Keeping technology current at area schools
SARATOGA SPRINGS >> David L’Hommedieu is another Saratoga Springs City School District administrator with a long job title: assistant superintendent of information technology and operational innovation. His diverse work in the schools appears to be worthy of the name.
L’Hommedieu is tasked with researching, planning, implementing, maintaining, evaluating and upgrading all technology in the district’s schools and administration building. And it’s all changing, every minute. He finds a way to keep up. “I’ve found my niche,” L’Hommedieu said. “I have a love for technology, and a passion for giving staff and students the best opportunities through using it.
“It’s challenging today. Technology is integrated in everything we do.
istrict Superintendent Michael Piccirillo knows 21st-century teaching and learning, including technology, have to move forward and change with the times, which is why he created L’Hommedieu’s position.
“The job titles of our administrative cabinet tell what we focus on; what we plan,” Piccirillo said. “The titles make statements about what is important to the school district.”
L’Hommedieu, who earns $119,340, oversees two directors, an assistant manager, a coordinator and a registrar. Together, they take care of the foundational building systems, such as fire safety. The learning environments, comprising classrooms, programs and curricula are examined and re-purposed with new technology to support them when necessary.
L’Hommedieu works from 6:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. weekdays, handling marathon sprints at the office. He often works on Saturdays as well, tallying 60 hours a week total.
“It’s easier to be in the office than not in the office,” he said,
“I have a love for technology, and a passion for giving staff and students the best opportunities through using it. It’s challenging today. Technology is integrated in everything we do.”
— David L’Hommedieu
smiling. “If I’m not here, I get 150 emails. When I work on the weekend, I can focus, and I get a lot done.”
Piccirillo said L’Hommedieu has established a solid reputation in the district.
“Dave works hard here,” the superintendent said. “He is dedicated day and night.”
Committee meetings, which happen eight times monthly, keep L’Hommedieu at work until 10 p.m. He also attends school events.
L’Hommedieu is married to Michele, and they have two sons: Vincent, 12, and Michael, 11, both Maple Avenue Middle School students.
“It’s a constant sacrifice and trade-off between my job and my family,” L’Hommedieu said. “Sometimes I don’t see my sons because of my hours. When we all have time together, we hang out and do sports.”
Throughout the district, staff and students use and rely on computer tablets, mobile devices and smart phones. A pilot program at the high school uses 250 iPads. L’Hommedieu hopes to acquire more tablets for the middle and elementary schools down the road.
“Students need devices on which they can do work and be creative,” he said.
Besides maintaining the hardware, his office also deals with some 300 software applications district-wide. To help teachers, students and families connect, the district uses such software as Edline on its home site.
Security is another key facet of the district’s technology. L’Hommedieu works for the safety of the schools’ data, keeping” machines up to date, D enforcing password complexity and ensuring secure sites.
When he began working in Saratoga Springs, the infrastructure was circumscribed, with T-1 and T-3 lines, limited highways to each building. Greenfield Elementary School would sometimes lose the district connection altogether. Now with fiber connectivity and increased bandwidth throughout, the buildings remain consistently linked. Access to the Internet and the cloud is ensured.
By the summer, L’Hommedieu hopes to install the high school’s own wireless network, with Maple Avenue Middle School next.
The gradual installation of 250 Smart Boards, today’s computerized version of blackboards, has also come during L’Hommedieu’s tenure. Teachers use these interactive whiteboards via touch detection in the same way as normal PC input devices.
Another new tool is the flipped classroom, which L’Hommedieu calls turning teaching on its head. Students watch their teacher’s lecture ahead of time; the next day in the classroom, they apply what they’ve learned by doing classwork, projects and labs.
The school libraries have been transformed during the past decade, changing from rooms full of bookshelves to spaces full of computer terminals. The libraries are all wireless, with access to online databases and digital books. Electronic readers are growing more popular.
Growing up on a Richfield Springs produce farm, L’Hommedieu learned his strong work ethic from his father. The assistant superintendent later received first his bachelor’s degree, then his master’s in technology education from the State University of New York at Oswego. Administration and superintendent certification followed.
He began his career as a technology teacher for grades seven through 12 at Dolgeville Central Schools. At Niskayuna Central Schools, he also taught technology in grades six through eight, then became the technology administration intern. Later, he was the technology and network coordinator there. L’Hommedieu was the Saratoga Springs director for information technology and related services before taking on the district’s assistant superintendent position.