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LVUSD Restructures Senior Leadership Team to Create Position for Dir. of Instructional Technology PDF Print E-mail
Maintaining an unwavering vision on expanding and improving the technological support for students, staff and parents, the Las Virgenes Unified School District is restructuring its senior leadership team based on the retirement of the Director of Special Education.  “Any time we have a retirement or departure of a leadership team member, it is incumbent on the leadership team to review the goals and priorities of the District to make sure they align with the talent that is remaining.  Based on that, the District will be shifting responsibilities among the remaining Cabinet members in order to create a new position of Director of Instructional Technology”, stated Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Donald Zimring. 



Based on the restructuring plan, the Assistant Superintendent of Education, Mary Schillinger, will take over the duties and responsibilities of Special Education services along with other key aspects of educational administration.  “We are extremely fortunate that our Assistant Superintendent of Education is nationally acknowledged as an expert in Special Education and has recently published a book on best practices for developing programs for autistic children”, Zimring explained.  “As I reviewed the priorities and vision of our district, it became clear to me that this created an opportunity to redesign our leadership structure and have a Director of Instructional Technology instead of a separate director for Special Education thereby meeting our district’s mission and vision without adding any additional staff.

The superintendent and senior leadership members will be working on realigning all other existing duties during the summer with the goal of having the technology position filled by the fall of next year.  The position will not only oversee the technology services in the District, but also coordinate the activities of the District’s Instructional Media Specialists who provide training and support to the 600 teachers at the 15 school sites.   In addition, the position will also have responsibility for all district wide testing, assessment, and analysis which is now heavily dependent upon technology and teacher use of web based resources.  We believe this is a natural marriage of responsibilities considering that analysis of student achievement is totally dependent upon the teacher’s ability to effectively and strategically use web based test data.  This will help the District take the next major step forward in increasing student achievement while at the same time, expanding use of technology to what students will come to depend on once they graduate from Las Virgenes schools.

Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources, Dan Stepenosky, explained that the hiring process will take time as the Board reviews and approves the job description thereby allowing search to be initiated for qualified candidates.  Dr. Stepenosky said, "Once the Board of Education approves the job description for the Director of Instructional Technology, a posting, along with job discription, will be up on www.edjoin.org along with other appropriate job posting sites specific to this type of position.  The position, now open and up on www.edjoin.org, will be open for at least eight working days.  After the position closes, the applications will be reviewed by a group and the top candidates selected for interviews.  An expansive interview panel will be convened to include the key stakeholders in this position and LVUSD for the first round interviews.  The panel will advance candidates to a second round, which is typically chaired by the Superintendent.  Following the second round and reference checks, the Assistant Superintendent of Personnel and Educational Services will make their recommendation to the Superintendent for his consideration."

Incorporating a dedicated position to technology was a key element of the District’s recently completed Technology Strategy and is one supported by the Board, staff and city council members who have helped fund district technology initiatives over the past four years. 


 
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