Chips and Chalk

The Summer Program Is Where Your Year Is Won or Lost

When students leave for summer break, the real work begins. In this episode of Chips & Chalk, Adam takes listeners behind the scenes of what it takes to prepare a 4,000-student school district, five schools, two administrative buildings, and thousands of devices with a seven-person technology team in just 56 working days. From classroom maintenance and device refreshes to infrastructure upgrades, SIS and LMS rollovers, new device deployments, stadium technology, safety systems, and opening-day readiness, this is a candid look at the operational reality of K–12 technology leadership. Summer isn't about having time off. It's about balancing priorities, managing risk, protecting schedules, and making sure students and staff walk into a learning environment that simply works. Whether you're a technology director, technician, superintendent, principal, or operations leader, you'll find practical lessons, planning strategies, and a real-world summer readiness checklist you can use in your own district. And remember: the public sees the first day of school. Technology leaders see the six months that made it possible.

Built on Heroics: The Hidden Risk in K–12 Technology

Your district's technology operation may be working, but is it sustainable? We discuss hero culture, technical debt, staffing, business risk, technology audits, and why some school systems are only one resignation away from discovering their biggest operational vulnerabilities.

Document Cameras: The "Old" Tech Nobody Thanks

Document cameras may be the most overlooked — and most consistently effective — tool in modern classrooms. While edtech chases AI, dashboards, gamification, and the next flashy platform, document cameras continue quietly supporting instruction every single day with almost no friction, minimal support overhead, and enormous instructional flexibility. In this episode of Chips & Chalk, we break down why document cameras remain instructional powerhouses in K-12 education. From cognitive load theory and visible learning research to kindergarten engagement, student-centered instruction, synchronous learning, accessibility, ROI vs. VOI, and why sometimes the best technology for the job is a familiar friend.

Everything Falls Into IT: The Black Hole of School Technology Support

Modern schools run on digital systems, hosted vendors, cloud platforms, and nonstop expectations. But when something breaks, whether it’s a snow day notification, a vendor outage, a login issue, or a workflow failure, everything somehow ends up in IT. In this episode of Chips & Chalk, we break down how K–12 districts accidentally turn technology departments into operational black holes where ownership disappears, blame gets centralized, and support teams absorb the pressure for systems they often don’t fully control. From hosted mass notification failures and concierge-level service expectations to staffing misalignment, vendor accountability, dashboards like StatusGator, and the dangerous phrase “I’m not technical,” this episode dives into the operational realities school leaders need to understand in modern digital ecosystems. Because if every problem eventually lands on IT…the organization stops solving problems correctly.

72 Apps and a Prayer: Student Data Everywhere

From the PowerSchool breach to the Naviance settlement and growing AI concerns, this episode of Chips & Chalk explores the uncomfortable reality of modern K-12 technology: student data is everywhere. We discuss vendor risk, privacy certifications, breach notifications families may never actually see, cloud vs. on-prem debates, and why districts often have little leverage against massive EdTech ecosystems. Because when the average student may interact with dozens of apps every year… who actually has access to their data anymore?