Moving from Outsourcing to Internal

There are 3 main points I wish to make briefly based on my findings. First, anytime a school is building its own technology department - regardless whether or not the program is brand new or just switching from outsourcing to an internal department - the district must design a technology plan. Any time a decision is made regarding technology in the classroom, it should relate in some fashion back to the technology plan and contribute to achieving the goals set forth within the plan. The technology plan can be thought of as a line item on the school budget so that the plan is well funded and thought of as such. Especially when shifting from outsourced help to internal departments, finding solid staff is crucial.

The staff you need to hire for sure (based on a school district the size of my alma mater, Northampton) is a Director of Technology. This is the technology coordinator we have been learning about all semester. The technology coordinator would coordinate and supervise all aspects of the technology department. He or she will be responsible for working toward the goals set forth in the district technology plan. He or she will work with curriculum design and implementation of technology into learning environments. He or she will be responsible for training and evaluating staff, faculty, and students. He or she will set expectations and enforce them, be responsible for assisting in development of web-based courses and advise in the selection of efficient instructional technology for the district. For a district like Northampton which covers a large area, you need two technology support staff members to split evenly among the districts four elementary schools. Over time, it would be ideal to have one support staff in each school. These support staff would be responsible providing technical and educational support to teachers and students in the schools they are assigned. They will assist in the design of instructional environments using technology to enhance learning. They will assist in training and evaluating teachers, students, and also assist administrators. Northampton has an advantage in that the Middle School and High School is on the same campus and are connected. The technology coordinator would be based here as well as two technology support staff. Lastly, we cannot forget about the network technicians. We need at least two. The network centers around the high school but support is needed at all schools. The network technicians are responsible for the nitty-gritty infrastructure of the district network. They are responsible for network and server administration and maintenance and are supervised by the technology coordinator.

Finally and perhaps the most important piece of the puzzle is the cost. The salary range for technology coordinator according to www.salary.com is between $70,000 and $110,000. Our technology coordinator would most likely fall near the upper side of that range due to the amount of responsibility he is being given. Support staff on average make between $45,000 and $75,000. Our support staff will most likely fall in the middle. Network technicians average between $37,000 and $50,000. In order to hire quality network technicians, I would expect to offer a starting salary of $43,000. But the final numbers look like this: A school district like Northampton could end up spending between $324,000 and $510,000 a year on a staff like this. Certainly cheaper than outsourcing. Even to outsource properly I would hope a school district would still be employing some support staff.