Cindy Patterson, CETPA CTO Mentor Candidate

 

Outcome

 

TPS-10. Demonstrate the ability to apply what was learned regarding policies and procedures to create or revise a policy.

 

Context

 

My current role is Manager of Application Support at Santa Clara County Office of Education. I manage a team of 8 Application System Analysts who support the County Office of Education and districts in Santa Clara and San Benito counties. In the past I have been an operations manager and supervised desktop, server, and network support.

 

Artifact

 

The artifact I am presenting is a draft of a board policy for a Bring Your Own Device policy for CP Unified, a fictitious district. As captured in the green sheet, this policy addresses the interest of staff bringing their own devices and using them at work within their job duties. It balances flexibility for staff with data security and business continuity for the district.ReflectionBoard policies seem to be out of the realm of daily existence of staff in school business. Many staff will not attend board meetings and have no information about board process. Administrative Regulations are more visible to daily work and staff.

 

This exercise offers an opportunity to become familiar with board process and policies before stepping up to a CTO position. Robert provided insight to the board process during class including the different stages of a board policy including first reading, presentation, and after several phases a vote. Robert also explained that board policies are vague, addressing high level ideas and leaving details to the administrative regulations.

 

The group discussion was very interesting and I learned from my class mates, through their anecdotes, that board’s personalities and climate can vary. Some are very collegial while others will – eat you alive. This impacts the amount of work required to prepare to bring an item to the board and have it approved. The artifact draft I presented addresses a real world issues that face CTOs today. People want to use their cell phones, laptops and tablets. They do not want to be constrained by standards. This board policy draft demonstrates my understanding of board policies and my preparation to be a CTO and serve at this level.