Why Hiring a School CTO Is No Longer Just About Tech-Savviness

Source Domain: www.govtech.com

The close of a school year signals the start of hiring season, and the process of hiring a chief technology officer or chief information officer appears to have become significantly more complex than it was even a few years ago.

Artificial intelligence initiatives, cybersecurity threats, interoperability demands and the need for increasingly sophisticated tech infrastructure are reshaping what districts require from technology leaders — and, some experts say, transforming how districts should conduct searches for those positions.

EVOLUTION OF THE CTO/CIO ROLE

Sandra Paul, a self-employed ed-tech consultant who spent over three decades working in education as both a teacher and IT director in New Jersey public schools, said that districts have been elevating tech-savvy teachers, librarians or instructional coaches into technology leadership roles for years. Their work used to focus largely on classroom integration and curriculum support, she said, but those roles have evolved alongside the technology itself.

“Your librarian was really the person in charge of your laptop carts, and they were the ones that used to show students skills, and also prepare teachers,” Paul said. “But, what is it that, technically, they understand about networks? What is it they technically understand about cybersecurity? Or what do they really understand technically about interoperability, and data privacy? It’s not just a matter of the curriculum, but ensuring that you’re providing the bandwidth and the services that are needed for fulfilling the requirements of the curriculum for the year.”

From Springtown Independent School District (ISD) in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, CTO Amanda Lanicek agreed that the “tech-savvy teacher” pipeline may have worked in the past — even just three to five years ago — but she said districts now face a much more advanced technology landscape.

“Now there’s all kinds…

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