Technology is at the core of nearly everything we do in Carroll County Schools and we are lucky to have a top notch team keeping the district online.
Zachary Morris-Dean is the director of technology and leads the team. Greg Bremmer is the network administrator and the technicians are Dyllan Harlow, Ron Kietzman and Demitrius Boyd. It’s unusual for a district this size to have such a large tech team, Morris-Dean said. Comparatively speaking, most districts the size of Carroll County don’t have more than three people in their technology departments.
Carroll County’s team services approximately 3,500 computers, a number of other devices that aren’t computers, maintains a 300-extension phone system, 50 points-of-entry badge reader system, more than 300 surveillance cameras and services more than 45 servers and switches.
That doesn’t include all of the software that is maintained or the barrage of requests for help for everything from a forgotten password to a broken screen.
He noted the administration and the board of education are focused on Carroll County being technologically strong. “There is definitely a commitment to technology here that doesn’t exist in other districts,” Morris-Dean said.
Every student in the district from K-12 has access to a device. Kindergarten and first grade have iPads while the remainder of students have Chromebooks. Teachers also have a laptop and a desktop computer furnished to them by the district.
All those devices keep the department busy, but Morris-Dean said his talented staff is able to meet the challenge. “They’re very people-centered and want to help,” he said, noting their willingness to meet and talk with people is not the norm in the IT world.
Morris-Dean has instilled in his team the desire he has to teach technology to others. “I still like to get out and meet the teachers and provide instructional technology support for them,” he said. Reared by a mom who worked in a school, Morris-Dean said he has always loved the education-technology partnership. He shows that partnership most days by giving the morning announcements at Carroll County High School in his booming baritone voice.
The tech team works year-round and is very busy during school breaks. This summer the team will tackle replacement of the entire network infrastructure, including a 10-year-old core router, all district wireless and most of the data switches.
“From a connectivity perspective we are very blessed,” Morris-Dean said. He explained that Carroll County Schools has high speed internet that is paid for by the state through a program created in the 1990’s by the state’s Chief Information Officer.
Kentucky was the first state to provide high-speed Internet to all K-12 schools. “We’re very fortunate, especially being a smaller district, because we enjoy the same quality of Internet connection that a much larger district such as Fayette or Jefferson has,” Morris-Dean said.
Carroll County is able to maintain its top tier technology with the help of the federal e-rate program operated by the Federal Communications Commission. The district only has to pay for 15% of its equipment cost because of the high free and reduced lunch qualifiers. For example, this summer the team will perform $338,096 worth of work and the district will only have to pay $70,000.
All of this work will increase efficiency, wireless capabilities and expand technological reach to places such as the baseball, softball and football fields. Ten years ago, when Morris-Dean came to Carroll County, he said “no one was even thinking about broadcasting a football game on this network.” Now it’s not just anticipated, it’s expected. And it happens without a hitch.
“Nothing makes me happier than to walk through the schools and technology is being used as a tool,” he said. “The tech doesn’t replace the teachers, but tech can be used as a tool in their toolbox.”
