Tech tools
Editor’s note: This is one in a series of articles marking the 50th Anniversary of Hartselle City Schools.
Sometime around 1979 or 1980, I can remember walking into the Hartselle High School guidance office that, at the time, was in the front hallway of what is now Hartselle Junior High School. Prater and Tomlinson were the counselors at the time. On a giant board, they were sketching out a high school master schedule naming every class that would be offered in each class period of the school day.
As a principal and federal programs director, I solved many complicated problems and orchestrated a variety of complex strategies. Still, I can barely wrap my brain around trying to hand-schedule both core and elective classes for an entire high school full of students; they did it every year. The March 18, 1993 issue of the Hartselle Enquirer boasted the headline Administrative Computer Software System Upgrade Under Way in Hartselle City Schools. By 1993 the schools were already completing some tasks with tech tools, but they were planning a technology expansion that would take three years to complete.
Dr. Joe Walters was the director of special services at the time, and he was tapped to oversee the implementation.
One of the features that Walters bragged about at the time was the computer’s ability to maintain and print a student’s transcript. So, no more hand-assembling, typing and photocopying.
Though final products were generated using tech, most of the feeding of data into the tech was done manually or through a scanning process. For instance, teachers did not mark class attendance on the computer. Each class period, student office aides walked from classroom to classroom collecting from teachers the scannable attendance cards of those students who were absent from class. The collected stack of cards was scanned into the computer. At the high school, Brenda Spencer oversaw all things tech.
As primitive as this sounds, it was a game-changer. Prior to these scannable cards, teachers had to hand-keep attendance journals that required extensive detail. They were thrilled with these scannable cards. The high school was the first on board and was followed the next year by the junior high and then the next year by the elementary schools. All of the schools experienced growing pains when transitioning to what by today’s standards feels more tech-adjacent than tech-based, but Hartselle City Schools celebrated their burgeoning options.
Another feature that seems obvious now but that felt like a game-changer at the time? Systemwide access to information. In the Enquirer article, Walters was quoted as saying, “Records will be updated daily. If (superintendent) Dr. Hartsell has a meeting with parents, he can access the files and be updated to the present on any situation.” Walters went on to say that “More and more computer literacy is being required from high school graduates” and that “I think it will be very helpful to our students if they see teachers using technology to relieve some burdens in a natural, everyday environment.” The pathway from 1975 to 1993 and then from 1993 to 2025 did not look the same as the pathway from 2025 forward will look. Natural, everyday environments have changed. But even in 1993, Walters hit on two considerations that remain a part of today’s school district conversations. 1) Are we operating as efficiently as we can, and are we using the tools available to us? 2) Are we exposing students to the technology they will use in their careers?
The little things change, but the biggest considerations in education have remained largely the same. Technology is simply another tool to move students and teachers and schools forward.
