Profile
Sheldon Smith
Director of Student Information and Technology
Paso Robles
While waiting to catch a flight, Sheldon Smith pounds out answers to interview questions on a portable keyboard connected to his Palm handheld computer. Once finished, he e-mails his responses via his cell phone. Yes, Sheldon is the consummate technologist, but he is also Director of Student Information and Technology for the Paso Robles School District. “With the convergence of technology, assessment and student data,” says Sheldon, “it is very obvious that my department touches every employee and student in some form or another.”
Sheldon first became interested in technology while enrolled in teacher preparation courses at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. A long-suffering student with poor handwriting, Sheldon quickly took to FredWRITER, an early word processing program. Upon earning his credential, Sheldon interviewed for a position at a nearby school district. The superintendent asked if he could “implement network technologies.” Sheldon had only a vague idea of what the superintendent had in mind, but being an optimistic person, he answered enthusiastically that indeed he could. Sheldon soon found himself teaching English to junior high students and utilizing the school’s lone Apple IIE in his classroom.
During his years in the classroom, Sheldon saw first hand that technology had a positive effect on his students. “By the time a student gets to seventh grade,” says Sheldon, “writing for the teacher for the sake of a grade is ‘boring’; yet when they publish (their own work), the amount, quality, and accuracy of their work as well as their initiative increases.”
One day, the superintendent observed Sheldon’s students using computers he’d borrowed from the math department to write their e-mail penpals in Japan and Russia. “The superintendent was obviously impressed,” recalls Sheldon, “and asked me how many computers I wanted for the next year. I asked for ten, but received five.”
Sheldon quickly established himself as the resident tech guru. After several years, Sheldon moved into the dean’s office. Before long, Sheldon was selected to work in the county office of education as a technology specialist. While in that role, Sheldon was one of the founders of the regional California Technology Assistance Program and implemented a mobile local area network for staff development and training.
Currently, in his role as the Student Information and Technology Director, Sheldon oversees a department of eight that keeps over 1,700 workstations and a T-1 Novell network up and running for the district’s 6,800 students. Sheldon clearly enjoys his work, saying, “If for some reason I’m not getting everyone’s attention, all I need do is pull the right plug from the wall.”
Sheldon believes that in order to be an effective leader you must have three things: vision, the ability to articulate your vision, and the ability to make hard decisions that carry out that vision. Sheldon explains, “ I have seen too many administrative candidates get tripped up because they could not do any of the above…. it is my vision that students will use technology to demonstrate their learning with technology at any time, and at any place (including home).”
On a personal note, Sheldon lives on several acres in the rolling hills of northern San Luis Obispo County, California, with his wife and son. Sheldon also manages to find time to ride his bicycle eight to ten thousand miles a year and even squeezes in a few Masters races as well.