The Purnell School
What not on my resume is that I started a position (essentially the Tech Director for a department of one – me) this past fall (2020) at Purnell. I managed everything and learned much about G-Suite ( I was admin for all aspects of the school), Blackbaud – especially all of the registrar systems, grade books, class creation etc. Within about a month I resigned as I found the culture to be toxic and heading in the wrong direction. The school recently announced its closure at the end of 51 year this June. It is tragic that Purnell is closing and my heart goes out to the families who had children attend and the faculty who lived on campus all these years…
BB&N 2018-2019
With my wonderful return to Cambridge that year, I returned to a school I knew and loved – Many of the faculty I had worked with were still there and it was a real pleasure to re-connect. Living on Beacon Hill and taking the Red Line to Harvard Square was a blast – no driving. I worked in the Middle School on Sparks Street – a very special place. The Maker Space was my primary focus. I worked with Faculty across all disciplines and fell in love with the Glowforge. With a new HOS in place, my department changed radically and my direct report resigned and I left at the end of the year.
Millbrook School: See recent post on the main page for a list of complete projects.
Boston University Academy (BUA) 2007-2013
As the “Technology Coordinator” I was responsible for every technology system for the school – and the business processes that were structured around this implementation. I reported directly to Jim Berkman (Head of School) for six of my seven years at BUA. Many of my resources to accomplish this role were done through managing “out” across the various departments at Boston University – specifically with the Network Systems and Operations Group and the Information Security Department. Additional resources managed as needed – specifically with Desktop Support Services.
Cold Turkey. Assumed position at the Academy with two weeks of orientation from an outside consultant. My predecessor left under “duress.” I had to unwind and investigate all systems, making upgrades and servicing systems on production systems in production. They call this repairing an airplane in flight.
Faculty Professional Development. Working directly with faculty, all departments and disciplines, has been one of the most rewarding aspects of my work at the Academy. This has been as small as assisting people with the proper ergonomic positions for their workstations to helping them build websites to support both their professional and personal lives. I make house calls – there really is no separation between “home” and “work” and very often their home computers are really in need of updates.
File Server – Administration. Re-organized all file server directories, setting new permissions and assigning responsibilities (making people accountable) for workflow.
Off-site Data Back Up. Researched, tested and deployed off-site data back up and recovery systems for all key servers and computers. This project took over six months to test various vendors and push the system for data restores. The implementation of Crash Plan was very successful for users of laptops – another service offered through BU.
AD Management and Migration. At the time of my arrival at BUA, we were managing all services in-house, including management of DNS. Boston University (BU) offers substantial value to users who are in their AD. With a year of planning, I moved all servers and desktops into the BU AD. The net result meant greater control of user accounts via group policy (My Docs/Desktop re-direct)- and specifically it offered access to all on-line resources to our students via the Mugar Library, computer labs around campus, and free anti-virus utilities that are very helpful for families at home.
PORTA. (Latin for “gateway”) As a component of “My Back Pack,” offered by Senior Systems (I was the Senior Systems administrator for the Academy) we moved all our paper reports and comments to an on-line, electronic system. In addition to planning this multi-year roll out, I was the primary point of first response for customer service issues.
ePortfolio. As a member of the University wide ePortoflio task force, I not only implemented Boston University’s beta test of ePortfolios (Digication), but also worked with various schools with BU on training and assessment.
Mission Statement and Five Year Plan. To provide leadership and direction for the Academy, I worked closely with the administrative team forge the schools technology mission statement and five year plan.
and here, are my daily work sheets going back 6 years…the power of paper!