Summer Progress in the District Tech Department

By Grace Bowermaster

School may be out for the summer, but for the PJSHS technology department, the end of one school year transitions into hard work and preparation for the next.

For the past 10 summers, the district has hired a group of PHS students to further advance the technology department and aid in the long list of preparations for the new school year.

This summer, the team is staffed with a group of 7 previous and current PHS students.

2016 graduate, Austin VanLaningham, has been part of the summer staff for the past four years. 

Isaac Glenzinski, 2019 graduate, has been working at PHS for the last two summers, and was a co-op employee for the 2018-2019 school year.

  Upcoming senior, Cody Thole, has also worked in the tech department for the past two summers.

First-year employees include upcoming seniors, Dean Dearing and Nick Miller, and upcoming junior, Jaxson Benningfield.

Dearing will be the tech department’s co-op employee for the 2019-2020 school year.

The tech department also employs a mass communications intern each year for a number of school culture-related tasks. Their main duties include updating the school’s website and putting up numerous bulletin boards around both schools. In addition, they help run the district’s social media pages and get information out to the community. 

District Technology Coordinator, Kelly Jenkins, is the group’s supervisor. 

“Being able to utilize our local students gives them a great opportunity to experience a fast-paced position and attain great problem solving and critical thinking skills,” stated Jenkins.

Several of the summer workers already have some experience under their belt, as they served as tech interns during last school year. However, the summer brings a new set of tasks.

A major part of the team’s job involves working with the large mass of Chromebooks turned in by students at the end of the year. This involves cleaning, updating, and repairing the devices to ensure they are in top shape for the new school year.

Miller has specialized in Chromebook repairs this summer, holding the task of fixing broken and cracked screens, replacing keyboards, and performing any other necessary repairments to over 100 of the student’s laptops.

In addition to the current inventory, the district also receives a total of 190 new Chromebooks each year. The tech team is in charge of assigning the devices to sixth graders, freshmen, and seniors. They then redistribute a handful of the older laptops to different grade levels. 

Additional jobs for the tech staff include updating and repairing the teacher’s laptops, as well as their classroom Smart Boards.

The task of updating and software installing also extends to the district’s supply of iPads, used mainly in the grade school for furtherment of classroom technology. The summer staff has been working on a new and easier way of managing the devices.

Each summer, numerous updates and improvements are made to not only the technology department, but to the district as well. This year, an exciting improvement to both PJSHS and PGS is the new fiber optic internet by Midcentury Communications.

The purpose of the new installment is to increase both schools’ internet speed and productivity at a cost savings, and to ensure quick and easy access for the students and staff. It is also available to anyone in the community who is interested in installing new internet in their home.

Other internet-related improvements have been made this summer at PGS, headed up by the district’s Networking Consultant, Jason Tally.

One of the big tasks has been relocating the internet servers in order to turn the server room into another classroom.

In addition, wireless access points at the grade school are being replaced and a new security system is being installed.

With a significant amount of work to be done in the summer, and the district’s constant expansion of technology, the tech department team continues to grow.

For the 2019-2020 school year, 12 students will be working out of the tech department. Many of the summer workers are included in this number, therefore, their summer job is a great opportunity to gain more knowledge and experience for the future.

“Working in the tech department has allowed me to attain more knowledge than I ever imagined,” said Thole. “just knowing that I have the capability to fix Chromebooks and computers, and to help people out with any tech problems is amazing.”