APRIL 2019 RIC REPORTChris Alunni, Robert Parlett Fill New Management Spots;

Annual ConnectEd Conference Draws More Than 700 From Across New York State.

IN THIS ISSUE:Who's Receiving Kudos This Month?Ed DeSantis Named Chili Cookoff Champ

Job Opportunities

The following full-time positions will soon be posted tothe BT BOCES website:

Information Technology ProjectCoordinator - Managed Services ProjectCoordinator - 3 Positions

Due to growth in Managed Services, unfilledresignations, and the promotion of SCRIC staff, thereis the need for additional Project Coordinators.

These positions will be the lead in-district contact forassigned Managed Service partner districts. They willbe responsible for developing and managingrelationships with key district stakeholders andproactively identifying customer needs.

A full job description will be included with the postingas well as the BT BOCES website. Please refer anyquestions to your manager. * PC/LAN Tech(continuous recruitment)

More information: Contact Ashleen Speen

Cheers For Peers

In this section of the monthly RIC Report, wetake a look at submitted kudos over the pastseveral weeks. Congratulations, everyone.Nicely done. For: Pat Hopkins and Eric Spittle

From: Toby Youngs, Windsor schools

In an email, Toby wrote: Hi Pat and Eric, I want tothank both of you for all of your support with ourSkype with Col. Wheelock. You guys were more thanthorough when testing and checking everything tomake sure our presentation went off without a hitch. Iappreciate your professionalism and the time youinvested in making sure our students' experience wasa great one. Thanks again, Toby

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For: John King

Sessions Solidifying for Annual Event; Website Will Offer On-The-Fly Unplugged Info

The RIC Unplugged planning committee last met on March 29, and things are looking good for our third annual event,scheduled this year for Tuesday, July 2.

"We've made a lot of progress since our last meeting (in February)," said Dan Myers, RIC director.

One exciting and convenient development this year will be a change from having a printed program and schedule, tousing a website that will have available up-to-the-minute schedule changes, but not just that.

"All of our presenters will be able to add their own information," Myers said. "They can put their bios on the site, as wellas any information they'd like session attendees to have prior to those events."

Myers said a link to that website will be made available to RIC employees within the next couple months.

The following are some sessions that we believe will be offered on July 2:

* Bill Clark and Trent Patterson will open the day with their combined presentation entitled "Lifting Spirits."* Coping With Change (Ginny Vanwagner)* Escape Room (Kerri Bullock)* Emotional Intelligence (Roseann Bayne)* Yoga & Meditation (Ann Szymaniak)* Conflict Management (Jesan Sorrells)* Stress and Time Management (Debbie Morello)* Maximizing Your Health (Core Life) (Todd Mansfield)* Tech in the Classroom (Chrissy Choi, Kerri Bullock, Nikki Waski-Laura and Rick Bray)* Advancing Your Career (Dan Myers)* RIC History & the BT-BOCES Organization (Dan Myers)* Tour of Tech Works (Steve Goss)

We also are looking at a game show that resembles the popular 1970s "Match Game," in which "BOCES celebrities"would comprise a panel, and tables throughout the ballroom would compete as teams. More on this as plans formulate.

Also this year, several tables will be set up throughout the entire day in the ballroom. Attendees will be able to visit tablesto discuss information about the following:

* NYS Retirement* BOCES Human Resources* NYSUT

For: John King

From: Audrey Warneck, Vestal schools

In an email to Tim Myers, Audrey wrote: Hi Tim, Iknow I mentioned this to you this other day, but Iwanted to reiterate how appreciative we were of JohnKing's help during our GarageBand update. He spenta lot of time working on individual machines to get usup and running with our piano lessons for students.Without his help we may have needed to skip thispiano unit for this year. Thanks, Aubrey

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For: Wendy Del Santo, Julie Callahan, Erin Moody,Luis Calvo, Stacy Blackwell, Bill Beebe, JulieTomasky, Gail Boffi, Karen Gill-Leighton, HowardDingman, Heather McCabe, Joe Hawley, Mary BethTownsend, Junette Sauls, Gail Bagg and KellyTwitchell.

From: Kathie Mras

Kathie's email to all: Gold star everyone! All datadomains imported and locked in all districts with oneexception, and that is noted and being handled.

Thanks so much for all your essential and expedientwork. It's much appreciated.

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For: Joel Munson

From: Donna Eaton

Donna's email: Joel, I had positive feedback from thegroup you presented to today. Thank you for yourhard work. As we all know, it was not an easy topic.Your efforts are appreciated. Donna

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For: Maureen Eberly, Jennifer Knickerbocker, ErinMoody, Penny Bronson, Bill Beebe, Julie Callahan,Dan Bardeen, Alan Slocum, Degaulle Masieh, BillSica, Mary Beth Townsend and Stephanie Mohamed.

From: Jamie Pane

In an email to Stephanie Mohamed, Jamie wrote:I've heard some feedback at Chenango Forks aboutschooltool. Everyone is very happy and impressedwith schooltool. People are saying they're lookingforward to the change. Just wanted to share somepositivity!

In a follow-up email to everyone, Kelly Twitchellwrote: Great job everyone for your continued hardwork with the schooltool conversions. I know it isn'talways easy and can be stressful at times. Seeingthe collaboration between our MITS, MDS, TIS andDAS teams is really awesome. Thank you! Kelly

Dan Meyers also followed up. He wrote: Ditto thatKelly! Thank you all for your leadership andcollaboration on this! Great stuff.

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For: Bob Schriver and Karen Hill

From: Tim Miller

In an email, Tim relayed kudos from Dr. Gill,Chenango Valley superintendent: Bob and Karen,excellent job with the CV Compare CourseFailures toAbsences Custom Report for Dr. Gill. He was veryimpressed with the report. They may want to make asmall change to it, but otherwise the district is veryhappy with this report. Thank you both for all of yourwork on this!

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For: Mike Marion

From: Jim Cullen

Brief description: The Smartboard in Room 318 isfunctional, but the pens/pencils that are attached to itare not working at all.

Mike's response: It looks like the power cord that

* NYSUT* EAP* 403b companies* SCRIC apparel

Alunni, Parlett Named to Two of the New SCRIC Manager Positions

Chris Alunni

Two new managerial positions within the South Central Regional Information Center have been filled.

Chris Alunni began working in his new capacity as manager of infrastructure and operations on March 7. Robert Parletthas been named service desk manager and will begin in that role April 15.

"We continue to make progress on the organizational changes we've been working on for the past few months and I'mconfident that Chris and Robert will do a great job," said Dan Myers, SCRIC director. "I'm looking forward to theirleadership and as we continue to grow and change."

Chris Alunni

"In addition to some of the things I do now, I will play a bigger role in peoples' careers and helping them to be successful"said Alunni. "While we have some ideas, it's a tough question to answer, as far as specifics, as we're still waiting foranother person to be hired into the new management roles, so once that's in place, things will start to fall into place."

With Parlett managing the service desk, Alunni said he'll concentrate on "second-level issues and infrastructure," whilethe third person will focus on engineering and project design.

"Much of what we do has crossover," he said, "so that's when the three of us will get together and decide what we'll beresponsible for because there will be some gray areas. Everything will overlap."

Alunni has been with BT-BOCES since 2001. He started as a network specialist in the Binghamton school district,became a coordinator in 2008, and then in 2013, he said, he was asked to relocate to the main campus to oversee whatwas formally known as the work station management team. For the last two years, he said, he's been doing projectmanagement/operations.

Robert Parlett

"Chris is correct. We'll be working very closely together. The third management position, as I understand it, will befocused on design and delivery of customer-facing services and systems," Parlett said. "As Service Desk manager, I'llbe consulted before the new system or service enters the operational phase. We'll need to document first-line

Mike's response: It looks like the power cord thatgoes into the back of the tray got disconnected. OnceI hooked it back up I was able to calibrate the boardand use the pens again. Please give us a call back ifyou need any other assistance.

And Jim's note back to Mike: Excellent serviceagain! Thanks you!

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For: Kevin Knox

From: John Shear

Brief description: Can I have a larger monitor in thewelding shop room #516 please?

Kevin's response: John, I installed a wide-screenmonitor for you. Have a good weekend. Kevin

And John's note back to Kevin: Thank you againfor the outstanding customer service!

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For: Howard Dingman

From: Kathie Mras

In an email to Jill Andrews at Harpursville,Howard wrote: Hi Jill, you're all amazing. We startedloading Staff/Student/Course this week and therewere no errors. That's terrific. A couple of newwarnings came up. I've added notes on the top page,and the warnings themselves are on the last page.They're not critical but should be cleaned up as wemove forward. All data is locked for migration thisweek, including Staff/Student/Course. Great job.Howard.

Kathie's email to Kelly Twitchell: Kudos to Howardfor his ever-positive communication with Jill atHarpursville. He provides an excellent service with hisimporting, error triaging and communication to ourcustomer.

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For: Gerald Forsythe

From: Mary Ziegler, Union-Endicott schools

Short description: Computer is turning on but the

HDMI light comes on. Where the cord plugs into thewall (the orange receptacle) is broken. Someone wasusing my desk.

Note from Gerald: I showed you which button topress if the HDMI light comes on again. I also pulledthe orange network receptacle back out from the wall.Let us know if you need anything else.

Note from Mary: Everything is working well! Thankyou so much for all your prompt and supportive help.You guys are all so great. Sincerely, Mary

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For: Gerald Forsythe

From: Mary Ziegler, Union-Endicott schools

Short description: My email has stopped coming inas of 7:30 this morning. I have no emails since thattime and I could not send an email either.

Note from Gerald: I set your outlook back to workonline and your email was working. Let us know if youneed anything else.

Note from Mary: Working great! As always, thankyou so much! Sincerely, Mary

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For: Jon Tiffany

From: Cathy Frankenbach, Binghamton schools

Short description: This Chromebook is not chargingproperly.

Note from Jon: Cathy, this is all set. Please let usknow if you need anything else! Thank you,

be consulted before the new system or service enters the operational phase. We'll need to document first-linetroubleshooting procedures, incident-escalation methods, and other information about the new services we're expectedto support."

Parlett said the two most critical areas he'll oversee will be pertaining to the incident management process, and therequest fulfillment process.

"Those two things span the entire RIC," he said. "With incident management, if things break, how do we fix them? Therequest fulfillment is something different. 'I need a new account, more toner, can I get a new Smartboard?' As theprocess owner, I'll work with different groups besides the service desk.

"Problem management is another process I'd be involved with," Parlett added. "It's a practice that attempts to discoverand remediate the root cause of multiple related incidents."

Parlett has been with BT-BOCES since his Maine-Endwell job was transferred to the RIC in 2012. He'd been with M-Esince 2003, where he started as a PC-LAN Tech, then a network specialist. In 2013, he was promoted to IT projectcoordinator.

Robert Parlett

RIC Re-Brand Update: Website Beta Phase, and Relacement of SCRIC Forms and Templates

In the past couple RIC Reports, we have let you know about a BT-BOCES South Central Regional Information Center re-branding that's been under way for several months. One large aspect of the re-branding, which includes consistentimagery throughout our online presence, as well as al template documents, is the revamping of the SCRIC website.

At the publication of this RIC Report, we believe we are within a few weeks of relaunching the site in its newest iteration.

"The original motivation was to make the design more user-friendly with the use of mobile devices, and to bring thedesign up to date, said Deb Stephens, systems training assistant II with BOCES. Deb works with regional schooldistricts and eSchoolView on their websites' presence, as well as on re-designs. She has worked in the past withStephen Jensen, public information coordinator for the RIC, on site re-designs at the Owego Apalachin school district, aswell as aspects of that district's complete re-branding in 2017 and 2018.

Jensen and Stephens, like with other projects in the past, researched other sites and concepts, then decided what wouldwork best. They looked at analytics to see what pages had the most traffic, while working to find modern elements tomake our pages more user-friendly and efficient.

The two completed a questionnaire for Josh Minto and Andrew Erdman, web designers for eSchoolView, and thedesigners began to put things into play.

know if you need anything else! Thank you,Jon

Note from Cathy: Thanks always for your speedyhelp!

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For: Patrick Sutliff

From: Shawn Davis, Stamford schools

Short description: Thursday Faculty Meeting -presentation by Delaware Sherriff's DeputyAlexander. He will have a laptop to discuss vapingwith my faculty. We will need the laptop connected toboth TVs.

Note from Patrick: Shawn, this would be for thisThursday correct? Do you know what time the deputy

will arrive at the district? I ask because this way I canmake sure we have a way to connect his laptop toboth TVs. Depending on his laptop outputs, we mightbe only to have one of the two TVs. Please let meknow. Thanks.

Note from Shawn: Thank you Patrick! It was a greatworkshop and you went above and beyond to makesure it went smoothly!

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For: Tracy Lawrence

From: Patti Hoyt and Robert Black, Unatego schools

Short description: Robert Black is unable to log inhis computer. It will not take his login and password.The Chromebook is in the MS office. Thank you, Patti.

Note from Tracy: Great, thank you.

Note from Patti: Robert and I appreciate how quicklythis was resolved. Patti

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For: Josh Roenfeldt

From: Danielle Gross, Hancock schools

Short description: Printer is not working. Has a lightflashing. Not sure what it is indicating. I've triedseveral different times to open things up and checkthings.

Note from Josh: Danielle, you are all set. The toneris getting low. I have one available when it runs out. Ialso installed the Cannon copier. You can print to thatas well. It is located in the main office. Thanks,Joshua

Note from Danielle: Great! Good to know! Thanksso much for all you do! Danielle

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For: Joel Munson

From: Brenda Thall, Unadilla Valley schools

Short description: Please provide the historical F1grades for Teacher, DeVries, from 2014 forward.

Note from Joel: Brenda, based on our phone call,the data provided was exactly what the teacherneeded. Closing this ticket. Joel

Note from Brenda: Thank you very much for the fastturn-around time. I (and Mrs. DeVries) really

appreciate it. Brenda

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For: Howard Dingman

From: Aimee Warner, DCMO BOCES

In an email to Kelly Twitchell, Aimee wrote: Good afternoon Kelly, I wanted to thank you forloaning Howard out to help train the Tioga Centralrelated service providers last week. He's a greatbrand ambassador for ClearTrack. He's so good atgetting the RS providers to buy into the changes as

designers began to put things into play.

The process officially began in December, just before the holidays, and once Stephens and Jensen had materials toJosh and Andrew, they received a beta site the third week of March. Since, there have been reviews of site aspects withDan Myers, RIC director, and many tweaks, additions, and assurances that the new site would be consistent across allbrowsers and mobile devices.

RIC team leaders are asked to be sure their content is current for our users. Once the new iteration of the site goes live,there may be renewed interest in looking at support pages and we want to avoid having dated content out there.

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The website is just one aspect of the RIC re-brand. Jensen also worked with Amy Tillotson, graphic assistant in theBOCES Office of Communications & Development, to re-design all template documents in the RIC staff folder online.

RIC employees should immediately begin to use the new templates. They can be found by going to the H drive, looking inthe Forms & Templates folder, then opening the Templates 2019 folder.

Included there are the following templates for 2019, which include a consistent theme matching the RIC website: faxcover, memo, multi-purpose template, report card template, report page 2, SCRIC Powerpoint templates (with options

including the new SCRIC logo on either the top or the bottom of the page, to help increase layout options), a serviceproposal template, a business card template, and a service description template. More templates will be added.

The new template for Powerpoint presentations (shown above), along with multiple other organizational templatesthat adhere to our new branding, is now available in our RIC Staff folders.

Annual ConnectEd Conference Draws More Than 700 From Across The State; The RIC Offers Support

Binghamton City School District hosted the 5th annual Southern Tier ConnectED Conference, in collaboration withBroome-Tioga BOCES, NYSCATE, and The Teacher Center Networks on March 14 at MacArthur Elementary School.More than 700 attendees representing 26 school districts from across New York state attended the event. Diana Laufenberg, executive director for Inquiry Schools, was keynote speaker and presented a talk on "FindingMotivation," focusing on the dynamics between compliance, engagement, challenge and motivation for learning. Sheadvocated for "academic risk-taking, productive tension, and appropriate levels of challenge, all part of the calculus thatsets the stage for students to choose learning for themselves."

Following Laufenberg's address, attendees chose from a record number of 60 one-hour sessions to see first-hand howteachers are using instructional technology in their classrooms. Sessions included a 2nd-grade class from Binghamtonschools, sharing their technical prowess with G Suite, virtual reality, design thinking, digitizing classrooms, literacy, andstudent safety.

Also, for the first time, 84 students from the Monticello area attended ConnectED sessions as part of their "FutureEducators" program.

Technicians from the SCRIC were on hand for the connected Conference, providing technical expertise in the event ofissues encountered during any of the 60 sessions.

getting the RS providers to buy into the changes ashe knows all of the short-cuts that will make enteringtheir session notes easier. By the end of the trainingthey were looking forward to using your productinstead of Kinney.

Manager Meeting: Minutes Posted

To help us improve internal communication, themonthly Managers Meeting minutes are posted in theshared drive.

Minutes can be found by going to:

"H:\RIC Staff\Manager Meeting Minutes"

RIC-Wide WebEx: Schedule

The next RIC-Wide WebEx:Wednesday, April 24

Starts at 2:45 p.m., ends at 3:15 p.m.

Upcoming schedule for RIC-Wide WebEx: * Wednesday, May 22 * Wednesday, June 26

Here is the link to the recordingof the March 2019 RIC-Wide WebEx:https://scric.webex.com/scric/ldr.php?

RCID=bfb55ef9c4bf8f107d3c287545902074

The password to accessthe recording is: aBf2Jjd2

You can also access the recordings of previous

WebEx sessions throughthe RIC Staff folder.Here is the file path:

H:\RIC Staff\Monthly RIC-Wide WebEx\RIC-WideWebEx Recordings\2018-2019

Click here to join the WebEx meetings:https://scric.webex.com/join/aspeen

Access code: 641 090 631

To join from video conferencingsystem or app, dial:

aspeen@scric.webex.com

To join by phone:+1-415-655-0002 U.S. toll Access code: 641 090 631

Bon Voyage, Tim Clark

SCRIC Techs were on hand during the annual ConnectEd Conference, situated near classroom presentations to providesupport, as needed. Pictured above, center, is John Monico, and at the right, Ryan Foley and Chuck Whitcomb (L and R).

Steve Andrus is shown (above, left) at the 5th annual ConnectEd Conference at MacArthur Elementary.

Above, left, a Binghamton student tests out a virtual reality headset at the annual ConnectEd Conferenceat MacArthur Elementary. Pictured center (L to R) are RIC techs Eric Bunker and Anthony Dellacorino.Pictured right, stationed outside a classroom presentation during the event, is RIC tech Dan Dundon. Below,some of the many conference attendees are shown at a session in the MacArthur Elementary cafeteria.

Tim Clark, assistant IT director, entered retirementwith a small gathering of friends at work, and familymembers on March 21. Pictured with Tim, above, arehis two daughters (Amanda, far left) and Jennifer (farright, holding Tim's grandson Carson).On Tim's lap is

another grandson Colin, and granddaughter Stella isstanding next to Tim. Not pictured but present wasanother granddaughter Nora.

Tim Clark and his grandson Carson.

Thought Exchange Results

First, I would like to thank all of you who participated inour first Thought Exchange back in December. I knowthat this was the first time we tried such an approach

Tech is "Taking Over" at Windsor Schools

Pictured here working with students and teachers at Windsor schools are Chrissy Choi (third from left)and Rick Bray (far right). The Windsor Central School District is continuing its three-year plan to best integrate technology into the classroom withthe latest meeting of the Technology Think Tank Committee.

The following members of Windsor CSD's Technology Think Tank Committee met in late February at Windsor CentralMiddle School's Innovation Center: Rick Bray, Instructional Technology/Professional Development Specialist withBroome-Tioga BOCES, Chrissy Choi, Assistant Director for Technology, Leadership and Innovation at Broome-TiogaBOCES, teachers Patricia Llaguno, Lindsey Hendricks, and Kristen Silletto, and high school students Erica Daquin andSophia Peret.

Among the goals of the committee: to integrate a Pre-K-12 progression of technology skills while implementinga community-wide digital citizenship program and create innovative learning environments. As technology evolves, someteachers are finding reasons to embrace the new tools.

"Tech is taking over the mundane stuff and allowing me to put my expertise into other areas," said Llaguno.

The teachers and tech professionals on the committee leaned on the students to get an idea of which classroomsintegrated technology well. The pair spoke about classes that used Google Docs and other tools.

"In AP World, we'll have an outline of what we have to do and be able to answer the questions (in Google Docs), orsubmit Google Slides in Schoology," said Peret.

"We use Google Sheets in Living Environment, or in AP Bio for graphs," said Daquin.

Goals from the previous committee meeting included developing a community-wide digital citizenship program, creatinginnovative and adaptable learning environments, and increasing equitable access to relevant technology for use both inand out of school.

The major action step from this meeting is to identify classroom tech needs and survey teachers to see what they areinterested in getting professional development in this summer.

"How do we identify those who don't use it as much and present it as a way to help them be more efficient?" said Choi.

"We can get more (tech) to those who are ready for it and help to those who need it," said Llaguno.

The group will next meet in May, hoping to solidify this summer's plan for tech-related professional development.

M-E Students Design Their Own Version of TED Talks

Maine-Endwell middle schoolers recently hosted their own version of the popular TED Talks, calling it SpartanX talks.

that this was the first time we tried such an approachto solicit your input, and I hope you found it useful andeasy to navigate. You might recall that the keyquestion we asked in this exercise was:

What are the most important actions we can take toachieve and maintain our goal to become an"Employer of Choice?" The feedback you provided included many positivecomments along with some very thoughtful input onhow we can improve as an organization. You told usthat the five key things you thought we should focuson are:

* leadership and management* helping employees feel valued* total compensation* training and development* providing employees with the day-to-day supportthey need to do their jobs well

Many other thoughts you shared with us and witheach other were linked very closely to your five toppriorities. We grouped these additional thoughts intorelated sub-categories as you can see in the graphicabove.

Members of the BOCES cabinet now plan to reviewthe summary findings of the exchange with our boardat the annual board planning retreat in April. We willwork jointly with the board to develop a plan thataddresses many of the items that you outlined. Oncethat plan is developed we will communicate it acrossthe organization.

Again, thank you for helping us make Broome-TiogaBOCES a "go to" service provider for our studentsand our districts . . . and a great place to work, too!

- Al Buyck, BOCES superintendentand chief executive officer

Ed DeSantis Crowned Chili King

Event organizer Steve Goss (L) is pictured here with2019 RIC chili champ Ed DeSantis (R).

Ten employees from the SCRIC competed in the 9thannual Chili Cookoff in March, and many othersenjoyed the offerings, voting on their favorite tastesand spice levels.

When votes were tallied, Ed DeSantis was crownedthe winner, with former champ Mike Marion secondand Stephen Jensen third.

Thanks to Steve Goss for - once again - organizingthis fun event.

Students and staff spent the day attending some of the 140 offered sessions designed by students.

SpartanX Day is a way for the students to learn technology skills by finding online resources, citing them as well as usingprograms such as Powerpoint to make their "SpartanX talks" more visually appealing.

Sarah Weyer and Molly Hawley are seventh- and eighth-grade ELA teachers at Maine-Endwell.

"We are so proud of the work they've done, putting themselves out there to talk about topics that are maybecontroversial, personal," said Weyer.

"We had some kids with tears in their eyes," said Hawley, "but they pushed through them and got support at the end."

The M-E students also got to pick what topics to research and present. They were encouraged to choose topics they arepassionate about. Topics included, "Cut the Cord: How to Take a Break From Technology," "Be a Cereal Killer: TheBenefits of Breakfast," and "Benefits of Playing Video Games."

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Tom Guillon, assistant RIC director, said this event was one of the "stretch" projects that came from Maine-Endwell'sOctober superintendents day. He and others introduced the Skills Scope and Sequence document and asked staff todevelop projects to incorporate into their curriculum. They then had time to begin planning, building them throughout theschool year. (This story ran on the local Fox 40 newscast in mid-March.)

Recent Internet Pricing Analysis Helps Districts With Savings

With 50 school districts and three BOCES connected to a regional network, frequent upgrades are necessary.

"Years ago when I started, district WAN connections to us was a mix of narrowband lines such as frame relay, ISDN andT1s and our Internet pipe at that time was along the lines of a T1," said Jim Thompson, ITPC, who knows a thing or twoabout such technicalities. "That's grown to where most districts have a 1Gb dedicated circuit to us now, and we currentlyhave two ISPs (that districts share). One is a 6Gb circuit and one is a 4Gb."

If you're like a lot of local school districts, some of what Thompson said there might be fuzzy. You're not alone. So to putthose numbers into perspective, we will use an average home with an Internet connection of 100Mb. That average homewould equate to T1 connections to 67 schools in the past. Now it would take 10 homes to equate to the connectionschools have access to currently. That's an increase of almost 67,000 percent.

Recently the RIC was able to present to the BOCES Board of Education a three-year pricing analysis for the 1Gb fiberbroadband connections that connect each of the districts in the DCMO BOCES and ONC BOCES areas back to theRIC/BTBOCES. The new contract is a real celebration! For ONC districts the contract is a savings of $15,500 per

PowerSchool Advisory User Group Meeting

The PowerSchool Advisory User Group meeting washeld March 26 at DAS in Endicott. Our team that ledthe session is pictured above: (seated, L to R)Heather McCabe and Luis Calvo; (standing, L to R)Joel Munson, Donna Eaton and Bill Sica.

Below, Joel Munson is shown leading one portion ofthe user group session.

Employee Event; Dougherty Nominations

Dear colleagues, once again, we urge everyone tomark the calendar for our Annual EmployeeRecognition Ceremony, which is scheduled this yearfor 3 p.m. May 15, in the student cafeteria on our maincampus, Glenwood Road.

As anyone who has ever attended can attest, this is awonderful opportunity to get together to recognize andcelebrate the milestones and accomplishments of ourcolleagues and friends. I am always impressed withsome of the ways groups of people come to supporttheir co-workers.

RIC/BTBOCES. The new contract is a real celebration! For ONC districts the contract is a savings of $15,500 perdistrict and for DCMO districts the contract is an average savings of $13,000 per district.

schooltool Conversion "One Of Our Greatest Collaborations"

(L to R) Phil Sage, Dan Bardeen, Alan Slocum and Chris Alunni

In February's RIC Report, we told you that the student management system (SMS) schooltool has gained popularity,while confidence in others has waned since the 2012-13 school year.

Kelly Twitchell, RIC manager of Data, Applications & Solutions (DAS) in Endicott, pointed to a strong piece of teamworkbetween DAS and TIS (technical infrastructure services), as they continue to collaborate on conversions.

In a nutshell, schools moving from other systems to schooltool need their information converted to a format that will jibewith schooltool.

Phil Sage, IT Project Coordinator, Engineering/Architecture for the RIC, said eight school districts in our region aremoving from existing student management systems to schooltool this spring. He reported in late January that we weredoing a lot of "back-end work." "Phil plays a key role in all of it," said Twitchell. "If we have an issue, such as not meeting a timeline, we reach out to Phil,and sometimes Chris (Alunni), and we talk them through bumping up the timeline to meet deadlines."

"It's really Chris who keeps things on task," Sage said. "This has been, technically, one of our greatest collaborations.With the different teams working together, we have some on the front end working on student support, all the way to thetechnical engineers, behind the scenes, and some others in between."

"My responsibility is to get the team together on a weekly basis to make sure we are still on target with our tasks anddiscuss any issues," said Alunni, who on March 7 began in his new role as manager of infrastructure and operations."This was the first big collaboration between the teams on the hill and the teams at DAS where Microsoft Project wasused. Each individual on the project team had ability to see all of the project tasks, schedule, and current status." Four key players in the conversion aspect of this operation are Alan Slocum and Dan Bardeen at TIS on the BT-BOCESmain campus, and Degaulle Masieh and Bill Sica, who work primarily at the DAS in Endicott.

"It's a lot of teamwork for the data conversion aspect of it, as far as schools moving in the direction of schooltool," saidBardeen. "It's good for different teams in this organization to work together," said Masieh, "because at the end of the day, thecommon goal of the SCRIC is to ensure that the school districts have the resources necessary for students tosucceed." The collaboration has been necessary because, as Slocum explained it, different systems keep their data differently, "soyou can't blindly just put all the info together in schooltool. It's like putting apples on top of oranges."

"Within one of the source systems," Bardeen added, "districts can customize how they keep their info."

"You ask five districts how they want to keep their info," said Slocum, "you'll get five different answers."

their co-workers. As always, we plan to raffle off a variety of fun items,so don't miss your chance to take part. As time nears, watch for updates announcing thosewho will be recognized for their years of service andother contributions to our great organization. Again, we truly hope you can take the time to be partof this once-a-year event, as we tip our hats to themany individuals who make this such a great place towork, to those who put the "so much more" in ourBOCES.

- Al Buyck, BOCES superintendentand chief executive officer

+++

Mr. Dougherty

Since 2002, BOCES has annually selected the oneemployee who best exemplifies the spirit anddedication that were the hallmarks of RonDougherty's many years of service to our schools andour community.

Each year the Ron Dougherty Award is given to theBOCES employee who embodies Mr. Dougherty'sselfless commitment and dedication to our BOCESand our community ... someone who "walks the walk"in their commitment to personal and professionalgrowth and community involvement.

As has been the case each year, all BOCESemployees are encouraged to participate in thisoutstanding recognition by nominating a colleague forconsideration. This year's deadline to submit anomination is Thursday, April 11.

Click here for the nomination form for the 2019Ron Dougherty Award. We ask that you take the timeto think about the many co-workers who have inspiredyou with their energy, devotion and raw talent, andthen put those thoughts to paper in the form of anomination. The winner will be announced at ourannual Employee Recognition Ceremony on May 15.

A member of the BOCES Board of Trustees from1976 to 2006 (its president from 1985 to 2005), Mr.Dougherty also served on the Tioga Central Schoolboard for 11 years. He is a former Tioga Countylegislator and past president of the Broome-TiogaSchool Boards Association. He also was instrumentalin the formation of the Broome-Tioga Coalition forEducation and in 2003 received the regional JeffersonAward.

Bill Sica (L) and Degaulle Masieh (R)

Personnel: Showers to Flowers - Organizational Communication and Effectiveness

Robin Eccleston (pictured at left), BT-BOCES director of personnel, participated in a mid-March event at East Learning Centerthat allowed BT-BOCES students to hone their interview skills with several interviewers in simulated employment evaluations.Students then received comments and reminders from each of their interviews.

Today will bring a few snow showers, crossing over to a freezing rain by mid-morning, with temperatures warming aftera high front passes through. By late afternoon you can shed the parka for a short-sleeve stroll around the park withdaytime highs hitting the mid-50s. Welcome to the Four Seasons of April.

We listen to the local weather authorities who offer us a forecast that we can use to plan our day, the week ahead, ormaybe even give us some insight into when we will have a dry weekend for our spring garage sale. Unfortunately, if thiscommunication is wrong, it can impact each of us in many different ways, and it certainly lowers our level of trust in themessenger.

Communicating the weather in Binghamton is almost as difficult as communicating a comprehensive business strategyin complex organizations. We all know that ineffective communication may increase the chances for misunderstandings,damage relationships, break trust, and even increase anger and hostility. Often this danger will cause organizationalleaders to offer either broad strokes or tidbits of communication, neither of which provide clear and consistentmessaging that is in line with the mission, vision and culture that is so valuable to building employee morale, satisfactionand engagement.

In a time of hyper-communication, the thirst for knowledge is overtaking the desire for truth or confidence in a message.The old-fashioned organizational rumor mill has been replaced with a high-powered, instant-message factory capable ofspitting out manufactured truths at a frenzied pace. However, there are dangers in believing everything you hear andread. Research can be just as quick and easy. And on the other end of the spectrum, perhaps consider a "trust andverify" approach rather than assuming a falsehood or other malicious intent in a message you see or hear.Two-way communication goes a long way in protecting yourself, your peers, your friendships, and any other relationshipthat you feel is important.

We hope your list includes your relationship with our organizational leaders, and that you will continue to work with us toimprove our organizational communication. My door is always open and I also welcome anyone who wants to walk andtalk. Good weather forecasts ahead.

- Robin Eccleston, BT-BOCES director of personnel

Service Now: Important Reminders

* When opening a ticket on behalf of a customer (and keeping yourself as the caller/requested for), be sure tochange the district field to the district to which you're providing the support. Very important to ensure the work youdo is included in any reports provided to the district regarding the support they receive.

* When transferring tickets to other teams, enter the troubleshooting steps you've already performed in the technotes. This is very helpful for co-workers.

* New feature (shown below): You can now copy/paste images or drag and drop files into the blue field abovecustomer visible notes. Such much a time saver.

What We're All About at The RIC

Got a Good Story for the RIC Report?

The RIC Report is about all things South Central Regional Information Center, and the report is evolving. It's abouttechnology, people and partnerships. It's about how things work, and those who make things go. If you have an idea for a feature, a photo you'd like to share, or even a blurb you believe the rest of RIC would beinterested to read, whether it's in the schools, at DAS or "on the hill," email Stephen Jensen at sjensen@btboces.org, orsend him a text at 607.743.0582. Let him know!

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