Director of Technology: Reflection on Year 1

In the fast-paced environment of an international school, it is tempting to view technology through the lens of urgency—constant patches, reactive repairs, and the perpetual hunt for the "next big thing." However, true innovation requires a shift in perspective. At St. Johnsbury Academy Jeju, we are recalibrating our foundation, prioritizing stability, security, and support to ensure our technological ecosystem serves our students for the next decade.

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We are moving away from reactive cycles toward a structured, multi-year strategic roadmap. This isn’t just about hardware; it is about budget predictability and ensuring that every device, from our student iPads to our refreshed teacher MacBook fleets, aligns with a sustainable growth model.

Our infrastructure is undergoing a similar evolution. By phasing the replacement of our wireless access points and repurposing equipment for dormitories, we maximize value without compromising connectivity. Furthermore, our proactive commitment to data security, exemplified by the integration of dedicated backup servers, eliminates single points of failure, ensuring that our classrooms remain resilient against the unexpected.

Managing this transition with a lean, efficient team requires discipline, but the goal remains clear: creating a seamless, reliable experience that empowers teaching and learning.

Technology should be the invisible scaffolding of an exceptional education, not a source of friction. As we build this foundation, we must ask ourselves: Are we investing in the sustainability of our tools, or are we simply maintaining the status quo? At SJA, I like to think, we are investing in sustainability that will power further innovation in teaching and learning.

Reflections on the First Quarter

It has been approaching five months since I officially became the Headmaster at Saipan International School. There have been successes and failures in that time, but luckily more successes. It is good to stop and reflect on what worked and what didn't work.

1. Improvement of Professional Development: Mixed review with this matter. We lost a valuable PD day because of a typhoon, so nature really worked against us on that one. But many of the teachers have taken advantage of a local PD opportunity offered by the public school system for Educational Technology. We are implementing Achieve 3000 and we received some training on the program onsite. The school as become a member of ASCD, so Educational Leadership and the online resources of the website are available to us, which be useful in the future. The books supplied by our membership are starting a small professional library as well. Moving forward, we have a couple of PD days in the second semester and we will make the most out of those opportunities.

2. Improvement of ELL instruction: Achieve 3000 is being used in G3, G6, and in the secondary English courses a bunch. The implementation is still underway, so we will not really see much data until the second semester. ELL students are learning English; I can clearly hear it on campus and see it in their work, which is great. Our Title I program is offering small group instruction for many students. AR scores across the elementary school are up, so there is more data demonstrating that students are learning and improving.

3. Improvement of Technology Integration: After seven years at my last school going through multiple 1:1 rollouts, I have learned one huge thing about technology integration -- the network needs to be reliable. If the network isn't reliable, teachers won't use technology, or at least not creative and innovative ways. The network is now split into teacher and student networks, which means the load is more balanced and provides teachers better access. It was a load of work to get to this point, but we are ready to move forward with this now. In addition, the upgraded the elementary computer lab which was in desperate need of it. Our teachers are beginning to notice the changes with the network and computers. Big steps forward here!

4. Improvement of curriculum, instruction, and assessment: Are you ever really done with this act? Not really. Curriculum, instruction, and assessment are at the heart of what we do as educators and they are continually in need of improvement. Due to the typhoon, we lost a valuable work day that would have given us a chance to move on these items, but instead, we need to begin this work in the second semester. Institutionally, I have decided to implement a curriculum review process similar to what my former school was doing. Every five years, each subject needs a thorough review that includes vertical alignment. With only one teacher per subject, horizontal alignment isn't a big issue, but vertical alignment will need to be seriously looked at by the faculty.

The Learning Never Stops

The learning never stops. No, seriously, the learning never stops. If you are alive, you must continue to learn. It is required; it is essential; it is vital. In my third week as the Headmaster of Saipan International School, I know that this year will be a huge learning adventure, a challenge, a large learning curve, but totally worth it. There are a thousand little things to learn and one of the large ones is Admin Plus. I've work with PowerSchool for years, so it is strange to work with Admin Plus, but I'm getting better with it all the time. The telephone support they offer is quite good, although the time it is available on Saipan isn't the best, it still is a huge help. Korea International School used Admin Plus the first two years I was there and then switched, so I do know the program a little from the past, but not as the main administrator. I've never really been a data base guy, so I have dipped into the memories of things that Ben Summerton told me about working with data. One thing I remember him saying was that errors are 99% human made when it comes to data bases and today I saw that first hand as I tried to fix a problem with a teacher's grade book.

The teacher contacted me and explained that two of his grade books had the same file number and he couldn't save or change one of them. This seemed fairly odd and I was cursing myself because I would have to get up early on a Saturday and come to the office to call Admin Plus support or the problem would have to wait until Wednesday on Saipan due to Labor Day. Progress reports are due on Tuesday, so the only way to solve the matter was to come in early... Or so I thought during the mad rush of the morning. But as I ticked off other jobs on my giant to-do list, I kept hearing Ben's words. Something was wrong, but it wasn't the program, it must be something I did or didn't do. I thought back to the very beginning of the year when the some teacher told me that the schedule should be Advanced Math and not Pre Calculus. I remembered changing the print version of the schedule to reprint, but did I actually change the course in Admin Plus? That's it! I went looking through the course schedules and sure enough, the G12 students were still having Pre Calculus, not Advanced Math. A few simply changes later and the problem was corrected and a lesson learned: make the changes in Admin Plus first and then make a change to the print schedule. The learning never stops!

Leading by Example with regard to Evaluations

The old saying goes that the best teaching method is modeling behavior and I believe it is true. Which makes me wonder why so many international schools fail to have transparent evaluation processes for their leadership positions. I've been to three international schools as an employee and many more for conferences/workshops/presentations, and the rule has been a lack of evaluation for administrators. As a budding educational leader, I see this as a major hurdle in international education. How can we expect to judge the value of others, if we aren't held to the same standard? It is an ethical and professional dilemma in my mind. I know as educational leaders we are forced to make some tough decisions, and that those decisions leave us open to criticism that could be unfair or bias, but does that allow us to avoid transparent evaluation? I think not. 

In fact, it is more of a reason to have transparent evaluation and feedback avenues for faculty, staff, parents, and students. It is similar to the idea of a free press. When a truly free press exists, society's issues are aired openly and discussed in a public forum that allows for multiple view points. With a controlled media, the public feels disenfranchised from legitimate methods of discourse. This results in vandalism, violence, and revolt. A healthy democratic society, which I hope schools try to be, runs more smoothly with a free press. Think of transparent evaluation for administration as your school's free press; it allows the society to vent issues in a constructive manner rather than destructive.

West Virginia as developed a rubric and evaluation system for educational leaders that is an excellent starting point for schools that are looking to improve leadership and model reflective practice. I'm hoping that these type of systems become the norm in international schools in the future rather than the anomaly. In the past at KIS, Robin Schneider (@robin_ISH) used Google Forms to gather data on his job performance as the middle school principal, which was something I admired and appreciated about him. He was not required to do this by the school, but wanted to model reflective practice and the importance of evaluation for all teachers and administrators. It is too bad that his efforts ended after he left the school.