Top technology official out at Fairfax Schools, as fallout continues from online learning disaster

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Education

Top technology official out at Fairfax Schools, as fallout continues from online learning disaster

By Hannah Natanson
April 22, 2020 at 10:27 p.m. EDT

The longtime information technology chief for Fairfax County Public Schools is out of a job days after the district’s disastrous debut of online learning, according to a letter sent to staffers.

“Effective immediately, Maribeth Luftglass is stepping down from her role,” Superintendent Scott Brabrand wrote in the message to information technology staffers, a copy of which was obtained by The Washington Post. “I want to thank Maribeth for her nearly 21 years of service to our school division.”

Luftglass has served as assistant superintendent of the department of information technology since 1999, according to her profile on the Fairfax schools website. She could not be reached for comment late Wednesday.

Luftglass, who previously directed information technology for the American Red Cross, was at the center of the sprawling school system’s botched preparations for online learning over the past month. After two failed attempts, the district this week temporarily canceled face-to-face virtual instruction, announced it was moving away from its technology platform, Blackboard, and retained a law firm to conduct an independent review of the rollout.

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The results were catastrophic.

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Hannah Natanson
Hannah Natanson is a reporter covering education and K-12 schools in Virginia. Follow https://twitter.com/hannah_natanson

[Squinch]

1. NYC online schools have been up and running since 3 business days after schools closed.

Last edited Thu Apr 23, 2020, 07:42 AM - Edit history (1)

[htuttle]

2. We use Blackboard at UW Madison, and it's used at a lot of other universities

But, we have a fully staffed help desk available by phone or chat from 6 AM to 11 PM on weekdays, a full time Blackboard integration team, integrated sign on with the university's authentication system (so that student's can't hide their identities when signing in), and had been using it for things like class notes and assignments for several years. Of course, university students have different motivations and approaches to school, as well (at least one hopes...).

There aren't any online learning platforms that have been working flawlessly since most schools went to remote learning. Even Microsoft's Office 365 (that we also use) has had intermittent load-related problems over the last couple of months.

You can't really do it 'on the cheap' and have it work well. You know what they say about engineering decisions:
Fast, cheap, good -- you get to pick two of them. Nobody gets all three.