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Plugging North Haven Schools into Tech

It’s a new problem but a widespread one, too: how do you put technology into the hands of kids while still protecting them? At North Haven Public Schools (NHPS), Jennifer Kozniewski has been finding creative answers to that question and many more for the past year.

“They didn’t have a full IT department before,” says Jennifer, who became director of educational & informational technology at NHPS last July. “They had a network administrator. He is amazing at what he does, but one person cannot do the whole IT department.”

Much of her success in North Haven results from implementing ideas that worked at Orange Public Schools, where Jennifer worked for five years in a similar position. For example, Jennifer grouped tech support in a single location instead of having one technician per school.

“It worked out fantastically,” she says. “You just send an email and someone pops up to help you.”

It also works better for the techs.

“People don’t get a chance to collaborate and grow your skills when you’re all on your own,” she says. “It’s incredibly beneficial to work as a team.”

Jennifer knows firsthand the benefits of teamwork in IT. She grew up in Belchertown, Massachusetts working with her dad, Scott McCurdy, on computers.

“My dad picked up a lot of computers at tag sales,” says Jennifer. “We’d put them together and get them working.”

The pair learned all about the Internet when it first became available. Jennifer followed up with learning website programming in high school—for fun—and then did an internship in IT at Westfield State University in Massachusetts. Working the IT help desk at college broadened her expertise and led to a part-time job at the university, followed by the job offer in Orange. Jennifer finished her last year of college at Charter Oak State College. Today, she lives in Wolcott.

Despite her interest in computers, Jennifer’s true passion might be her love of learning.

“I’m one of those people who knows a lot of weird facts because I read all the time,” she says.

Her excitement about providing students with the information available online is palpable, such as when talking about the new one-to-one Chromebook program at North Haven High School.

“There’s a world of information available to our students,” she says. “We really wanted to start with that kind of access at our high school and bridge that gap of students who didn’t have that access at home.”

The students are excited, too. Offered a chance to pick up their Chromebooks before school starts, more than half of them already had as of last Friday. Additionally, each student in grades 3, 4, and 5 now has a Chromebook—though unlike at the high school, the laptops stay at the school. Kindergarten, 1st, and 2nd grade also gained 90 Chromebooks per school.

So, how do you make the Internet safe for students to access? And won’t they just get distracted watching YouTube videos all day? That’s where Jennifer’s expertise really shows.

“Navigating technology seems to come so naturally to kids, we just have to guide them in how and when it’s appropriate to use it,” says Jennifer.

She and her husband, Greg, have a two-year-old, Adam—he can already navigate an iPad, she notes.

A student can’t access any website on a school Chromebook. For example, “time-wasting” websites are blocked—that includes non-educational YouTube videos. Plus, the teachers can track what students are doing. They can see each student’s screen, freeze a screen and message a student, or direct the Chromebooks to navigate to a specific page.

“We really put the control in the hands of the teacher,” Jennifer says.

However, it’s more about what can be done than what can’t. Students create spreadsheets, take tests online, design presentations, and can video chat with the class while on medical leave. Teachers make digital copies of assignments and send them to students in an instant. Parents might receive a digital copy of a report card even before their child steps off the bus.

“Everybody benefits and becomes technologically literate,” Jennifer says.

Perhaps the best indication of the IT department’s success is the teachers’ responses.

“I’ve heard a lot of really positive things,” Jennifer says. “There was one I got pretty early last year, it just said, ‘This is life-changing.’”

Besides, while not giving students technology may be safer, there’s little doubt it would be damaging in the long run.

“Eighty percent of jobs over the next five years will use some level of technology,” Jennifer notes.

It seems likely that statistic will continue to include her own.