Kelly May-Vollmar is the new superintendent of the Desert Sands Unified School District in California, .
Her path to the job, through the district鈥檚 technology office, gives her a unique vantage point: She鈥檚 a female superintendent with a deep background in digital teaching tools, at a time when districts across the country are using educational technology in more sophisticated ways then ever before.
She rose up through the district ranks as an elementary school teacher, academic coach, International Baccalaureate (IB) coordinator, and principal. Then her curiosity about technology helped her land a job as the chief technology officer for the district, a leadership role in K-12 education still held mostly by men.
As assistant superintendent of educational and technology services for the district, May-Vollmar helped lead an initiative to build an LTE (Long-Term Evolution) wireless network for the school system, which provided more equitable access to technology for all students and supported the district鈥檚 strategy to use 1-to-1 computing to improve teaching and learning. And she has worked hard to help educators in her district see the important connections between curriculum and technology.
Assistant Managing Editor Kevin Bushweller sat down recently with May-Vollmar for a face-to-face conversation in New Orleans during the International Society for Technology in Education鈥檚 annual conference, the largest educational technology gathering in the country.
Here鈥檚 what she had to say about her own professional journey and the challenges ahead for schools. The conversation has been edited for brevity and clarity.
Leaders in the tech industry鈥攁nd school district CTOs鈥攁re still mostly males. What was it like entering that world as a woman? How did you build respect and get people to listen to you?
Really great question. I can鈥檛 even count on two hands the number of times I walked into a meeting and I was the only woman in the room. So, you have to lean in and you have to just decide that you鈥檙e in the right room. You鈥檙e supposed to have a seat at the table and really engage. It鈥檚 not that any men in the room are trying to not have conversations with women, but being the only one can be intimidating. And then I鈥檝e certainly had the other extreme of that where I鈥檝e had people assume that I鈥檓 a vendor, not a CTO, because I鈥檓 a female. And so, you just have to not take that personally and know that you have a job to do.
How important do you think it is for today鈥檚 superintendents not necessarily to be techies, but to have a meaningful understanding of the connection between technology and teaching and learning?
In today鈥檚 world, it is important for a superintendent to be aware of how technology impacts not only teaching and learning, but every aspect of the district. There are almost no jobs left [that] technology doesn鈥檛 touch at some point鈥攐ur sprinkler systems are managed through technology. Our camera systems are managed through technology. So it鈥檚 touching every aspect of the work that we do.
Tell me a little bit about how you landed in the chief technology officer job.
I just was trying to put my two cents in to try and help our district have a really forward-thinking CTO position. And when I read the job description, I honestly thought, 鈥業 want this job. I want to be part of moving our district forward as it pertains to technology and technology in the classroom.鈥� So I applied and got the job as the chief technology officer. That was in 2016. So probably the most fun job I think I鈥檒l ever have, being the CTO, and not just fun because you鈥檙e playing with technology, but we got to do some really deeply meaningful things for our students.
You were a principal. What should principals know about using educational technology to improve teaching and learning?
You have to look at objectives and strategies before you even start talking about what tool you鈥檙e going to use. For the principal being the lead learner or the instructional leader, you鈥檝e got to be aware of how to effectively choose the right tools鈥攏ot just to have technology because it鈥檚 shiny and neat. Principals need to be very aware of what those technologies are and how to use them, and then to model them when they鈥檙e doing professional development for their staff.
What鈥檚 the principal鈥檚 role or responsibility when you have a district technology initiative鈥攕uch as 1-to-1 computing鈥攃oming from the top down?
When you鈥檙e looking at an initiative that comes from the district down to principals and then to teachers, it鈥檚 really, really important that principals start with the 鈥榳hy,鈥� because we鈥檙e asking teachers to do something that they didn鈥檛 choose to do. We need to make sure principals communicate that because it helps people buy in and understand why it鈥檚 an important initiative.
Looking ahead, what do you think are the three biggest tech challenges for schools right now?
Well, certainly cybersecurity. That鈥檚 something that everybody鈥檚 grappling with. And a lot of districts are losing their insurance because they don鈥檛 have the right cybersecurity measures in place.
Something else that鈥檚 really, really huge is sustainability. We鈥檝e just had so much money come into our schools and we all know that there鈥檚 a funding cliff coming. I鈥檝e talked to so many CTOs and superintendents across the nation where the idea is, 鈥榳ell, we鈥檝e put all this money already into technology, so we don鈥檛 have to put any more money in for a really long time.鈥� And we all know that鈥檚 not how technology works. It evolves quickly. And even if you鈥檙e looking at something as basic as 1-to-1 computing, you鈥檙e looking at about a five-year life cycle on those devices. So we can鈥檛 have the mentality of, 鈥榳ell, it鈥檚 one and done and we鈥檒l look back in 10 years or 20 years.鈥� We have to talk sustainability and that鈥檚 a difficult conversation to have right now.
The third big challenge 鈥� teachers honestly don鈥檛 have the capacity to do 50 million different programs or use 50 million different tools. We鈥檝e got to be really intentional in what we鈥檙e choosing and how we鈥檙e going to use it, then use it with fidelity. And I think that we鈥檙e still learning how to do that鈥攚e鈥檙e not there yet.
And when looking at schools from your new superintendent鈥檚 vantage point, what are the biggest challenges?
Everybody is, and rightly so, thinking about safety right now. We鈥檝e got to be looking at not just what have we done, but what else could we do? And I know one of the things we鈥檙e doing is we鈥檙e taking inventory with our principals, walking the sites, talking about what needs to be done because I don鈥檛 think safety鈥檚 a one-size-fits-all for a district. Every school is built a little bit different, and it has a little bit of a different community.
Another huge thing we鈥檙e looking at is staffing shortages. And I don鈥檛 think anyone anticipated that. You have a workforce that is exhausted and has done heroic things during the pandemic, but they鈥檙e tired and education is receiving a lot of criticism. We鈥檙e seeing fewer people go into teaching and into administration at a time when we need more.
Any additional thoughts?
One thing is we really have to go back and look at our teacher preparation programs because we are not preparing teachers to leave their programs and come into our classrooms to utilize technology in a way that鈥檚 meaningful for students. We really need a major refresh, nationwide, on what our teacher preparation programs look like, so that new teachers come in ready to utilize technology in a way that鈥檚 meaningful, especially in a world where technology is changing so fast.
