1.

Name of interviewee
Rob Doran

2. What is your title?

Director of Technology

3. What type of degree is required for your position?

A degree or certification in information technology, however, Rob doesn’t have an
information technology degree. After the former Director of Technology resigned,
Rob internally applied for the position and was hired. He was mentored by former
Director of Technology and still reaches out to him from time to time.

4. Where did you obtain your degree?

 BA an Masters degree from Geneseo in mathematics
 No formal education in information technology.

5. What are your job responsibilities?

Network management, device management, hardware and software support for
all technology on campus (laptops, iPads, printers, security cameras, cameras,
access points, switches (6-switch closets network with Ethernet ports),
projectors, Smartboards, & Apple TVs.

6. What are typical daily activities for you?

Depends on the time of year but during the year mainly taking care of things that
may go wrong. Especially printer management.

7. Do you have a budget that you control? How do you make decisions on
selecting resources for your stakeholders?
a. He has an overall budget number from business office (based on previous
years’ spending-broken down into categories-software, subscriptions,
repairs, hardware, antivirus-used to be free now pay Webroot-$13/user.
b. Rob okays most purchases 90%-goes through business office. Large
purchases must be cleared through Head of School and CFO.
c. No technology committee
d. STEM has their own budget which is managed by the director of STEM,
however, any laptops/software is purchased through Rob.

8. Have you had an opportunity to impact technology implementation

throughout your school? If so, can you describe a specific example?
Yes, Allendale Columbia is a 1:1 school.
a. Middle school 1:1 has been the longest running (piloted in 2011 with 1:1
Generation 2 iPads), Rob decided along with middle school teachers and
the middle school STEM department to end iPad program and changed it
to Chromebook 1:1.
 i. This decision was made because it was difficult for students
collaborate with one another on the iPads. Students were constantly
borrowing Chromebooks.
b. Lower school 1:1 Chromebooks were added during 2013-2014 for K-5.
Throughout Rob’s tenure, outdated Chromebooks have been replaced with
flip screen Chromebooks.
i. As of 2019-2020 school year, the lower school has access to 20
iPads for checkout. Instead of Chromebooks the kindergarten class
has 23 iPads, one for each student. The Chromebooks for
kindergarten that were originally purchased during 2013-2014
school year have been allocated to other grade levels.
c. Upper school 1:1 MacBook Airs were added during the 2015-2016 school
year.
d. All faculty and staff received individual MacBook Airs during 2015-2016
school year.

9. Does your school have a technology committee? How are technology

decisions made?
There is no official technology committee.
a. He has an overall budget number from business office (based on previous
years’ spending-broken down into categories-software, subscriptions,
repairs, hardware, & antivirus.
b. Rob okays most purchases 90%-goes through business office. Large
purchases must be cleared through Head of School and CFO.
c. STEM has their own budget which is managed by the director of STEM,
however, any laptops/software is purchased through Rob.
d. During the 2019-2020 school year, Rob had a minimal budget due to
lower student enrollment. No new devices are to be purchased this year.

10. What is the best part of your job?

The best part is working with the entire faculty and staff. As a previous middle
school math teacher, he didn’t have the exposure to all faculty. Likes the problem
solving and creativity that comes with the job.

11. What is the most challenging part of your job?

Most challenging part is not having much support since he is the only technology
personnel at the school. At times Rob is overwhelmed at the volume of things he
has to take care of. As he says, “When it rains it pours!” The unpredictability of
his schedule is also difficult to manage along with difficulties of managing the
amount of work from day to day.