At the March 10th Board of Education meeting the position of Special Assistant to the Superintendent for Technology was created. The first reaction is why another bureaucrat at the BOE, away from children? The reality is that something as important as "technology" needs to be coordinated at the top level of management. The original district technology committee, made up of classroom and support teachers, administrators and community members, placed the creation of such a top level position high on its recommendation list. I have personally pushed for such a position. The district needs to do a better job of coordinating administrative and educational technology with a comprehensive vision for the 21st century.
The person hired for this position is Dr. James A. Mecklenburger. He has been a consultant to the school system and the current district technology committee for the past year. Jim also worked with Dr. Masem while he was in the Alexandria, Virginia, schools. Jim has many national and international connections that may help the district attract outside sources of support for technology. He has a grasp of the social, political and economic pressures that drive education and and communicates well with teachers, management, school boards and community. While he brings a management perspective, he appears genuinely interested in dialoguing with practitioners before decisions are made. You can contact him via e-mail at GVSMeck@aol.com or through his office at the Board of Education.
Jim's background includes a long stint at the National School Boards Association (NSBA). He was their original Director of Research and later Director of the Institute for the Transfer of Technology to Education (ITTE). He started the NSBA publication, School Board News. Jim has also worked with Turner Broadcasting's school inititiative, Turner Educational Services. He began his career with 4 years as a high school teacher of English and creative writing. He holds a master's degree in secondary education from Temple University and a doctorate in curriculum from Indiana University.
For the past 5 years he has been a private consultant and President of the Global Village Schools Institute. The agenda of that Institute (http://www.intoschools.com/gvsgend5.htm) provides an indication of how he may approach his job in our school system...
"The Institute's stated mission is to assist and support those who conceive and implement the next generations of learning and teaching. GVSI brings together two contemporary movements in education that naturally intertwine: