District Makes Move to the Mac
Profiles in Success: Easton Area School District
Easton, PA — After 20 years in a New Jersey school district, Thomas Drago was eagerly anticipating his new post as technology director at Easton Area School District (ASD). But when he got there, he found old Windows-based PCs, a student information system few people used, and an outdated, Novell-powered networking infrastructure. With the approval of the district’s administrative staff, Drago began a transition to the Mac platform. Now, Easton ASD boasts thousands of iMac, eMac, and PowerBook computers, a collection of Xserves, and PowerSchool. The “conversion” is still ongoing, and Drago continues to evangelize the Mac.
Suggesting such a radical transformation, Drago (an Apple Distinguished Educator) expected to encounter a fair amount of opposition. But as soon as Drago demonstrated what Apple solutions and the Macintosh OS X platform could provide, Easton ASD Superintendent Dennis Riker says the hesitation virtually vanished.
“In all honesty, the central administrative staff did have some serious reservations in transitioning to the Mac platform,” Riker recalls. But as Tom began to share the educational opportunities the Mac platform provides to the students and staff, the comfort level to move in this direction rapidly grew, and the transition was strongly supported.”
School Board Gets PowerBook Laptops First
Drago first purchased a PowerBook laptop for each board member. “In no time, they were totally hooked by the speed and beauty of the Mac,” he says.
From there, Drago adds, it was a smooth transition to replacing the PCs in Easton’s elementary schools with new Macs. “Many of the teachers hadn’t seen an Apple computer in 20 years, and had no idea how the platform has evolved,” says Drago. “They were surprised to see that the programs they were using on their systems worked just great on the Mac. We completely exploded the ‘it only works on a PC’ myth.”
Ensuring Success with Classroom Technology Coordinators
To make the migration to the Mac even more seamless, Drago placed a technology coordinator in each one of the district’s school buildings. He sought those who could speak the teachers’ language: their peers.
“The classroom technology coordinators are all teachers themselves,” he explains. “They determine what lessons the teachers would like to create, and then help the teachers with integrating the necessary technology into their curriculum. The success of this whole initiative is due to the tech coordinators, who really understand what the teachers need.”
Next Page: Apple Assists with Technology Immersion
