Employee Recognition Program

Technology Services staff members are eligible for individual and team awards in our Employee Recognition Program. Honorees receive certificates and are recognized quarterly via this website, the "Wall of Fame" at NLC Building D, and an e-mail to all Technology Services staff. Nominations may be submitted by any NISD employee at any time throughout the year.

Third Quarter 2008-2009
Individual "You Make the Difference" Awards
Rudy Garcia Rudy is recognized for outstanding Customer Service & Support, related to his technical support of CITs and campuses. In particular, a first year CIT states that Rudy "has been a key part of [her] success, as he: * Answers my endless questions patiently and positively. * Shows me how to do things. * Comes on campus to complete work orders as needed but he also will answer my questions about other concerns that I have and recommends the next course of action. *Makes me look good in front of my staff and this boosts my confidence. * Answers my phone calls if a crisis arises. * Answers my questions via e-mail when I pose them. * Has a positive attitude" Congratulations, Rudy!	John Hayes John is recognized for fabulous Customer Service & Support, related to the online technology literacy testing of all 8th graders this month. John was extremely well supported by nearly every team member of Academic Technology in implementing a Technology Services strategic objective and a Board and Superintendent goal in expanding the Middle School Technology Literacy assessment to every one of our District middle schools at the 8th grade level. The testing itself consumed nearly the entire month of May, with multiple campuses testing in various windows of time. John was instrumental in the training, in devising a solution for campus packets, and numerous details. Specifically, John brought in student data for each campus and uploaded it to the Learning.com interface. He also created and assigned each of the testing sessions for our State Pilot middle school at Jordan. John also provided fantastic on-site support to the middle school CITs during testing.

Third Quarter 2008-2009
Team "Excellence" Awards
	Mary McBeth, and (not yet pictured) Lisa Gerlich, Amanda Hefner This team is recognized for providing wonderful Tools & Resources, related to this year's Digital Media Fair. Mary, Lisa, and Amanda very effectively collaborated to bring a vision to reality - developing a technical solution using the Bard server and the Moodle database to devise a way for CITs from across our large district to be able to remotely upload their Digital Media Fair projects, without madly driving across town at the last minute with quickly labeled CDs, etc., which would later be discarded. This allowed judges to access the digital files easily - and later the rankings were ready to sort for our winners, certificates, and awards.
	Andrew Spicer, Michael Back, Michael Canedo, Everett Lewis This team is recognized for outstanding Teamwork & Collaboration, related to the VoIP Upgrade. The NISD Voice Over IP Telephone System was in dire need of an upgrade. After much research and many hours of planning, this team replaced server hardware and upgraded the Voice system to a new version that is now more stable and easier to manage and maintain. This new upgraded system will facilitate smoother operations for the more than 10,000 telephone handsets across the entire school district. Thanks to the efforts of this team, the District will save on time and maintenance costs and also provide our customers with a better end user experience.
	Roger Fay, Julie Aelvoet, Allen Case, Ruben Urrutia, Ben Casillas, Jesus Baeza, Billy Debner, Jacob Infante, Donald Morris, Rudy Garcia, and (not pictured) Jeffrey Wright, Ramon Salazar This team is recognized for superior Customer Service and Support, related to online AP Testing. Each May, the College Board Advanced Placement (AP) exams are given in the United States and other parts of the world. In the Northside ISD International Languages department, this is a big undertaking because more that 500 students take the Spanish Language AP, Spanish Literature AP, Chinese AP, Japanese AP, Latin AP, French AP, and German AP exams. The major difference between our test and other AP exams is that it consists of a Speaking portion that is recorded using mp3 files. The test is timed and must be taken in sequential order. Our campus technicians have worked very closely with teachers, District personnel, and language labs representatives since February to ensure that everything was ready for the exam days in May. Instructional Specialist Rosanna Perez states, "Although they were providing customer service and support, they also worked as an amazing team. I can attest that most of them know more about the College Board AP exams that some of our own teachers."

 

Second Quarter 2008-2009
Individual "You Make the Difference" Awards
Allen Case Allen is recognized for his outstanding customer service and support for the Visually Impaired program. Teacher Kay Burger states, "As a teacher of the Visually Impaired, I don't think I could have survived the technology challenges that come with serving blind students without the support of Allen Case." She describes Allen's support as tremendously gracious, and says he is always ready to assist.	Sandy Finch Sandy is recognized for her fantastic teamwork, collaboration and customer service. She exemplifies a "can do" attitude and has demonstrated in many ways the concept of "going the extra mile" as she provides daily support for the Academic Technology staff and many other internal and external customers at NLC. Sandy is always on top of upcoming events at NLC, and makes sure supplies, meeting rooms, staff and more are ready well in advance. She is prompt, efficient, and creative, all the while putting the departmental vision and mission first.
Steven King Steven is recognized for his extraordinary teamwork, as well as customer service and support - particularly as the "pioneer of the NEDS group" and, especially, during deployments. Steven is thorough, honest, patient, collaborative, innovative, instills confidence, always follows through, communicates well, and keeps his cool. Steven's efforts when working with several different teams have brought great improvement to software evaluations and installations that benefit students throughout the District.	Doug Shudde Doug is recognized for his excellent customer service and support for parents throughout the District associated with Parent Connection. There are currently 54,000 Parent Connection accounts. Not all of those parents have called or e-mailed Doug for help, but some weeks it may seem like it! Parents are referred to Doug from campuses, the Central Office switchboard operator, the NISD Contact Us page, and calls and e-mails to Technology Services. Doug responds to every request for help immediately, professionally, and patiently. For three years he has been helping parents and grandparents create accounts, add students, log in correctly, and more - all with a great attitude and representing Technology Services and the District very well.

Second Quarter 2008-2009
Team "Excellence" Awards
	Selia Espinosa, Michael Bohler, and (not yet pictured) Joe Degadillo, George Ortiz, Rose Parks Northside ISD is the largest school district in the nation to go completely wireless! This team completed the successful Districtwide wireless project within one year AND under budget. Internet coverage and NISD network access is available throughout all campuses, including classrooms, libraries, cafeterias, gymnasiums, and outdoor common areas to support a wide variety of instructional and administrative applications. Over 5,000 wireless access points were installed during this project. Each access point had to be manually tagged, labeled with room number location, and configured for operation. Installation of network switches and centralized wireless controllers were also a big part of the project. Thanks to this team effort, campuses have already seen the many benefits of having mobile network services available.
	Marlo Brown, Patti Wyrick, Dottie Castro, John Robinson This group of Technology Training and Development Technologists recognizes that it is often difficult or inconvenient for employees to travel to NLC for classes. For this reason, this team's "Training on Wheels" initiative takes a variety of technology application training classes to the campuses. Classes are scheduled to meet the needs of the host campus, but all NISD employees are welcomed. This school year the Technologists have provided 51 classes at 18 different locations - in the evening - throughout the District. Especially popular classes were MovieMaker, PhotoStory, Access, and Excel. This group of outstanding trainers has worked hard to provide NISD employees with high quality professional development opportunities that help them in the performance of their jobs.
	Steven Diaz and Mark Cavazos Mark and Steven are recognized for their excellent customer service and support associated with the Colby Glass Elementary Veteran's Day program. CIT Nancy Smothers states, " We had an absolutely wonderful Veteran's Day Ceremony. It was such a success largely due to the efforts of Mark Cavazos and Steven Diaz from Technology Infrastructures Services. The husband of one of our kinder teachers, Monica Verastegui, is a soldier stationed in Iraq. For Veteran's Day, we did a live video conference with her husband, Sgt. Verastegui, using a webcam, microphone, and Skype. Steven and Mark came out a couple of times to set up the webcam and Skype. They were very diligent in trying to get it set up and working for our Veteran's Day program. Then on Veteran's Day, they came back out to Glass ES to run the show and make sure everything ran smoothly. I could not have done this with out Mark and Steven. They made our Veteran's Day program a huge success. The staff and students were so excited and impressed with the video conference. I appreciate everything these gentlemen did to make today a success. We are very fortunate to have such dedicated people working in NISD. They help make it the best district!!!! This is one way to "Power Up" at school; technology at it's best!!!!"

 

First Quarter 2008-2009
Individual "You Make the Difference" Awards
Julie Aelvoet Technician III Julie Aelvoet is recognized for her outstanding customer service and support of Warren High School, particularly the special education department. Julie's reassuring and positive approach to concerns, courtesy, resourcefulness, enthusiasm, initiative and technical skills serve the teachers and students well. Julie is in "great demand all over the campus" and she "always makes each customer feel #1 on her list." Congratulations, Julie!	Isaac Carrillo Technical Systems Administrator Isaac Carrillo has been instrumental to NISD's successful implementation of the TREx (Texas Records Exchange) system. He has helped Attendance Secretaries all over the District, as well as District Attendance Specialists, by tweaking computer settings and troubleshooting the system so that it works as intended. Thanks to Isaac's teamwork and collaboration, important student records reach their destination quickly as students transition to/from Northside ISD and go to college. Congratulations, Isaac!
Adrian Garza Technician II Adrian Garza is recognized for providing excellent teamwork and tools for Technology Services staff. Adrian updated the HEAT Work Order program (pre-populating fields from R-TIME, easier navigation, etc.) which in turn saves valuable time for the Help Desk Specialists when creating and processing work orders. In addition, Adrian has assisted the NEDS and R-TIME teams by developing a database and reports that help them prioritize evaluations of new software and hardware. Adrian has a positive, helpful and friendly attitude that is very much appreciated by all! Congratulations, Adrian!	Richard Kline Textbook Warehouseman Richard Kline is recognized for his exemplary customer service and support. For example, the Carson Elementary School administrative staff states that "Richard is the go to man for textbook and testing delivery and pickup. He knows his job and is organized and efficient. We can always depend on Richard to bring [our materials] in record time. We appreciate his quiet and pleasant manner, attention to detail, and kindness...he is very dependable, polite, respectful, and professional." Congratulations, Richard!

First Quarter 2008-2009
Team "Excellence" Awards
	Steven King, Dottie Castro, Dana Bickley, Tracy Rayburn, Landa Rodgers The R-TIME (Request for Technology & Instructional Materials Evaluation) process officially launched October 1, 2008. Behind the process is a fabulous computer program, a team that meets at least weekly, and trained evaluators, all with one goal in mind: To get needed software and hardware into the hands of students and staff ASAP. The program and the team expedites and improves communication, prioritization of evaluations, and workflow. R-TIME has received rave reviews from end-users all across the District, thanks to this wonderful team!

 

Fourth Quarter 2007-2008
Individual "You Make the Difference" Awards
Ken Cadena For the past year Ken has gone above and beyond his job to take on the duties of a vacant business support person. Ken is nominated for the outstanding job he did to support what is known as "mass moves" and the finance end-of-year process. To us, this is better known as raises, retention checks, and vacation balance updates, plus a whole lot more! In addition to supporting mass updates, payroll and year-end procedures, Ken has helped support the process of entering and validating NCLB teacher qualifications in Region 20. Ken's attention to detail and dedication resulted in one of the cleanest and smoothest transitions we have ever had. Jim Miller says, "Ken is well respected and I've never heard him complaining or saying anything negative! Fortunate are we to have someone like Ken who puts service above self! His work ethic is beyond reproach. He is always receptive and responsive to multiple requests from Central Office, various other departments, and of course HR. He is very open, friendly, and courteous to all he serves."	Steven Diaz Steven went "above and beyond" his job duties by developing an electronic tool to help manage overtime requests for pay processing. His pre-populated form saves the administrative support staff at least five hours per week in typing and mathematical calculations, as well as ensuring that staff overtime can be paid in a timely manner. Susan Peters says, "If you have never seen these [paper] forms or had to deal with them you cannot understand how wonderful this is! It has made me more efficient in my job." Congratulations, Steven!

Fourth Quarter 2007-2008
Team "Excellence" Awards
	Mark Cavazos, Josue DeLaTorre, Landa Rodgers, Doris Slay-Barber, and (not pictured) Belinda Plata Doris, Landa, Josue, Belinda, and Mark are recognized for their efforts in getting the 2008 High School Summer School off the ground. Their activities included developing a web-based summer school registration and financial management program, training cashiers who worked summer school registration, installing temporary hardware and ensuring wireless connectivity, providing onsite support for the two-day registration event, entering student data, and printing and delivering student schedules. Due to their efforts, counselors had information available in real-time to allow them to make the best course selections for each student, accounting procedures were enhanced and have a much higher degree of reliability, and long lines at registration were eliminated. This team earns high praise for collaborating with Administration and Business, as well as providing exemplary tools, customer services and support to benefit students.

 

Third Quarter 2007-2008
Individual "You Make the Difference" Awards
Linda Miller Linda is recognized for her outstanding customer service and support of campus and departmental library staff. Even though she's been in her position for less than a year, she has accomplished many things - including spearheading the federated search committee, adding new schools and their library holdings to the library management database, mentoring 15 new librarians, and providing daily e-mail and phone support for 80 librarians and 91 library assistants. Linda comes to work every day with a great attitude that is very much appreciated by her coworkers. Thanks for all you do, Linda!	Jeff Wright While we know that campus technology deployments are definitely a team effort, and we most certainly value the efforts of the entire team, Jeff is recognized for his LEADERSHIP of deployment technician teams. Leadership traits cited in the nomination were process improvement, communication, problem solving, personal attention, personal integrity, recognizing and utilizing team members' talents to the fullest extent, decision-making, and people skills. Additionally, the nomination was not the first time we have heard these things about Jeff ... the fact that Jeff "makes a difference" at a personal level is a theme we've heard many times before! Like all great leaders and true to form, Jeff gives all the credit for deployment successes to the entire team.

Third Quarter 2007-2008
Team "Excellence" Awards
	Tracy Rayburn, Dana Bickley, Steven King Near the end of February, Technology Services implemented a Software Review Committee that meets weekly to discuss and act upon instructional software issues. In addition to facilitating INS-03 software approvals, evaluations, installations, acquisitions, prioritizations, and overall processes (as if that weren't enough), they also are achieving their goal of improving communications with the schools and instructional departments. Dana, Steven, and Tracy spend 6-8 hours a week on this committee process, and are making significant strides in improving instructional software service and support across the board for students and staff.
	Patti Wyrick and Dottie Castro Dottie and Patti collaborated on the development of training materials and the subsequent training of 90+ campus staff on the Texas Records Exchange program (TREx) this quarter. Although they received little training on the system themselves, Dottie and Patti have worked diligently to ensure this new state mandated system has been implemented district-wide. They created a training guide, job aids, and conducted 19 training sessions. At least another 19 training sessions are planned for the near future. We applaud this team's commitment to excellence and appreciate their exemplary collaborative effort.
	Steven Diaz, Lorraine Trawick, and Mark Cavazos This team was nominated by NISD International Languages Instructional Specialist Rosanna Perez for their excellent efforts in supporting the recent Advanced Placement Spanish Language Exam for 380 students across the district. Lorraine, Steven, and Mark helped coordinate logistics, coordinated technical support and equipment testing, collaborated with CITs and teachers, and were onsite to provide additional assistance at all middle schools and high schools. Rosanna stated that these three team members "would probably say this was part of their job, but I know they exceeded their traditional responsibilities to make certain the AP Spanish Language Exam was a success for all our students." Congratulations Lorraine, Steven, and Mark!

 

Second Quarter 2007-2008
Individual "You Make the Difference" Awards
Jacob Infante Jacob is recognized for his outstanding customer service and support as the Technician III for Business Careers High School. Comments from BCHS teachers include, "Jacob is always knowledgeable, courteous, and patient when helping teachers and students. He has done an amazing job with our laptop initiative. On a minute to minute daily basis, he repairs and replaces parts, screens, etc., Yet, with the constant interruptions he still manages to be calm and go above and beyond the call of duty with a smile. Jacob is an extremely hard worker and we really appreciate the service he has given to us."	John Robinson Teamplayer. Eager. Helpful. These are words to describe John Robinson. John is willing to go the extra mile to help customers - internal and external. Recently one of the middle schools was having Parent History Fair Night. Following a panic call from the campus because the students' projects were not loading properly and the CIT was out of town, John (who doesn't usually work with students in his position), flew to the rescue. He helped the students find their source files, recreate, and render movies. The students had been working on these projects for several months. John "saved the day" for the students and teacher, and the campus went on to win several honors, including state recognition, in the History Fair.

Second Quarter 2007-2008
Team "Excellence" Awards
	Doug Shudde, Marlo Brown, and Sean Embry Sean, Doug, and Marlo are recognized for their outstanding work in providing Parent Connection e-mail services and support. There are more than 60,000 Parent Connection account holders. Parents and students alike have come to depend upon e-mail trigger alerts from the system. When NISD began experiencing problems with e-mail service providers that were blocking e-mails from Parent Connection as spam, these three gentlemen immediately set about addressing the situation by working with e-mail providers, the Parent Connection vendor, and Parent Connection account holders. Their teamwork and collaboration resulted in thousands of happy customers.
	Landa Rodgers and Doris Slay-Barber According to several campus administrators and counselors, Landa and Doris "embody Northside's Commitment to Excellence." Through their expertise and dedication, they have implemented the online course request system for secondary schools, providing timely data essential to developing the master schedule. Both ladies make site visits to ensure that the system runs smoothly. Campus staff say that Landa's and Doris' outstanding technical support, willingness to think outside the box, pioneering spirit, and dedication are truly impressive. Congratulations to these two ladies for delivering first-rate service and solutions to the campuses!

 

First Quarter 2007-2008
Individual "You Make the Difference" Awards
Dana Bickley Dana is recognized for her superior customer service and support of elementary campuses, particularly those who have recently transitioned to Microsoft Active Directory and/or have received new technology campus-wide. CITs report that Dana is always willing to listen to their concerns and find answers to their questions. Not only has Dana gone above and beyond to help CITs, teachers, and students, she does it all with a big smile and a very positive attitude!	Chris Harrell Chris assumed a lot of extra responsibilities this quarter to aid in school startup. In addition to her regular duties related to getting school started and supporting campus attendance secretaries, Chris actually fulfilled the role of attendance secretary at two campuses that had vacancies. On behalf of these two campuses, Chris posted in excess of 2,000 attendance records, enrolled and/or withdrew more than 300 students and made countless schedule changes and entries so that teachers would have accurate gradebook and CMS data. Chris also organized lots of resources into binders for attendance secretaries which will help them throughout the year.	Mary Ann Quiroga Customers report that talking to Mary Ann at the Help Desk always brings a smile to their faces! Callers know that Mary Ann will know exactly how to help and what to do. Mary Ann inspires confidence and trust by always going the extra mile and figuring out the best solution to meet customers' needs.

First Quarter 2007-2008
Team "Excellence" Award
	Ron Stephens and Olga Perez Ron and Olga are recognized for their outstanding work in providing PEIMS services, reports, and related data analysis. Their attention to detail and accuracy ensure that the PEIMS submissions paint a true picture of NISD, in terms of student, staff, and financial data used in several state-wide monitoring systems. Program and department directors district-wide count on Ron and Olga for current and historical data analysis, which is then used to drive decision-making and program improvement.

 

Fourth Quarter 2006-2007
Individual "You Make the Difference" Awards
Sandy Roe Sandy is the unofficial, one-woman "triage help desk" for all district staff and many parents who want to talk to "the technology department." She fields several hundred calls, particularly during the few weeks before school starts and right after. She always helps callers with style and grace on topics such as forgotten passwords, AUP training, e-mail help, Parent Connection, gradebook, "how to's" for purchasing software, hardware, and technology supplies, and so much more. She is absolutely customer-friendly to everyone, no matter who they are or what their problem is. Sandy is recognized for her outstanding customer service and support.	Kenneth McDuffie Ken is recognized for his superior customer service and support. The nomination for Ken came from Valley Hi Elementary and stated, "We would like to express our heartfelt gratitude for our campus technician. We feel so fortunate to have Ken on our side. Ken responds lightning-fast...no challenge is too great for him. He works above and beyond a thousand times over. However, the best part of having Ken on our team is his attitude. His smile and joyful attitude are infectious, and he makes Valley Hi a nicer place to be whenever he is around." Well done, Ken!	Lorraine Trawick As project manager for secondary eGrade, Lorraine is recognized for teamwork and collaboration, as well as leading the effort to provide this particular tool and related resources to campuses. Lorraine works diligently with the vendor and district committee, headed up the writing of training materials, supervised the creation of support resources such as video tutorials, flipbooks, and click charts, and helped roll out training to all secondary CITs, CTFs, administrators, teachers, and attendance secretaries. She continues to meet personally with principals and others, striving for continuous improvement of the eGrade implementation. Throughout it all, Lorraine remains calm, helpful and charming.

Fourth Quarter 2006-2007
Team "Excellence" Awards
	Frank Garza, Andy Contreras, Guy Copenhaver, Mark Cavazos, Carlos Trevino, Steven Diaz, Isaac Carrillo, Kevin Fredericks, George Ortiz, Javier Tamez, Billy Debner, and (not pictured) Steven King This team is recognized for their outstanding technical and AV support of the many beginning-of-year district-wide events, such as Administrator Institute, Data Day, Convocations, and New Teacher Academies. This team is to be congratulated for their teamwork and collaboration with staff from several departments across the district, many of whom have praised their can-do customer-friendly attitudes and the high level of support that has been provided.
	Marlo Brown, Belinda Plata, Adriana Carrillo, Patti Wyrick, John Robinson Each year Technology Training and Development is tasked with providing training for new staff members who have access to technology. This year, this team of trainers conducted 40 sessions the New Employee Technology Training. They trained 735 new staff members on accessing network resources (e.g., ERO, SEMS, UnitedStreaimg), saving files to and using the network, using Groupwise e-mail, and more. This training allows new staff to arrive at their campus or department ready to use technology starting on their first day. This team exemplifies teamwork and collaboration, both with HR and in their own group.
	Joe McMonagle, Armando Alvarado, Joe Delgadillo, Allan Dufault, Chris Conkle This team worked tirelessly over a period of many months to upgrade the Wide Area Network for all campuses and administrative support locations. Their work included determining timelines, rack space and electrical requirements; ordering equipment; coordinating with AT&T, the Facilities Department and campuses; redesigning some areas of our Data Center and installing equipment. All their work provides continued access to valuable network tools and resources for staff and students. Congratulations to all!
	Pam Rogers, Sloan Lopez, Dottie Castro, Chris Harrell, Dana Bickley, Doug Shudde, Lorraine Trawick, Patti Wyrick, John Hayes, Derick Xac, Jon Trent, Doris Slay-Barber, and (not pictured) Mary McBeth Kudos to members of this group for their various roles in implementing the new NISD secondary gradebook. Their work included facilitating policy discussions, communication and training users, data uploads, server maintenance and management, Parent Connection enhancements, and working closely with the vendor on software installation, development of customized reports, and technical support. Thank you for a job well done!

 

Third Quarter 2006-2007
Individual "You Make the Difference" Awards
Victoria Carrillo Victoria is recognized for her outstanding customer service and support of the Resource Planning Department. Director Stan Drezek states, "I wanted to call your attention to the quality of employee you have in Victoria Carrillo. Recently, we have been working more closely with and having the benefit of Victoria's expertise and caring. I want you to know just how conscientious Victoria has been in seeing the myriad of our reports get submitted, run, and picked up. She makes innumerable changes as well. Recently, she just about finished a complete re-write of our Neighborhood Count Program, the single most important program we have. We appreciate Victoria and her support of our office."	Jose Benavidez Numerous campus administrators and Information Services staff have praised Jose's friendly and helpful customer service and support at the front desk / report-check-out station at Technology Services' NLC location. He goes the extra mile in serving those who come by to collect report cards, AGR cards, and other printed reports that campuses depend upon. This is just one small part of Jose's job, but his efforts are very much noticed and appreciated by all.	Jon Trent Jon is recognized for providing superior customer service and support for instruction. Career and Technology Specialist Shirley Flores states, "Jon has gone above and beyond for the Career and Technology Department to solve multiple issues to ensure the successful installation and implementation of the Certiport Microsoft Specialist Examination Software." This software is used by high school students across the district to achieve the Microsoft Office Specialist designation, the official Microsoft Office certification for desktop productivity.

Third Quarter 2006-2007
Team "Excellence" Awards
	Belinda Plata, Marlo Brown, Cindy Holmes, Adriana Carrillo, Andrew Spicer, Selia Espinoza, John Robinson, Ruben Urrutia, Arnold Moreno This team is recognized for their efforts to provide Tablet PCs for Cabinet members and several department directors. Through teamwork and collaboration, this team pulled together to evaluate, order, and image the devices, develop training materials, and conduct 15 training sessions for staff. The Tablet PC has proven to be a very popular tool for busy NISD mobile professionals who can now work almost anytime, anywhere, thanks to the efforts of this group.
	Gil Huerta, Sean Embry, Michael Bohler, Allen Case, Belinda Plata, Joe Delgadillo, Jon Trent, Martha Smith, George Ortiz, Ken McDuffie, Gary Dennis and (not pictured) Julie Carreon, Oscar Reyes, Steven Diaz This team is recognized for their teamwork and collaboration with the Child Nutrition Department to support the new Pont of Sale (POS) system currently being piloted in several school cafeterias. This new system has the potential to offer several enhanced services and efficiencies to NISD students, staff, and parents. According to Child Nutrition Director John Thomas, the team "faced several challenges during the process and did a wonderful job responding to them. The result is a change that will help our department provide better customer service and help our staff be more efficient. Thank you so much for the support and help you have all provided."
	Shanna Falgoust, Jon Trent, Derick Xac, Walter Walden, Landa Rodgers This team is recognized for their teamwork in developing and implementing a fabulous new tool for campuses called N-Time. N-Time is a web-based application that allows Content Mastery Center (CMC) teachers to track, document, and report the time, purpose, and services for students who receive CMC support. Application development was done by Landa, Derick, and Walter; Jon provided SQL Server and LDAP assistance; Shanna created training materials and delivered training to campus staff. Due to the success of this initiative, N-Time will be expanded to additional campuses and areas where students are served (e.g., nurse, counselor, administration).
	John Robinson, Marlo Brown, Michael Bohler, Joe McMonagle, Joe Delgadillo, George Ortiz, Mark Cavazos, Michael Back and (not pictured) Everett Lewis This team's hard work, dedication to meeting the customers' needs, willingness to listen and efforts in trying to resolve concerns during the Vocera pilot exemplified outstanding customer service and support. Even though the Vocera system did not meet the customers' needs in the end, the team is determined to evaluate alternative tools to help campus staff achieve their communications goals.
	Rey Solis, Chris Casias, Dominic Saenz and (not pictured) Rick Klein Upon hearing that DuWayne Headrick was going to be out of the office for an extended period, the Textbook Warehouse team volunteered to help with Records Management pickup requests from campuses and departments. Through collaboration with DuWayne and the staff at the various locations, the team picked up 35 pallets of boxes (approximately 1,400) and delivered them to the warehouse to be inventoried, giving much needed relief to campuses and departments and making Records Custodians very happy.

 

Second Quarter 2006-2007
Individual "You Make the Difference" Awards
Neal Fabilenia Neal is recognized for providing wonderful tools, resources, customer service, and support. He quickly creates Cognos reports to fulfill the needs of campuses during critical time periods (e.g., master schedule development, next year planning, boundary changes information). He often logs in from home to make sure everything is working on the Cognos servers and finance cubes before leaving for work. He patiently works with users over the phone and through NetMeeting to help them learn best practices for using the Cognos reporting system.	DuWayne Headrick DuWayne is recognized for his outstanding work in establishing the new Records Warehouse. He coordinated everything - shelving, environmental issues, movement of contents from the old warehouse, setting up the vault, and much more. This was in addition to his regular Records Manager responsibilities - document retrieval, destruction, and supporting the Transcripts office. DuWayne does everything with humor and enthusiasm and is much appreciated.	Susan Marron Susan is recognized for teamwork and collaboration, particular during the last quarter when the library processing team was short two staff members. Susan rose to the occasion and redoubled her efforts to keep the workflow going. She helped organize and reorganize the endless boxes of library boxes to make things more efficient. Susan was cheerful and optimistic throughout the changes. She has also worked closely with training a new cataloger in the department.
Olga Perez Olga is recognized for providing wonderful tools, resources, customer service, and support of the PEIMS data submissions. For the third year, she has designed and produced the 55-page "PEIMS Data Review" reports used annually to provide historical and current year summary information to the Superintendent's Cabinet, Administrative and Instructional Directors, and NCLB/Title Program coordinators. Olga also continues to excel at developing and coordinating the training and quality control systems necessary for reporting PEIMS student disciplinary records and Leaver/Dropout records.	Gabriel San Miguel Gabe was nominated by three CITs who really appreciate his customer service and support. They report that he is very knowledgeable, always willing to help, quick to complete his tasks, dependable, courteous, respectful, and always has a smile on his face. When it comes to technology, Gabe keeps their campuses up and running and always goes the extra mile.	Andrew Spicer Andrew epitomizes customer service and support. Sharon Sanchez, NISD Director of Grants and Recognitions states, "Andrew works with our department often and always does a great job. He is helpful, knowledgeable, pleasant and patient. When we have a technology problem, he promptly addresses it and explains what he has done. He also answers our many questions about technology related issues, providing detailed explanations and even demonstrations when necessary. Andrew is an asset to Technology Services and we are grateful he works with the Grants and Recognitions Department."

Second Quarter 2006-2007
Team "Excellence" Awards
	Lorraine Trawick and Amanda Hefner Amanda and Lorraine have provided outstanding instructional support and service to the staff at Business Careers High School for the 1:1 wireless laptop initiative. Amanda and Lorraine collaborate closely to develop and deliver tools, resources, and high-quality professional development, so that teachers and students can make the most of their laptops. Using themselves as a model, they show teachers how to differentiate and customize instruction for individual students using the laptops. Their joint delivery flows seamlessly during the training sessions. Amanda and Lorraine exemplify the Technology Services cores values of teamwork and collaboration.
	Joe Delgadillo, Nancy Rex, Joe McMonagle, Michael Bohler, George Ortiz, and Chris Conkle This team is recognized for their teamwork and collaboration supporting the recent eRate submission. Their work will save the district millions of dollars in eRate-eligible equipment, including network switches, wireless access points, wireless controllers, and VoIP equipment. The team spent many hours gathering information, developing RFPs, and preparing the eRate applications. Everyone played an important and vital role in this successful endeavor.

 

First Quarter 2006-2007
Individual "You Make the Difference" Awards
Steven Diaz Technician III Steven Diaz is recognized for the great job he does supporting campus technology deployments, most recently Fisher, Colonies North, Leon Valley and Murnin. Project Manager Martha Smith states, "Steve has gone above and beyond, is very organized, and has been accountable for all the equipment, software loads, etc. He works well with his team and communicates effectively ensuring the deployments stay on schedule. The deployments have even finished in record times. I have heard great things about Steve from the campus administrators as well as staff. The Fisher's principal secretary had problems with her palm software and Steve's determination to get it resolved was exemplary. When Steve leads the deployment/team, I have the utmost confidence that the job will be done well, he will be thorough, aims to please and is definitely a LEADER." Congratulations, Steven!	Belinda Plata Belinda Plata is responsible for planning and facilitating the "Business Academy for Bookkeepers." She works with the business office staff to identify the area of needs for the bookkeepers and plans training sessions to meet their specific needs. This year 130 staff members attended the academy, an increase from 113 attendees the year before. In addition, Belinda consistently provides training and development support for the business office. Her enthusiasm and professionalism is greatly appreciated. Belinda's contributions to the business office are evident by this statement from Oscar Cardenas, Executive Director of Budget & Finance, "Ever since we added this position, with the support of Tech Services, we have made tremendous gains in the development of our bookkeepers. Belinda is doing a GREAT job!"

First Quarter 2006-2007
Team "Excellence" Awards
	Pam Goebel and Josie Butcher Pam Goebel and Josie Butcher are customer-oriented team players. During August - September they presented 807 transcript requests, creating $3587.00 in revenue. That is from the happier customers; some have to be turned away because their request does not meet the federal laws. They also provided 634 telephone or written graduation verifications to various agencies. They maintain almost 1,000 rolls of microfilm containing permanent or vital District information. Because they maintain the master microfilm library they also processed 49 requests from other District departments for copies of records from the microfilm during this period. Pam and Josie also maintain a database of over 214,000 student records that have been microfilmed. Each year, prior to microfilming, they review the records of students in grades 6 - 12 who have graduated or withdrawn, averaging 8,300 per year. They ensure all information on the Academic Achievement Record and Permanent Record Card is correct and testing labels match the student's name. Congratulations, Pam and Josie!
	David LeBlanc, Mary Ann Quiroga, Jacob Esquivel, and (not pictured) Tera Garcia The Help Desk staff has earned recognition and commendation for all their hard work during the start of the current school year. Beginning the year short staffed with two vacancies, they were inundated with calls from thousands of District employees requiring their assistance. Through their endurance and perseverance day after day they continued in their resolve to assist every user that called with the dignity and respect they deserve. Congratulations, David, Tera, Jacob and Mary Ann!

 

Fourth Quarter 2005-2006
Individual "You Make the Difference" Awards
Helen Baca Known as the "Database Queen" of Academic Technology Services, Helen performed an extensive and detailed redesign of the online School Improvement Plan for campus administrators. Coordinating with the Director of School Improvement Initiatives, she created a different version for Elementary, Middle and High School, assessing the data entry, data import and data display needs and adjusting and testing the database design accordingly.	Landa Rodgers Landa is recognized for her overnight response to changes within the NEIC voting site. Additionally, in response to numerous requests, she was instrumental in creating a single site for all Directors, HR Staff members, Principals and Vice-Principals to go to for status of employees completing their AUP training, Handbook Acknowledgement, and Sexual Harassment Training.	Ben Smith Ben has made a difference by simultatneously creating an alternative to the district's currnt directory service and developing a secure desktop management environment. Both are currently being piloted at five campuses. At the conclusion of the pilot phase, it is expected that the district will begin a large-scale project to roll out this technology to the entire district. The district should expect to see a Return on Investment of 15-30% (through reduced annual costs for desktop lockdown software such as DeepFreeze and reduced annual Novell licensing costs) within this fiscal year as the district migrates to this solution.

Fourth Quarter 2005-2006
Team "Excellence" Awards
	Michael Back, Michael Bohler, George Ortiz, Joe Delgadillo These members of the NISD Wireless Team are recognized for their outstanding efforts in deploying a new wireless local area network (LAN) architecture at Northside. Northside's previous wireless LAN required manual configuration of each of 350 access points at Northside. This team researched current trends in wireless LAN technology and deployments in an effort to recommend a more flexible and easily managed wireless LAN solution. A centralized wireless LAN solution that utilizes a wireless controller to manage, process and configure the wireless environment was recommended. This solution will provide a single point of administration for various policies relating to security, intrusion detection, user roles and software upgrades, and will ultimately have a positive impact on the planning, performance, security and total cost of ownership of NISD's wireless LAN across the entire district, resulting in both a cost savings as well as resource savings.
	Bob Owen and (not yet pictured) Cynthia Velez With ingenuity and diligence, this team provided in-house development of a method to synchronize accounts and passwords between our legacy directory service (Novell eDirectory) and our new directory service (Microsoft Active Directory). This success was not only critical to the one-to-one laptop initiative at BCHS and at the four new elementary campuses, but also is also providing Northside with a migration path to a more fully integrated Microsoft Windows solution, with an approximate savings to the District of $75,000.
	Chris Harrell, Sloan Lopez, Shanna Falgoust, Doris Slay-Barber, Derick Xac and (not pictured) Jon Trent, Dottie Castro Due to the efforts of this team, the district-wide elementary gradebook initiative was successfully launched on August 21. Training was provided to over 3,000 teachers, administrators and attendance secretaries prior to the first day of school. Because this gradebook is Web-based, it may be used from home for educators to not only record grades and attendance, but to view important information such as parent contacts, special programs, and TAKS mastery. Other information to assist the educator, such as textbook numbers, field trip permission and tutoring groups may also be recorded. This new tool is overwhelmingly popular and implementation has been very smooth.
	Jacob Infante, Michael Bohler, Allen Case, Ben Casillas, Marlo Brown, Ken McDuffie, John Robinson, John Hayes, Art Lozano, Velma Duenez, Tracy Rayburn, Michael Back, George Ortiz, Shanna Falgoust, Selia Espinoza, Mary McBeth, Bob Owen, Julie Carreon, Amanda Hefner, Mark Cavazos, Sean Embry, David Pastrano, Joe Delgadillo, Lorraine Trawick, Bruce Haan, Bill Greenham, Ben Smith, Gary Dennis and (not pictured) Cynthia Velez, Jon Trent, Kevin Frederics, Ruben Urrutia The School Board's decision last Spring to pilot a one-to-one laptop initiative at Business Careers High School in the Fall of 2006 created an enormous amount of work, with an extremely aggressive timeline. Initiatives of this scope usually take 12-18 months, but this extraordinary team was able to pull it off in half that time. Many new technologies are being introduced/piloted as a result of this project (Reverse Proxy, Active Directory/Desktop Management, Password Synchronization, Secure Printing, Controller-based Wireless, etc.) Members of this team were instrumental in various aspects of the project, a few of which are listed below. * The acquisition and preparation of 740 laptops and cases * Preparation of the classrooms and work areas * Configuration and implementation of wireless connectivity throughout all BCHS classrooms and teacher workrooms, as well as the Holmes/BCHS library, cafeteria, auditorium and selected outdoor areas. * Curriculum written and developed for ninth and tenth grade social studies and English, and all business and technology courses * Staff development of all BCHS teachers and administrators with a weeklong "wireless retreat" in June and with monthly follow-up sessions throughout the year * Student and parent orientations All in all, this initiative has created a lot of excitement, positive energy and excitement among everyone involved, particularly the 555+ students now attending BCHS!

 

Third Quarter 2005-2006
Individual "You Make the Difference" Awards
John Hayes John is recognized for his work throughout the year in helping GT teachers and students integrate video production into instruction. Several GT teachers district-wide have praised John for his professional development efforts, site visits to help with projects, patience, kindness, and technical and instructional expertise. Many, many students have been able to create and experience incredible video production projects because of John. John was also instrumental in working with the Instructional Specialist to modify the equipment standard for the GT program in new schools.	Fermin Martinez Fermin was instrumental in the success of this year's high school Advanced Placement testing for International Languages. The logistics and administration of the AP testing get bigger and bigger each year. This year, there were some unexpected technical difficulties encountered by students as they were testing. These issues were resolved by Fermin, working diligently with the Instructional Specialist, teachers, CITs, students, the vendor, and technology.

Third Quarter 2005-2006
Team "Excellence" Award
	Ken McDuffie, Kevin Frederics, Carlos Trevino, Jacob Esquivel, Frank Garza, and (not pictured) Andy Contreras, John Robinson Need a team, quick, to support high school graduations - who can you call?!? This team performed audio visual activities to include sound, videotaping, and camera operations for eleven NISD graduations during a one week period. They worked many long hours on evenings and weekends at the Alamodome, Paul Taylor Fieldhouse, and the Reddix Center. The meaning and memories of these graduations for parents, relatives, friends and the community were preserved and made more special by the hard work and dedication of this team.

 

Second Quarter 2005-2006
Individual "You Make the Difference" Awards
Julie Aelovet Julie received several nominations from staff in Engineering Services, Grants, and Technology Services. Terms used to describe Julie were "incredibly patient, thorough, and professional", "flexible and diligent", "helpful, efficient, and dedicated." Julie excels in providing first class customer service. She researches and resolves hardware and software issues. Her great attitude and ability promotes our Technology Services community in a very positive way.	Judy Cody When the American Library Association was in San Antonio, NISD Librarians presented a full day conference on January 20. Judy served "above and beyond" her regular job by helping a dozen librarians get ready, in addition to everything she already does in Library Services. As the team of librarians was frantically preparing near the big day, Judy made sure that everyone had everything they needed, that is was packaged beautifully, that transport of it to and from the convention center was coordinated, that the displays were perfect, that schedules were met, and that the takedown was quick and easy. We literally could not have done this without Judy's help.	Jack Funkhouser Jack "makes a difference" for Technology Training & Development and Northside ISD. He consistently takes the lead on projects, oversees projects, and seeks new leadership opportunities. Examples are his training and development work with: * CMS Phase III training * Moodle learning management system and PHP/MySQL * Personal Graduation Plan * February Q.U.A.D. training. Jack receives rave reviews from campus and district administrators for the outstanding job he does when teaching face-to-face an online classes. He was mentioned by name at NCN and AIM for his "can do" attitude and willingness to always be helpful and solve problems.	Ben Smith Through careful planning and work, Ben helped make the December Online Exit-level TAKS testing an overall success for Northside ISD. He displayed exceptional foresight n preparing additional network services and providing the data redundancy necessary to overcome inadequacies of the state's testing system that caused the testing to be unsuccessful in many other school districts. Because of Ben's exceptional planning and technical skills, NISD was able to successfully administer the online TAKS re-test in December for 365 math test-takers, 340 science test-takers, and 85 social studies test-takers.

Second Quarter 2005-2006
Team "Excellence" Awards
	Bert Sandoval, Fermin Martinez, Jeff Owens, Everett Lewis, Armando Alvarado (not pictured) This team has done an excellent job over the past few months working on our Data Center. They took ownership of this project and made it their mission as a team to make our Data Center into a topnotch networking facility. With everything neatly organized, it is now much easier to manage and track down equipment and connections, saving time and frustration. During this award period, this team has been involved in the following aspects of the Data Center Upgrade Project: * Capacity planning * Functional organization of servers by row * Redesigned network's backbone configuration * Facilitated re-wiring of fiber optic cabling between Central Office buildings * Documented configuration changes for more that 20 switches and 75 servers * Coordinated the move of 86 Gigaman uplinks * Color coded and labeled all cabling in the Data Center * Coordinated installation of redundant connection * Coordinated installation of two phases of flooring work * Removed more than 2,000 feet of cabling * Installed and labeled more than 1,500 feet of copper and fiber optic cabling Finally, there was no unplanned down time as a result of all this work in the Data Center by this outstanding team!
	John Hayes, Doug Shudde, Elizabeth Langer, Ben Smith, Ken Cadena, Jan Cayton (not pictured) This team is recognized for their outstanding implementation of UnitedStreaming, a digital video-on-demand product from Discovery Education. This research-based instructional resource includes over 4,000 full length educational videos, 40,000 video content clips, 18,000 images, and a variety of teacher materials. All media and materials are aligned to TEKS, updated daily, and delivered to the computer desktop (video may be downloaded or "streamed" live). Not only can this content be used by all NISD educators, but it can also be used by students in the creation of their own digital media connected to their learning. The team's efforts included installation and configuration of the product on NISD servers, data exports and imports; account management, and delivering multiple professional development sessions for instructional specialists, CITs, librarians, principals, Cabinet, and more.
	Mark Cavazos, Lisa Gerlich, Alex DePena, Sean Embry, This team spent many hours over a period of two months troubleshooting e-mail issues with the state-contracted online testing vendor for the Texas Observation Protocol (TOP). More than 1,700 teachers were required to take the online TOP test during January, February, and early March. Due to issues with the vendors e-mail system, teachers were not receiving registration and login information in a timely manner. This team worked closely with Testing & Evaluation and the vendor to resolve the issues. In addition, five computers in each campus library had to be properly configured so that teachers could complete the online test by the deadline.

 

First Quarter 2005-2006
Individual "You Make the Difference" Awards
Martha Smith Martha is recognized for the phenomenal service and extraordinary effort she provided, as Project Manager, for a new CIT during a recent campus-wide technology deployment. The CIT stated, "We are being bond deployed this week and as a CIT with only six weeks under their belt, the deployment was an intimidating prospect. I have had an overwhelming amount of questions and concerns that have needed attention to make this a project a success. Martha has made a difficult process for me into a pleasant learning experience. Martha was extremely thorough and kind in explaining and overseeing this endeavor. No matter how many times I called or emailed her she has responded promptly and with patience. Her dedication and service went beyond ordinary professionalism. She is a great asset to the entire Northside School system and I could not have completed this project without her support and kind encouragement."	Mark Barba Mark developed a procedure to instantly identify any 911 call made from any NISD phone and provide an e-mail message to the NISD Police Department and Technology Services. Taking this a step further, we can now send a message directly to any phone to communicate 911 call information. For a campus, this information will be displayed on the principal, vice-principal, and campus secretary phones. This will minimize false dispatches of SAPD officers to NISD campuses and will provide a means for administrators to know what is happening on their campuses in regards to emergency situations.

First Quarter 2005-2006
Team "Excellence" Award
	Susan Maron, Diana Fuentes, June Kariger This team of great individuals have continuously supported the educational success of NISD English Language Learners by making sure these students have what they need. These three staff members have spent many hours of work creating the records for all new Spanish library books and AV materials being added into the NISD online system. The team has developed and implemented the plan for the transfer of thousands of bilingual books and materials from campus to campus. Their willingness to serve, striving for equity for all students, and their positive attitudes are commended.

 

Fourth Quarter 2004-2005
Individual "You Make the Difference" Awards
Landa Rodgers Landa worked fast and furiously with great skill to develop and/or update several Web applications this quarter. Her products enabled various departments to roll out new and/or improved online tools to assist district staff. These tools include: Online Handbook Acknowledgment and Reporting, PDAS Online, Automated Supplemental Pay, Volunteer Module, and Stipend Module.	Andrew Spicer Andrew's help in setting up the Apple equipment for the high school photography and journalism labs was invaluable. He contributed effective and practical suggestions during the process of creating 10 different images as well as when working with the contractor to deploy the equipment and in performing quality control checks post-deployment. Additionally, he researched and resolved a problem encountered during the deployment with use of older scanners not working with the new computers. Andrew is an excellent problem solver who can be depended upon to get the job done quickly and effectively.	Derick Xac Derick took an existing product, the Elementary Excel/Access report card and gradebook (A.K.A. Jack's Gradebook), and customized it according to the new specifications required by the Elementary Instruction Department. His programming and design efforts streamlined the product and made it easier for CITs and teachers to manage. Teachers report that the product is very user friendly. Derick also assisted Academic Technology coordinators with training the CITs on the updated version.	Gil Huerta Each school must have a cafeteria Point of Sale (POS) system in place by the first day of school. This year was particularly challenging due to construction projects. With only days before school started right up until the morning of the first day, Gil was setting up and/or resolving major problems with POS systems at ten schools. Because of his efforts, knowledge and skills, 100% of POS systems were operational before breakfast serving lines opened on day one.

Fourth Quarter 2004-2005
Team "Excellence" Awards
	Elizabeth Langer, Patti Wyrick, Mary Ann Martinez, John Hayes, Helen Baca, Joyce Stevens, Larry Stegall, Rose Parks, Doug Shudde (not pictured) The team hosted thousands of parents and students over two evenings last May at the "Digi Awards" to recognize and celebrate students' work throughout the year in the creation of digital media products connected to school learning. Over 1,100 entries were received and judged for this year's 3rd annual Digital Media Fair, which takes months of planning and promoting. Trophies and medals were awarded to approximately 240 Northside students as their proud parents and teachers looked on during the "Digi Awards" event. This team was also responsible for eCamp, Northside's four-day summer technology conference for employees. This annual conference takes months to plan and includes scheduling sessions, presenters, rooms, equipment, food, staff, and more. The team's hard work helped bring about a 33% increase in eCamp participants over last year, with nearly 168 sessions and 2,400 session participants.
	Victoria Carrillo, Bert Sandoval, Jon Trent, Marlo Brown, Doris Slay-Barber This team made possible the hugely successful Parent Connection pilot that allowed Clark, Rawlinson, Stevenson, and Warren parents to monitor daily grades and attendance online for their students last spring. As a result of this successful pilot, the Parent Connection team installed and configured additional hardware and software that enabled the District to launch Parent Connection at all middle schools and high schools on September 12.
	Sandy Roe, Mary Ann Martinez, Patti Wyrick, Nancy Rex, Helen Baca, Rose Parks, Elena Rodriguez, Kimberly Roark (not pictured) August 15…the day the power went out for eight hours at NLC! This was also the day to print, assemble, and deliver 100+ copies of a 100 page document using the high speed printer (that also drills holes) at NLC. These materials were for the Curriculum Management System training for over 4,000 teachers and administrators that was to occur the following two days. These wonderful ladies packed their cars and Karen Short's car and moved the entire operation down the street to the Tech Support conference room. The team worked all over the Grissom complex - Human Resources, Bilingual and Tech Support. Photocopies were made and as they were made, someone from each building would walk back and forth to deliver a stack to Tech Support. Three-hole punch machines were going full boar all over that building - finally the binders were assembled and placed in the 70+ lab bags. By this time it was late, and, of course, there was no time to deliver to the campuses. These ladies took the bags of materials for all the campuses home with them and then delivered them to the campus where they were assigned before 7:00 a.m. the next morning.

 

Third Quarter 2004-2005
Individual "You Make the Difference" Awards
Allan Dufault The Marshall High School choir was on a trip to Denver and were unable to come home because of a snow storm. A school secretary contacted Allan to find out if there was a way to use the phone system to get information to concerned parents after school was out for the day. Allan came up with a method and worked with the principal and his secretary to use the main school number and a voice mail box to get updates to the parents on a timely basis. He worked with the principal to show him how to update the message as he got new information from the bus driver and trip sponsors during the evening. There was good feedback from the principal about the outstanding job Allan did and many of the parents called the school and told them how much they appreciated the principal providing them with the information and making it so easy for them to get updates on their students. Allan showed excellent initiative and a commitment to excellence through his actions.	Roberto Flores As NISD's Project Manager for the Curriculum Management System, Bobby has coordinated the efforts of the Design Team throughout the past 13 months, from contract negotiation to project kick-off to test view design to data loading to User Acceptance Testing to trainer-of-trainer training and much more. Bobby has led two meetings per week and a wide variety of activities with the Design Team and SchoolNet during the past year with professionalism, dedication, and unwavering hard work. He has worked individually and collectively with C&I, Technology Services, Testing & Evaluation, and others to bring this 2+ million dollar project to successful launch and will continue to work for many months to come to expand the system. Bobby's efforts with this project will "make a difference" to the success of each and every student in Northside.	Arnold Moreno The Human Resources office received new computer equipment to replace the computers used to scan applications into the Winocular system. In order to ensure a smooth transition and minimize impact to the HR operations, Arnold researched and studied the scanner documentation to ensure that the workstation could be properly configured in minimal time. His preparation paid off, as he was able to set up the workstation in less than 3 hours; the last upgrade took 2 days to properly set up and configure the workstation to work properly with the scanner. The staff at Human Resources was very grateful to Arnold for his extra time and effort in ensuring they would not be without the critical scanning function for more than a few hours. Arnold deserves recognition as he truly exemplified "making a difference" to the people at Human Resources.

Third Quarter 2004-2005
Team "Excellence" Awards
	Dottie Castro, Sloan Lopez, Chris Harrell (not pictured) The functions that the campus attendance secretaries perform are crucial to the operation of the campus and ultimately the district. In the event that an attendance secretary leaves a campus, the work they perform cannot be put off until the position is filled. During the course of the 2004-2005 school year, over 15 campuses lost their attendance secretaries at some point. At times, multiple campuses were without this vital position at the same time. Chris, Dottie, and Sloan offered to assist these campuses to ensure that smooth operations continued. While performing their regular duties at Central Office, they took care of all withdrawals, entries, and modifications for these campuses. Every day, they would receive pages of faxes and do all of the daily posting of absences and corrections. Because of the commitment and dedication of these three ladies, campuses rarely felt the impact of being without this position. Chris, Dottie and Sloan have truly "made the difference" to these campuses, and have been shining examples of exemplary customer service.
	Rey Solis, Kris Trejo, Chris Casias, Rick Klein All year long, in addition to delivering textbooks and library books and materials all across the district, Rey, Kris, Rick, and Chris also assist the Testing and Evaluation Department. These gentlemen deliver all the shipments from the Testing Warehouse to all the campuses and then, following testing, they return to pick up and deliver back to the Testing Warehouse all of the tons of used materials. Each and every year, this effort becomes greater because the district is growing and most especially because of the growing state testing program and the increasing number of shipments required. Even with careful planning, this process has become so complicated that Testing has needed to call on Rey and his staff to make extra deliveries and to take more and more and more materials 'at the drop of a hat'. According to Testing Director Sandra Poth, "Rey and his staff are so helpful and cooperative in this task….we simply cannot run the testing program without them! They go way far out of their ways to make it all work out for the campuses and for us. They are, in my opinion, some of the unknown heroes of Northside's infrastructure that we can't do without."
	George Franks, Doris Slay-Barber, Victoria Carrillo, Bert Sandoval, Sally Andruzzi, Jon Trent (not pictured) During the 2004-2005 school year, grades and report cards were electronically processed for 38,000 students from 2,400 teachers. With the number of secondary campuses in NISD and the differing grading cycles across the district, this process was performed approximately 120 times this year. Per NISD policy, all secondary students must be given their report cards on the Friday following the end of the grading cycle. All deadlines were met due to the commitment of Doris, Victoria, Sally, George, Jon, and Bert. Together, they exemplify what teamwork should be, 120 times per year. In every case, this meant staying very late into the evening and coming in on Saturday and/or Sunday at the end of each and every grading cycle. They have provided exceptional support to the campuses and have helped the campuses avoid many problems with their report cards by creating additional checks and balances above and beyond what is required. Jon and Bert have provided critical network and hardware support during these late nights and weekends. Thanks to the efforts of these six individuals, Technology Services has successfully processed and printed 200,062 report cards this school year.

 

Second Quarter 2004-2005
Individual "You Make the Difference" Awards
Bert Sandoval Bert provided outstanding support to resolve issues with the NISD Police alarm console locking up six or more times a day. He inherited a set of problems that had plagued the NISD Police Department for months and was adversely affecting safety and security in the district. Not only did he switch priorities on a moment's notice, but also provided technically superior support with a great attitude at all hours including evening, weekends, and late at night. The district is more secure because of Bert's hard work.	Sandy Roe Sandy has initiated monthly meetings for all Technology Services' administrative support staff. These meetings and Sandy's leadership have increased communication, effectiveness and efficiency for all. Also, Sandy personifies and exemplifies the "Fish Philosophy" every day, which makes a positive workplace for us all.	Jon Trent Through perseverance and hard work, Jon developed a superior and elegant solution to a really-hard-to-troubleshoot, disruptive, and persistent issue with the Pinnacle grade reporting system where the program would lockup performing certain operations. Not only did the solution resolve the issue but it was much easier to deploy than previous solutions thus giving teachers immediate relief and minimizing expenditures of Technology Services staff resources.

Second Quarter 2004-2005
Team "Excellence" Awards
	Joe McMonagle, Everett Lewis, Allan Dufault, Mike Canedo, Cesar Parra, Armando Alvarado, Mike Bohler, Chris Conkle, Mike Back, George Ortiz, Celia Espinoza, Mark Barba, Velma Duenez, Susan Peters, Gary Dennis, Joe Delgadillo, Laura Castillo & Marlo Brown This team was instrumental to the successful and timely completion of the district-wide VoIP telephone system conversion. They were called upon to do numerous and varied tasks associated with this yearlong project. We had a very aggressive timeline for this project and all of these people were very responsive and completed their assignments in a very professional, high quality, safe and timely manner.
	Joyce Stevens, Elizabeth Langer, John Hayes, Doug Shudde This team has provided many, many hours of professional development this quarter for campus and district administrators, CITs and teachers on TIPPA (Technology Integration Project Planning & Assessment), a new model which they developed that assists teachers in effectively planning, delivering and evaluating technology-infused projects that engage and challenge students in targeted academic objectives.
	Velma Duenez & Tracy Rayburn Velma and Tracy worked persistently to reduce our software costs on KidPix. This software is a standard purchase for elementary campuses. Through Velma's and Tracy's efforts, we were able to receive a refund in excess of $10,000, just for the fall deployments. We will also benefit from this reduced pricing through this year and beyond. Their work will result in direct savings to the district of over $25,000 for the 2004-05 school year.
	Carol Hazelgrove & Sally Andruzzi Carol and Sally worked many, many weeks to produce the first-ever reference of iTCCS screens, data explanations, etc. for each campus by position and by level. These reference books were produced to directly support an initiative to standardize data/information access requirements for each position and eliminate the need to request account access for new/transferring employees.

 

First Quarter 2004-2005
Individual "You Make the Difference" Awards
Theresa Whitney Theresa took charge of and solved a problem that has plagued us since the Kronos system went Windows-based. Transportation could no longer use restrictions reliably. Theresa took the initiative and worked closely with Payroll and Transportation to figure out a configuration that would work. Accomplishing this required learning what the scheduling requirements were for Transportation and research into how the Kronos software could be configured to meet those requirements. This type of work is above and beyond normal system administration duties and Theresa ably stepped up to the plate.	Gene Parker Gene suggested that we include the Deepfreeze seed in our current images in order to reduce the man-hours required to manually install Deepfreeze on hundreds of workstations. After much testing it was concluded that this could be accomplished without degradation of service. This is now a standard load on our images and has dramatically decreased manual intervention for our new technology deployments.	Trinidad Holguin Trinidad has identified several hundred dollars of overcharges for our printer repairs. Through his tenacity and knowledge of the process he was able to determine that these printers were under warranty. These charges have been recouped and Trinidad currently has a process in place to track printer repairs. His effort and continuous process improvement has also reduced our turnaround time for printer repair service.

First Quarter 2004-2005
Team "Excellence" Awards
	John Robinson, Jack Funkhouser, Belinda Plata, Onore Valenzuela, Adrianna Carrillo This team provided high-quality Acceptable Use training for over 1,050 non-campus-based employees in approximately 50 sessions over a time period of less than two months.
	Bill Greenham, Jon Trent, Gary Dennis Due to persistence, long hours, dedication and expertise, this team resolved the network issues and kept the network operational during the time period in September when we were experiencing serious, unprecedented problems with Novell.
	Gene Parker, Ruben Urrutia, Art Lozano, Jon Trent, Mark Cavazos, Bruce Haan (not pictured) This team found an alternative solution to create images for new deployments. Previously these images had been created using Powerquest. This product was up for renewal at a cost of $45,000 for one year. This team figured out a way to use an existing product, Zenworks Imaging, to accomplish the same result. After overcoming several technical issues they were able to certify this new imaging program for all new deployments. This resulted in reduced costs and improved functionality of the Zenworks product.