John Armstrong is the Director of Technology and Information Services for Joliet Public Schools District. He holds a position at the Cabinet level and works collaboratively with all district leadership to understand and deliver on their requirements. John was responsible for overseeing the entire project from acquiring the funding, decision making, installation, and teacher adoption.

The project was managed and installed by Tierney.

We invited John from Joliet 86 and Kathleen Santoria from Tierney to tell us more about this extensive project.

What were the reasons you decided to upgrade the district’s tech when you did? 

When Kathleen from Tierney first met John Armstrong in 2015, he described the school district’s situation as the ‘Perfect Storm.’ Their projectors and interactive whiteboards were at end of life, costing the district a lot of money in replacement parts and repair.

Kathleen worked closely with John over the next three years, keeping an eye out for the right solution that would meet their needs. 

"The majority of our classrooms were fitted-out with a ceiling-mounted LCD projector, a SMARTBoard interactive whiteboard, and a document camera," explains John. "While the interactive whiteboard technology was once cutting edge, it became evident in about 2012 that we needed to research and find a solution to replace these boards."

"Our projectors were end-of-life in 2015 and by the time we applied for the funding in January 2018, most of our SMARTBoards were well beyond end-of-life.  We have two technicians and they were spending a significant amount of time traveling to schools to change projector bulbs, plus it was costing us over $10,000 annually on replacement bulbs."

John goes on to explain that, as well as the problem of failing equipment, it was also important that the district could provide a modern technological and digital environment to enable teachers to deliver a 21st-century learning experience and improve teaching and student outcomes.

"Our classrooms were all cabled VGA, and we would have needed to completely re-cable to HDMI – that expense would be a poor decision on the existing equipment. We needed the ability for student and teacher casting between personal devices and the main screen. We had created a mobile environment for our students, but not for our teachers. It was critical to us that our teachers be able to teach without being tethered by cables."

What impact has the new tech made to students and teachers?

"The new Clevertouch panels have been a game-changer for many of our classrooms," says John, "teachers who previously only utilized their equipment for projection are now using the IFPs to full capability. Feedback from teachers has been overwhelmingly positive.

"In fact, the teachers that did not yet get a Clevertouch are constantly requesting one for their classroom.  We were planning to add another 30 panels each school year until we had one in every classroom, but the feedback has been so great that we are now planning to complete the remaining 175 classrooms this summer."?

Jack Willson from Clevertouch worked closely with Tierney and the team at Joliet. He said, "John and the team at Joliet School District 86 have certainly set a precedent within the State of Illinois. It was quite clear from the beginning that John was determined his district was going to have the very latest educational technology. Under John’s management the district had set out a clear vision to future proof the learning experience for all students; they fully recognised the importance of technology to achieve this."

"The Plus Series is the central hub of ‘The Complete Classroom’ and integrates and connects existing devices and networked functions across the district. The solution comes packed with an exhaustive range of collaborative and sharing tools teaching software, education apps, school messaging and alerts functions, cloud accessibility, and digital resource features, high precision touch, and open platform functionality."

"Working alongside Tierney and Joliet School District 86 has been fantastic, it’s been very exciting seeing this project come together so successfully."