Presented by Diane W. Doersch, Director of Technology, Verizon Innovative Learning Schools, Digital Promise; Rob Dickson, Chief Information Officer, Wichita Public Schools (KS); and Kelly May-Vollmar, Ed.D., Assistant Superintendent of Educational and Technology Services, Desert Sands Unified School District (CA)
Moderated by Ann McMullan, Founder & Principal, Ann McMullan Education Leadership Consultant

Sponsored by Digital Promise

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Closed captioning will be added to the recording within 2 weeks of the live presentation.
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As school districts plan to use American Rescue Plan funds to bolster their existing technology structures, it is important to build a plan that will be funded now and in the future. Lack of planning can mean a tumble off the “funding cliff” in three years. Digital Promise’s new Sustainability Toolkit provides considerations for districts as they build sustainable technology plans for the future. In this edWebinar, learn from district leaders and technology experts who will share how they are approaching this unprecedented opportunity.

Viewers will leave with:

• A seven-year planning template
• Guidance for transitioning from today’s windfall to a return to standard funding
• Strategies to identify total cost of ownership
• Ways to uncover hidden costs

This recorded edWebinar will be of interest to K-12 district leaders, IT planners, school board members, those responsible for managing budgets, and elected officials. 

About the Presenters

Diane W. Doersch serves as the technology director for the Verizon Innovative Learning Schools program at Digital Promise. She came from a career in public education, first as an elementary school teacher, then a middle school computer applications teacher, and finally, a director of technology in a Wisconsin school district with approximately 6,000 students. She then served as Chief Technology and Information Officer in one of the five largest school districts in the state. In that role, Diane helped develop a statewide data warehouse consortium for school districts, worked to transform her school district with laptops for educators and 1:1 devices for students, and earned her Certified Educational Technology Leader (CETL) certification. Diane serves on the boards of the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN) and #EquityEDU, and is on ClassLink’s Senior Advisors Group as well as an officer of Women in Technology (WIT) Wisconsin.

Rob Dickson serves as the CIO for Wichita Public Schools, directing all technology infrastructure work for the district. In his previous role as Executive Director for Omaha Public Schools, he introduced innovative initiatives to increase capacities in professional development; among these initiatives is a partnership with Microsoft that has resulted in 200 Microsoft Innovative Educators as well as Instructional Technology Leadership cohorts led by his team. Rob also works to consult numerous districts with their strategic technology vision and implementation. Noteworthy accomplishments include his previous district ranking among the Top Ten Digital Districts in the nation four years consecutively, leading the first VBlock cloud data center installation in K-12 education, and starting the first virtual school in Nebraska history. Rob was named 2014’s “20 to Watch” by NSBA for innovation and technology integration work, was recognized as one of the 2016 Top 30 Technologists, Transformers, and Trailblazers by the Center for Digital Education, and received the 2017 Administrator PLN Award for Exemplary Leadership from the International Society for Technology in Education.

Kelly May-Vollmar, Ed.D. is the assistant superintendent of educational and technology services for Desert Sands Unified School District in La Quinta, California. She has worked in education since 2004, serving as a classroom teacher, academic coach, site principal, and Chief Innovation and Information Officer (CIIO) prior to her current position. A member of the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN) Board of Directors, Dr. May-Vollmar has been recognized as the Association of California School Administrators (ACSA) California Technology Administrator of the Year in 2019 and the California IT in Education (CITE) Educational Leader of the Year in 2020. She received her doctorate from the University of La Verne.

About the Moderator

Ann McMullan is a national education leadership consultant based in Los Angeles, California. Prior to her move to Los Angeles, Ann served as Executive Director for Educational Technology in Klein ISD, near Houston, Texas. For 16 years, Ann led the district team that provided professional development on technology and 21st century instructional strategies to 4,000 educators serving 50,000 students. She was Co-chair of the Texas Education Technology Advisory Committee, which developed the Texas Long Range Plan for Technology.

Today, Ann works as a public speaker, writer, and consultant focused on leadership to meet the needs of today’s students. Ann is Project Director for CoSN’s EmpowerED Superintendent Initiative. She serves on edWeb.net’s Advisory Board, ClassLink’s Senior Advisors Group, and ERDI’s Alliance for Education Impact Advisory Council. She is a leadership consultant with Executive Service Corps of Southern California. Ann is the co-author of Life Lessons in Leadership, available on Amazon.com.

Closed captioning will be added to the recording within 2 weeks of the live presentation.

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Digital Promise was created with the mission to accelerate innovation in education to improve opportunities to learn.