Expanding on an AP report that Governor Rounds hardly uses e-mail, DWC reports that Governor M. Michael Rounds, who has made significant and expensive efforts to continue the Janklow policy of increasing technology in education, is himself not much of a technophile:
Actually, I can believe what the article says. For those of you looking for some inside baseball… From my time on the 2002 campaign, and in the Gov’s office, I can tell you first hand that Mike isn’t necessarily “Mr. Techie.” when it comes to that sort of thing. A couple of his kids are really good, and the First Lady is quite proficient when it comes to the computer from her time working as a state employee.
But the Gov…. Well, let’s just say ‘not so much’ [Pat Powers, "No E-Mail for the Gov. Or at Least Not Much," Dakota War College, 2008.03.16].
Powers says the Governor's aversion to technology is no big shock, and nothing to be "construed as anything other than it is." He doesn't like computers, doesn't use them much... so what?
Perhaps budding education blogger Fred Deutsch has your what on techno-illiteracy. He reprints an award-winning post from Karl Fisch, the Director of Technology at Arapahoe HS in Centennial Colorado that declares teachers who don't like computers unfit for duty. Composing a draft list of tech standards for teachers, Fisch says the following:
1. All educators must achieve a basic level of technological capability.
2. People who do not meet the criterion of #1 should be embarrassed, not proud, to say so in public....
4. Headteachers and Principals who have staff who are technologically-illiterate should be held to account....
5. School inspectors who are technologically illiterate should be encouraged to find alternative employment... [Karl Fisch, "Is It Okay to Be a Technologically Illiterate Teacher?" The Fischbowl, 2007.09.11].
School inspectors... I wonder if Fisch and Deutsch would apply that standard to the top school "inspector," the Governor who proposes the budget, draws the hoops for teachers to jump through, tells the Secretary of Education what to say and do, and questions the veracity and professionalism of school superintendents who labor under his requirements.
I know, Pat, I'm construing all over the place. Teachers and governors aren't the same thing. But when the Governor fights to keep (and make political hay out of) laptops in the schools, when he advocates for $3 million more for ed tech as a higher priority than not cutting $2 million from law enforcement, he's staking out a position as a leader in education.
"Leader in education" -- that sounds a lot like the original Greek meaning of the fancy word for teacher, pedagogue, a "leader of children." And we all know how important it is to lead by example....
Governor Rounds, you wouldn't want to give kids the impression that they can do anything, even grow up to be Governor, without knowing how to use technology, would you? Check your e-mail. Use it. Heck, maybe even start blogging, like your pals Governor Richardson, Governor Granholm, Governor Schwarzenegger, Governor Minner....
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Update 12:58 CDT: Denise Ross reports the SD House's 61-8 vote to overturn Gov. Rounds's veto of HB 1233, the searchable online state checkbook bill. She notes the apparent inability of the Governor and his remaining defenders to understand the difference between PDF files and a searchable database. Hmm... all the more reason the Governor needs to get hip to the new tech he thinks all the schools should use.
I would add that communication by email often has a way of eventually making it into the public sphere. Commissions and committees also have a tendancy to demand to see email records when investigating possible wrongdoing. The Rounds administration is not exactly widely reknowned for its openness, and I wouldn't be surprised to learn that the gov doesn't like to use email because it's harder to control where it ends up.
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