John Percvault Thursday July 9

Speaker #3 Thursday July 9
John Percevault-Director of Technology, Lethbridge Public Schools
Today we had the opportunity to listen to a local IT leader. John Percevault brought perspectives from a teacher, and Division IT director. He had moved from a school division where he had much success, to a school division that was in great need of direction and leadership. John has worked diligently, under the leadership of the superintendent of schools to bring functionality and a long term vision and plan to the school district·

Salience (From your perspective, why is IT in education important?)
IT is a multimillion dollar component of the education enterprise that has to work from both the administrative (business) and educational sides. He identified numerous business and educational areas that were upgraded or new. These upgrades were part of a comprehensive division material inventory and vision/planning process. There is a real focus on standardization of components and enterprise solutions which is essential for integrated operations of hardware and software.·

Outcomes (What are the specific IT in education outcomes sought through your organization?)
Since the division was a series of independently operating schools, there was a need for division wide planning and visioning. The process of a consultation from principals and teachers, gave the data for developing the white paper/vision/plan and implementation process. The division brought outside consultants as part of their analysis of data. The school division front ended 3 yrs of technology funding to bring a standard of technology into each classroom. They developed a reasonable ever greening plan.

Processes (What processes are used to achieve these outcomes?)
The division has the most important component of IT leadership, in that there was a clearly articulated mandate from the superintendant, supported by the board and school administrators to move forward with the standardized technology plan, based on the agreed technology vision. The standardization brought the division to a middle ground from their previously highly decentralized organization.
John pointed out that the division education plan has 3 main goals, Assessment for Learning, Differentiated Instruction and 21 century learning. The IT vision and plan fits into these 3 goals seamlessly. School plans link to the 3 division goals, so the divisions IT plan would be consistent in the school reaching their goals.

Characteristics (What are some of the characteristics of IT Leaders that make them effective in achieving their goals?) John identified many IT leader characteristics. He did point out in his presentation the need to be a daily/hourly lifelong learner. It was also obvious he has complete confidence in his tech team as they had numerous planned activities. The confidence the superintendent has in him , is transferred in his confidence in his tech team. He also uses different capacity available such as students at the appropriate times, to help make the technology systems upgrade work .


I appreciated John’s candor in his discussion. He definitely does not pull any punches, and calls it like he sees it. The documents of what the division had developed are a good addition to my documentation portfolio. The division leadership team, Board, school principals and It department are obviously on the same page when it comes to IT, and how it is integral to the business and education sides of the educational enterprise. This can only help teachers and students in utilizing technology in the exciting novel ways for teaching and learning.
My own school division is moving towards standards. From “being a “division of schools” we are becoming a “school division” in many aspects, IT being one of them . We are not in as bad shape as Lethbridge Public was a couple years ago, but it is a good feeling that many of the Divisions directions in their turnaround are similar to where my school division is , and have plans to go, based on our 3 year Education Plan, and our draft 3 yr Technology Plan.