ThisWeek Community Newspapers

Friday, May 11, 2007

By QUINN BOWMAN
ThisWeek Staff Writer

The Bexley school district announced May 8 that it acted on the recommendations of a recently released technology audit and fired 11-year district Network Manager Curtis Mason.

The survey, conducted by Dublin-based Haskell Technologies, reviewed the structure of the district’s technology department and recommended that the district hire an administrator to oversee the ballooning needs of technology in the district and jettison Mason, who managed all the district’s computers but was not an administrator.

“The term isn’t fire, but I recommended that the position that he holds be reduced because the job description and expectations of the position would not help us into the future,” Superintendent Michael Johnson said. “The skill set and expectations of (his) position were not going to fit the skill set and expectations for the future. As a result, he did not have a position anymore.”

Johnson said he recommended to eliminate Mason’s position to the board of education Monday, May 7 and the board voted unanimously to act on his recommendation.

The survey indicated that Mason was highly qualified to manage a network but that his skill set was not sufficient to move the district into the future, where the school’s computer systems will need to be more flexible, Johnson added.

Mason, who said he built the school district’s network and computers, said he thinks the district is using him as a scapegoat for their technology problems. He cited underfunding and under staffing for the lack of functionality with the school’s technology apparatus, which has drawn strong complaints from students and teachers at the high school in particular.

“From what I’ve read and heard and known for a long time, the teachers (at the high school) are basically spoiled. They want to have everything their way and when they are told they can’t have something their way because of security issues. they complain,” Mason said.

Mason added that he thinks teachers lobbied district administrators to get rid of him.

The technology audit and firing come as the district attempts to transition many of its computers from the Windows ME operating system to a Linux operating system. Linux is an open-source operating system, which means no one owns the rights to source code and anyone can manipulate it to make a new version. The switch to Linux should save the district hundreds of thousands of dollars, Bexley administrators claim.

“Linux was my idea,” Mason said.

Some teachers, according to high school teacher Ben Trotter, were upset by the plan to switch to Linux because they did not have input into the decision. Johnson said that the district is looking for someone with a Management Information Systems degree for the technology director job, which will pay between $75,000 and $85,000.

“As soon as that person gets on board I am going to have them do a plan, evaluate the department and create a vision (for district technology,” Johnson said.

The technology audit found that Mason was highly qualified in everything he does, but that the requirements of the district have surpassed what he can do, Johnson said. He added that he though Mason is a hard worker and that he would give him a good recommendation for future employment.

Mason, who said he was loyal enough to the district to cut his honeymoon short in an emergency, said the district’s technology problems will be worse without him.

“If they think it was bad when I was there, they are going to really have some issues (now),” he said.