers a new title in
Christina Lewellen 00:48:04
the technology director realm Barry. Thank you so much for
Christina Lewellen 00:48:07
spending the time with us. This has been a really awesome
Christina Lewellen 00:48:09
conversation. It's always good to spend time with you. We look
Christina Lewellen 00:48:12
forward to seeing you soon in person at the conference. Thank
Christina Lewellen 00:48:15
you for this opportunity.
Barry Kallmeyer 00:48:16
Love talking with little to review.
Peter Frank 00:48:20
This has been talking technology with Atlas,
Peter Frank 00:48:23
produced by the Association of Technology Leaders in
Peter Frank 00:48:25
Independent Schools. For more information about Atlas and
Peter Frank 00:48:29
Atlas membership, please visit the atlas.org if you enjoyed
Peter Frank 00:48:33
this discussion, please subscribe, leave a review and
Peter Frank 00:48:36
share this podcast with your colleagues in the independent
Peter Frank 00:48:39
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