There is no box

There was a time when my days revolved around system uptime, network cables, and servers. I architected networks, managed systems, and made sure email never went down. Life was simple.

Then I became a classroom teacher, and suddenly, nothing was simple anymore. I started looking to places like Minarets High School that were pushing the boundaries of student trust and teacher empowerment, using technology not for it’s own sake but as an instrument capable of transforming the learning process to focus on individual students instead of teaching to the middle.

I started reading books like Drive, The Tipping Point and Disrupting Class that opened my mind to challenging the status quo. I found pioneers like Sugata Mitra who was showing how the intersection of technology and humanity had the potential to disrupt the foundational beliefs that the education system was built on, and somewhere along the way I stopped being just an IT guy and started being an educator. I realized that technology in schools wasn’t just about devices or data; it was about learning. And once you see technology through that lens, you can’t unsee it.

Back then, I was frustrated that school business leaders saw technology as a cost to be contained while curriculum and instruction leaders saw technology as something to be defined by a box, professionally developed and only used to address targeted deficiencies in learning and not as the catalyst for a transformational shift in instructional practice that it could be. I believed many technology leaders were caught in the middle and I imagined both the Business and C&I people were about to have their worlds upended by an education technology tidal wave that was coming, a rogue wave that was going to catch many unprepared.

The rogue wave isn’t coming. It’s already here. 🌊 ESSR funds hit districts with nearly unlimited funds that flooded into technology departments. The aftermath of all that spending is still yet to be determined. But one thing remains true, fusing technology and instruction is a non-negotiable and finding sustainable funding to support technology is a critical strategic imperative for district leaders. Networks, devices, and cloud services are commodities. Infrastructure is no longer the problem. Sustainability and alignment are.

The divide today isn’t between IT and C&I or IT and the Business department, it’s between those who see technology as a strategic catalyst for transformational change and those who want to maintain the status quo. Ubiquitous connectivity, personalized learning, and Artificial intelligence are rewriting what’s possible in classrooms. Yet many schools are still operating with 20th-century mindsets:

• Annual PD days instead of continuous learning
• Tech plans written in isolation from instructional strategy
• Leaders who haven’t invited their technology directors to the decision making table

In the age of AI, what matters is whether our systems are human-centered, pedagogically aligned, and built to adapt. Districts that build sustainable funding models, empower teachers to innovate, and treat technology as an enabler instead of as an expense will thrive in a post-ESSR funding world. Those that don’t take this opportunity to reimagine how technology fits in their strategic vision will struggle to maintain the future ready shifts made during the pandemic and won’t be prepared for the coming AI wave that is waiting out there.

For leaders still caught between tech as fundamental and tech as extra, the challenge is clear:
✅ Build resilient, forward-looking infrastructure
✅ Treat technology integration as a leadership competency
✅ Invest in teacher tech capacity as relentlessly as you invest in bandwidth

Because yes, technology may be “just a tool.”
But then again so was the printing press.

👉 Is your district riding the wave,or waiting to be hit by it?

>The original blog post that inspired this reflection can be viewed here.

#EdTech #K12Leadership #FutureOfLearning #AIinEducation #DigitalTransformation #EducationLeadership #Superintendent #InstructionalLeadership #ChangeManagement

Dr. Andrew Schwab is a K-12 Superintendent, former Chief Technology Officer, and advocate for future-ready schools. He believes that education is the gateway to opportunity and that leadership must be human-centered and student-focused.