Creating a Full-Time Sysadmin Position at a School?

Old_Mountain_Man asks: "I have been working at a K-8 school for the last two school years, as a volunteer through an Americorps program called the Montana Technology Corps. In theory, I am here to teach teachers and students how to use technology, but because of the need and my ability to do so, I have become an unofficial Systems Administrator. We also have a contracted Systems Admin that comes in once a week, and works 30 hours or so a month. After this year, the Tech Corps position will no longer be available to the school, so something needs to be done to keep the IT systems of the school functioning. I am going to propose to the school board that they create an official, full time systems administrator position, and to hire me for that job. Are there others out there that got their jobs similarly? How do you convince a board that they need to start budgeting for this? They have obviously taken the plunge to getting this technology in the school, so how do I convince them that they need somebody here to maintain it?"

"We have about 375 students, and probably 40 or so staff that use the computers. We have a lab of 25 machines, workstations in each classroom, a laptop cart, four smart-boards, six networked printers, and six servers hosting files, applications, Exchange and an Isaserver. In all, this is about 170 machines that need to be taken care of. There's no way the contracted systems admin could keep up with this, while working only 30 hours a month, so I feel the school needs somebody here full time.

What I am looking for is specific information regarding how many IT support people are needed for this kind of setup. I wonder if there are papers/reports that break down how much support time is needed for different systems that I could take to the school board.

In addition any advice on how to shape my presentation to the board would be useful."

Be prepared for a pay cut...

[HTMLSpinnr]

If you're working in a corporate environment, most schools and gov't institutions tend to pay less, and on a sliding scale that typically has a cap.

While you're creating the position from scatch, they may reference other districts or institutions to determine what they should budget. There's also the risk if you asking too much and it just not being available.

At any rate - it may require some sink or swim experience for them before they truly realize the need if it's like any other bureaucracy. Unless the powers that be are already somewhat technology savvy, they'll likely fail to see this with any but the best prepared amount of discussion. Inclusion of facts and costs for each decision branch would likely be very helpful.

Fairfax County

[sickspeed6]

I just graduated from a high school in Fairfax. for a school with about 2400 students, smart boards, projectors and at least 1 computer in every room, multiple mobile laptop labs with 25 or 50 laptops in them, and computer labs, we had 2 full time tech people, one for software/network support, and one for other stuff. Plus we had student techs who would actually do the work outside of the office. finally we had county support for hardware problems and wireless fixes. so, figure on one full time employee w/ 2-3 student techs and you should be able to run the school's resources just fine. Also, this was a public school

Re:Take on more schools

[sumdumass]

One full time sys admin is a drop in the budget for a school of that size. They can save on paper waste and recoup his salary along with benefits. And if he takes on more schools on the district, there is even more opportunity.

With benefits and all, His expense won't be more then $100,000 and the services he provides easily equal more then the addition of one extra teacher. These benefits are making sure the Schools computers are up and running so the secretaries can be more efficient, the teachers can be more efficient, the administration can be more efficient, and with his teaching students and teachers to use the technology program experience, it can result in all the teachers having more time teaching then figuring out with the damn thing doesn't work again.

I know how schools waste thousands upon thousands of dollars with budget burning at the end of the fiscal year just to be sure they will get as big of a budget as the last. If a small percentage of this was put to use as this guys salary, the school could be more productive and more efficient in ways that would benefit the community for years to come.

Background

[HoldenCaulfield]

A lot of people have posted about salary requirements and things. Please note that the original question states that he's currently an AmeriCorps member. For those who aren't familiar, AmeriCorps is a national service program where people commit to a term of service on a limited subsistence allowance. Most positions require 1700 hours for a year, and pay around 1000k/month, with the option of either a $1,200 cash stipend or a $4,725 education award upon successful completion of service.

Anyway, to get back to the original posters point about how to sell the school board on this proposition, there's a couple things I'd suggest. First, try to get a champion within the system, whether this be a board member, school principal, a group of teachers, etc. Having someone else advocate for your cause sends a stronger message than you begging for a job.

Second, prepare a report of what you've done in your two years as an AmeriCorps member. What was the status of the computer systems before you were there? Technical knowledge among the staff? In other words, tell the board what they'd get by investing in you. You need to convince the board what the value add of having a full time position is, as opposed to 30 hours a week. Whether you present it as what you add to the school, or what the school loses if they don't create the position, is up to you. Both approaches have strengths and weaknesses.

Note that the contractor is a challenge here. You might burn a bridge if the board does make it into a full time position, and you get the position as opposed to him/her. In small town Montana, that could make things interesting . . .

p.s. From your email address, I'm guessing you're in Bonner, MT. Having spent two years in Helena (one as an AmeriCorps*VISTA back before Katie was in her position, and Laura was the Tech Corps director, and the second as a state employee), good luck! It's beautiful, and Missoula is a wonderfully liberal city, but jobs, especially tech jobs, are definitely a challenge.

Re:Bullshit

[jesboat]

I think what I was thinking of was here at 4.B.3 [mass.edu].