WCPS IT Department in full swing this summer

Summer vacation is here, and school is over! It seems as if every school year, both students and teachers slug their way through the last few weeks of school until they can finally go home for a well-deserved extended vacation. Unfortunately, not every school employee gets the same luxury. Front-office employees often work year round maintaining the books and making sure the school is ready for the upcoming year. Custodians work incredibly hard to fix, clean, and polish our schools so they are pristine for the fall. Workers at the Board of Education also tirelessly truck on to the benefit of the community. One group within the BOE is the Information and Technology Services department, another example of 12-month employees who replace, renew, and fix computers, Smart Boards, projectors, monitors, etc. throughout the year for the studious use by students, teachers, and other staff. But that’s definitely not all that they do.

The IT Department has a diverse crew of professionals who work each and every month to maintain or implement new network systems, hardware, software, and other technologically-based structures. According to IT Director, Mr. Todd Antwine, “We have the Technology Specialists in the schools, the Information Analysts that support state reporting and software, Network Analyst, Network Engineer, Systems Engineer and Technology Coordinator – – as well as myself.” Antwine also comments on how the functions of the department change when summer vacation arrives. As teachers and students exit the building, the department is hard at work replacing their systems and renewing old ones. Antwine says that it is very important each summer that they “-touch every computer in the district to make sure we are ready for the next school year.” By “touch”, the Director is referring to analyzing any problems that may have arisen over the school year and fixing them. This may include a process called reimaging, in which a computer is completely reset and possibly upgraded to a new operating system.

Antwine, although not entirely sure on the future of school-related technology, envisions that schools will soon begin using more wireless technologies. He “think[s] software will be run even more as cloud/browser based applications and less installed on local computers.” Even right now, the department is working hard to install new interactive panels within certain schools of the county. However, when focusing on how the department runs now, Antwine is elated to say that he is “-very pleased with the Information and Technology Services Department. I constantly have end-users brag about our team and the awesome support they provide!”