Director of Technology Interview

at Dexter Community Schools

By Shihong Xu
 Interview Details
Time: 9:00 a.m. -10:00 a.m. on March 18, Wed by Google Hangout video

Interviewee: Rick Munir, Director of Technology at DCS

Interviewer: Shihong(Emily) Xu

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 Demographics of Dexter Community Schools
● Located in the City of Dexter, Southeast Michigan, along the banks
of the Huron River and Mill Creek, just five miles northwest of Ann
Arbor.
● Six school buildings in the district--1 preschool, 3 elementary
schools, 1 middle school and 1 high school
● 3,573 students for Young Fives through twelfth grade in 2020
● Minority enrollment is 7% of the student body (majority Hispanic
and Asian), which is less than the Michigan state average of 34%.

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Interview Questions
1. What are the top priority items funded in the budget this year?
2. How are decisions about district funding priorities, the level of spending and
educational programs made in our district?
3. Who makes these decisions? On what information are these decisions made?
4. What evidence is used to monitor the effectiveness or success in accomplishing these
priorities?
5. What do you expect the district priorities might be for 2020-2021?

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 Interview Summary
1. What are the top priority items funded in the budget this year?
Two aspects of technology budgets: general fund that they used to pull lessons in
server and the bond money. The DCS passed the bond and allocate a lot of money for
certain things in the district. The bond money could be used over ten-year period.
Technology obtained $6.5 -$7.5 million of the bond money. A big priority this year is
staff computers and Chromebooks for 5th and 6th graders. The technology
department just spent around $700,000 last week on staff computers. They had
planned to distribute the new staff computers at the end of April but due to
Coronavirus outbreak, things are changing and they will figure it out when to do that.
Besides, another priority is to upgrade MDM(Mobile Device Management) this year.

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 Interview Summary
2. How are decisions about district funding priorities, the level of spending and
educational programs made in our district?
First, they forecast what technology they have now and what technology they see
coming in the future. The technology department made a DCS Technology Plan in
2017 and this plan covers what they would purchase for the next ten years, such as
what they need to buy for the new classrooms and what they need to update for the
existing classrooms.
Next, they do the survey in different buildings and get to know what devices the staff
need. For example, in July, 2021, the technology department will spend $44,000 to
purchase Ipads for staff and $351,000 for students. Currently, they are purchasing
320 Macbooks Pro for the staff and these devices will last from 2020 to 2026.
However, some of the Macbooks might not work during the period, so they will pull
some money from general fund to refresh them.
Besides, they make decisions based on the existing technology and also on where
they want to see the district will go in the future.

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Dexter Community Schools 2017 Bond Technology Plan

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 Interview Summary
3. Who makes these decisions? On what information are these decisions made?
First, the technology department talks to staff and see where they want things to
move. Once they get a thought on what they’d like to do, the planning part starts
going with starting to check out some vendors, getting some demos and then
putting up a proposal for the principal and getting him and the superintendent on
board. Then they do a final proposal for the board members. Rick emphasized the
input from staff and said they couldn’t make decisions without input from staff. If
they pick something but staff hate it, he cannot implement it. In conclusion, many
people are involved in making decisions, staff, the principals, the director of
curriculum, the superintendent and board members.

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 Interview Summary
4. What evidence is used to monitor the effectiveness or success in accomplishing
these priorities?
First, the technology department will check if the products and softwares are used
by many staff. Also, for the things that students use, if the staff doesn’t put it in,
then it is not successful. The technology is all about student learning. For example,
they put in a software for a language. Several years later, if they see the students’
growth in the assessments and if they get the feedback from staff survey that the
students are more engaged, they think the priorities are accomplished.

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 Interview Summary
5. What do you expect the district priorities might be for 2020-2021?

According to Dexter Community Schools 2017 Bond Technology Plan, the priorities
for 2020-2021 are purchasing staff Ipads and students Ipads, which will cost
$400,000. Also, they will replace the old power charges with the new ones in 40
carts in Anchor and Beacon buildings, put the cases on and label them, which will
take them 4 weeks to finish that.

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 Interview Reflection
From Rick’s responses to my interview questions, here’s the reflection on how the budget
and process reflects the one of the six habits described in the Mackinac Center report?

Habit 2: Take Advantage of Cost Savings from Outsourcing Non-Instructional Services.

If the district outsources the non–instructional school services like transportation, food
services and maintenance and save money or improve services, there is little reason for
the district to continue providing these services itself. However, the technology
department is different. The problem of outsourcing computers and technology
information is twofold. One one hand, there’s no ownership. On the other hand, the
effectiveness goes way down because the outsourcing staff work off site and cannot
provide timely help to the staff and the students.

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 Interview Reflection
In summary, good technology budgets should not be just practical, but moral as well. Just
like the host Jarod McGfffey said in the zoom meeting “What’s Hot and What’s Not on School
Funding” yesterday, the questions “How is the money spent? Where does the money go? and
Who is accountable?” are very important for the auxiliary service managers. As to the
Dexter Community Schools, these questions are especially significant because the former
technology manager, Brian Scott Tungl, stole more than $300,000 worth of technology and
equipment from the district in 2011. Even though he served six months in jail and two years
probation, this embezzlement and his dishonest actions had a huge negative impact on our
students education and the whole district.
Therefore, the technology budget should be transparent. From the Google Docs
spreadsheet Rick presented to me, I could see the major categories and account codes,
each purchase order with its vendor, dollar amount, and the balance of each account, so
everyone who has access to this document can see how every dollar is spent directly or
indirectly to improve educational opportunities for students.

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 Interview Reflection
Besides, the director of technology should make the most effective use of its financial
resources and meet teachers and students’ needs. The process to develop a plan should
involve the input of staff , the director of curriculum and the stakeholders. I totally agree
with what Rick has said, if he buys something that staff and students will not use, it’s not
successful. However, if the majority of staff request to use some softwares like GoGuardian
which monitors students what they are doing behind their screens and they use it
frequently and effectively, even though the price of the technology is very high, it’s much
cheaper than the technology that nobody would use.

Finally, just like what I stated in the paper Budget Communication Analysis, the technology
budget communications should present the information in a clear and concise fashion. We
could build upon our budget webpage and provide the access to participants, stakeholders,
and the general public and inform them of how the process works and why each decision is
made and how every dollar is spent.

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