Though she doesn’t like the spotlight, Kelly Wilkes, chief technology officer for Ector County Independent School District, is no stranger to it: She was recently named the 2024 Withrow National Chief Technology Officer of the Year by CoSN.
The CoSN Withrow CTO Award recognizes an outstanding district CTO who has acted as a true technology champion and transformed their school system through their leadership.
The award recognizes Frank Withrow, a pioneer and advocate of K-12 educational technology, according to a news release.
The Consortium of School Networks (CoSN) is a national organization of school technology organizations. Texas Education Technology Leaders feed into the national organization, CoSN.
Wilkes was honored at a national conference in Miami, her first time attending the conference.
They informed Wilkes that she was a candidate for a national award.
She received a state award in the fall, which automatically makes her eligible for national recognition.
“After a long weekend in February, I opened my email and saw an email from the head of the CoSN organization saying congratulations, I'd won the Withrow Technology Award,” Wilkes said.
She didn't realize that state award nominations extended to the national level, which is why she assumed her name wasn't listed for the national award. Wilkes learned that her nominator was a representative of Texas Educational Technology Leaders.
“Then it dawned on me. I didn't even know I'd been nominated until I got the notice,” Wilkes said.
Wilks said the award is a culmination of all the work that has been done at ECISD.
“I lead the work, but I don't do all the work, and it's good to know that the work I do in my district is valued by my peers,” Wilks said.
She added that she thinks that's what everyone else is doing too.
“But that's clearly not the case. I really appreciate (Superintendent) Dr. Scott Muri and the work he's done in the area of technology and instructional technology. He's definitely been a supporter and advocate for all the work that's been done in this district,” Wilks said.
She added that she appreciates the foresight of people in her department as it helps to achieve things more easily.
The pace of change accelerated with the pandemic, and one of the first things they did was distribute devices to students to take home.
“The district had a ton of funding for internet connectivity, so our first challenge in 2020 was to get devices to all of our students. As we got devices, we had to determine who had access to internet and who didn't. As we did that, we realized that in a large area of South Ector and West Ector County, there weren't a lot of options. There were options, some good options, but at that point, we decided to partner with SpaceX. And we got a donation to provide internet to 130 homes. And the other thing we did was partner with Sparklight and Grande (now Astound),” Wilkes said.
ECISD partnered with these companies to guarantee discounted rates for families.
“There are some small local internet service providers that are offering discounts under the Affordable Connectivity (Program), which is the federal internet subsidy, so if you're a low-income person, you can get $30 off your internet bill,” Wilkes said.
She added that the subsidy will be phased out in May.
“A lot of the work that we've been doing to connect families was federally funded because of COVID-19, so some of that funding has disappeared, but they're re-establishing new programs…” So they're in waiting mode right now, Wilks said.
The state also created a broadband department, and they did a one-time grant called BOOT (Bringing Texans Online Opportunity) and are on the verge of disbursing some of that funding, she said.
The next round of funding is expected to be announced this summer.
As part of the bond issue, the district updated technology in classrooms.
“We're also upgrading the phone system. We're upgrading the surveillance system. We're mainly replacing the old cameras with new cameras and upgrading the PA/bell system, which is the loudspeakers. The speakers that we use when we speak in the classrooms. And the PA/bell systems were either installed with the building if the building was built after the 1970s or were retro-installed in the '70s, so most are over 50 years old,” Wilkes said.
As a result, parts are hard to come by.
“This has been our focus for the last 10 years. We've been able to replace the internal parts, like a computer mainframe so to speak, and get it to work. But with this project, we're replacing the entire system, including the speakers and the controllers. … Then we replace the wires as needed. If we can reuse the wires, we do so because they're in the ceiling so they don't really degrade. Some of it degrades with heat, but the majority is two-stranded and we can reuse it. We save money where we can, which is a very good thing. And the wires will be centralized, so if we need to send communications out to all the schools, the police department or the superintendent can do that,” Wilks said.
Wilks has been with ECISD for 20 years, including 10 as chief technology officer, and her department has about 75 employees.
She was a teacher in Midland in the 1990s, teaching fifth-grade literacy and social studies and spending four years as a production lab teacher, a role she described as more of a technology specialist.
They produced videos, had a radio station, and published a literary magazine and newspaper quarterly.
“I just thoroughly enjoyed the whole thing,” Wilks said.
Lauren Tavares, executive director of digital learning, nominated Wilkes for the Chief Technology Officer award.
“I think she really deserves the recognition. Kelly has done a really great job leading us the last three or four years. I looked at the opportunity and felt she had a lot of the qualities that made her deserving of the award. So this was just another opportunity to celebrate the work she's done. She's never looked for recognition, so I think it's important when people are doing great work, to find ways to recognize that,” Tavares said.
She added that she was truly surprised and excited to find out Wilkes had won the national award.
“I think she's great at what she does. When you think about this award and the other nominees in this category, it's a hard award to win, so it was great to be recognized for the work that our team does, because I think she would say we all contributed to the success, but she does a great job of mentoring us and asking the right questions,” Tavares said.
“She’s really good at seeing the big picture and determining who on the team needs to lead what part, which allows us to get everything done even with so much going on.”
Tavares also sees the benefit of Wilkes getting national recognition.
“I'm pleased to have this opportunity to receive national recognition for our school district and the great work we do across the system,” she said.
It’s rewarding just to be a part of the day-to-day operations and see the growth that’s been achieved and how far ECISD has come over the past three or four years.
“None of the work that we do in technology is done in isolation, we have to work very closely with all departments across the district. Technology often works behind the scenes. We support what's going on in the classrooms and in different departments, so I think it's great to be noticed on a national level. I think it's well-deserved,” Tavares said.
She added that she's just proud of Wilkes.
“We appreciate her leadership and always pushing us to think about what to do next. We're never done, so her expectations are high, but she also helps us accomplish what she asks of us,” Tavares said.
