Toni Bowers

FRIT 7738

Dr. Downs

Okefenokee RESA

Fall 2012









EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Have you ever wondered where your school system gest its information and tech support? This
report will discuss and evaluate Okefenokee RESA. Okefenokee RESA is located in Waycross,
GA in between the Heritage Center and Forestry building. It consists of two on-site technology
labs as well as a portable laptop and IPad lab. The center has approximately nine full-time
salaried and hourly workers. Those workers maintain the technology in eight different school
systems and two colleges. These workers provide on-site and online trainings to enhance
technology skills and other technology programs. The stakeholders of the center are the staff,
parents, and students of the eight school systems and colleges.
Both labs are available for technology and curriculum training throughout the year. These
trainings can take place during and after the school or online through a Schoology account. The
center has one main instructor who conducts the trainings, but has assistance from the other
personal within the center.
The activities of the center mostly include staff development services. These services include
leadership development, certificate renewal/endorsement preparation, professional development
for teachers, para-professional and substitute teacher training. These services enhance and
introduce teachers to new technology and leadership roles.
The services and programs at the Okefenokee RESA are essential to ensuring the success of the
eight school systems students and their future success. The knowledge of the people who work at
and through the Okefenokee RESA center is an asset to every parent, administrator, teacher, and
student of the school systems they service.










OKEFENOKEE RESA

Mission:
To support the work, improvement, and effectiveness of our local school systems.
Beliefs:
1. Research-based professional learning improves the effectiveness of educators.
2. School Improvement initiatives support student learning.
3. Shared services, including cooperative purchasing, increase cost-effectiveness for
systems.
4. Collaboration with other agencies maximizes the impact of educational initiatives.
5. Capacity building in schools and systems is the key to sustained improvement.
6. Accountability, through progress monitoring, promotes and ensures continuous
improvement.
Vision:
Okefenokee RESAeducational portal to the future.
Okefenokee RESA is located in Waycross, GA in between the Heritage Center and Forestry
buildings. There are nine people who work full time at the center; one executive director, four
consultants, and four specialists. The center provides technology support for twelve school
districts extending as far as Alma and two colleges located in Waycross. Okefenokee RESA
provides technology support to their stakeholders, the school systems and their personal,
throughout the year along with trainings. The current status of center is active; due to budget cuts
the center has had to cut their number of trainings and introduced a general training fee. The
amount of the training fee depends on the type of training and if the training will count as a PLU
credit. As a result of the trainings being held more at the center, the center built on to the back of
their center. The new part of the building houses a classroom that will accommodate ninety
people.
Most of the trainings are conducted by the consultant that is certified in the subject area the
training will be over. Before the training, the consultant will discuss the content of the training
with a specialist and the executive director. The executive director will provide input she has
received from the Professional Learning Advisory Council and/or the Board of Control. If the
training does not require everyone to take it, the executive director will conduct a meeting with
the school administrators to discuss which personal will need the training and discuss the training
fee. In this meeting the executive director will confirm if the school system will pay for the
training or the individuals taking the training will have to pay for the training out of pocket.
While visiting the center, I was able to interview and observe Margie Hendry. Mrs. Hendry is the
gifted endorsement, Math, Social Studies, and Science consultant. She is the main consultant that
will conduct training sessions. Mrs. Hendry allowed me to observe her online trainings. She has
an account with Schoology and this is where she will put up assignments for her trainees to
complete. She informed me that she has only recently been doing trainings through Schoology.
She said that the teachers in the school systems that completing training online doesnt conflict
with their schedules as an on-site training would. As of right now, Mrs. Hendry said she will
continue to provide the Schoology trainings as a choice to coming to the center to receive
training. The reason being she said was this doesnt cost much money and the teacher dont have
to use their gas to come to the center.
Before I met with Mrs. Hendry, I picked up a pamphlet in the front lobby of the center. It
contained the services and activities of the center as well as the mission, beliefs, and vision
statement. I discussed with Mrs. Hendry about the pamphlet and she said that the services and
activities were up to date, but not the statements. She said that I could find the updated
statements and activities on the Okefenokee RESA website. The activities will be discussed in
another section of this paper.
I lastly discussed the chain of command within the center with Mrs. Hendry. The following
bubble chart illustrates the chain of command.













CHAIN OF COMMAND


OKEFENOKEE RESA LABS
Within the Okefenokee RESA center are two different training labs. Each lab has its own
Promethean board, projector, and sound system. The first lab has ten Dell desktop computers that
are all linked to the Promethean board. These computers are five years old with an out dated
operating system. Mrs. Hendry explained to me that the budget cuts have prevented the center
from updating the computers. She said that during most of the trainings at the center, the teachers
will bring their own laptops or IPads and use their WiFi to link into the centers internet. This lab
houses the centers one portable laptop cart and portable Promethean board. The portable
Promethean board is about 70 inches across and has an adjustable stand. Mrs. Hendry explained
that the board mostly stays in the computer lab because of the hassle it is to move from one room
to another. She explained that every time it is moved, the projector has to be realigned with the
screen and all of the cables have to be plugged in.
The second training lab was housed in the new building. This lab had no desktop computers.
Mrs. Hendry explained that this lab was specially designed to accommodate the trainees who
would bring their own wireless device. The lab provides the trainees with three different
projectors that are all linked together. No matter where someone sits in the room, that person will
receive the same information as another person sitting somewhere else. However, if a big group
of trainees breaks off into smaller groups, the projectors can be unlinked from one another to be
accessed individually. The sound system can only be used when in a large group setting. If the
trainees need to break into smaller groups, then the sound system cannot be used. The only
disadvantage to breaking into smaller groups is the proximity of the tables to one another. The
noise level in the room would make it difficult to be able hear each instructor in the smaller
groups.
Mrs. Hendry showed me a mobile IPad lab that is housed in the second training lab. The mobile
IPad lab can be checked out by any group while at the center, but cannot be taken out of the
center. She said that the IPads have been updated to the latest IPad, but are rarely used due to the
IPads incapability to show websites that contain Flash Player.







CENTER SERVICES & ACTIVTIES
Along with interviewing Mrs. Hendry, I evaluated the center pamphlet and website. The
pamphlet has a nice trifold appearance with large enough font to be easily read. On the front side
of the pamphlet, it clearly states the name of the center and what information the pamphlet
contains. At the bottom of the front side, the pamphlet lists all of the counties that Okefenokee
RESA services.
Opening the pamphlet, on the left side it states the centers service objectives and core services
provided by center. The centers service objectives clearly state all of the services that it provides
each school system and colleges. The service objectives can be easily read by a reader. However,
the core services that are listed are more difficult to read. The core services are bulleted, but the
bullets are very close together. In my opinion, this makes reading the core services more difficult
to read and may turn a reader away from reading the services. Aside from being difficult to read,
the core services are straight to the point at each bullet.
In the center fold of the pamphlet, the educational activities and technical services are listed. The
pamphlet seems to be a little disorganized. Instead of having all of the services together the
pamphlet has the educational activities stuck right in the middle. If a reader wasnt reading
carefully the educational activities could be easily missed. The main educational activity
conducted at the center is staff development services. This includes but is not limited to
leadership development, certificate renewal/endorsement preparation, professional development
for teacher, paraprofessional and substitute teacher training. These activities are the most
requested activities for the center. These can also be taken online with Mrs. Hendry under a
Schoology account or at the center. Other educational activities are Curriculum & Instruction,
Educational Technology, and Planning and Research Services. All of the activities are on the
website and have a calendar when the center will be conducted the trainings.
Under the Educational Activities are the Technical Services. These services include Equipment
Repair Services, Cooperative Purchasing Services, and Media Support Services. I asked Mrs.
Hendry about the Media Support Services and she said sometimes the Board of Control wants
them to video tape state trainings and then catalog the video trainings. She also said that Media
Support Services also includes conducting improvements to recording systems in the school
systems and colleges.
Finally on the right side of the pamphlet are the Fiscal/Administrative Services. A description is
not available for the services, but a list of services is provided. The center provides these services
at Harrell Learning Center, South-Central Georgia Learning Resources System (GLRS), Reading
Recovery Program, Youth Apprenticeship Program, Safe and Drug-Free Schools Program, and
Learn and Serve America Program. To an outsider to this center and the school systems, I dont
fully understand what a Fiscal/Administrative Service is. This section could have been improved
by adding a short description of each place listed and what a fiscal/administrative service is.
OKEFENOKEE RESA WEBSITE http://www.okresa.org
Now I will move forward to the Okefenokee RESA website. This website is very detailed with
the colors and fonts complementing each other. At the top of the website is the name of the
center, Okefenokee RESA under an old oak tree. On the top-right of the website is the address
and phone number. When the home page is pulled up, it displays the current news whether it
pertains to the schools, colleges, or news from the Department of Education. The different tabs
are easy to navigate and understand. Each tab has its own drop down menu of related topics.
The calendar tab displays each training on the specific day and time the training will begin.
Clicking on a training will bring up a page that displays the fee for the training, title of the
training, the instructor for the training, how many are in the training and how many seats are left
in the training, and what time the registration for the training will be closing. I think that this is a
wonderful feature because it leaves no guess work. I also think this is great for teachers who may
not know which training they need or want to take and this feature of the calendar gives them the
information that they need.
However, one detail of the website doesnt appeal to me. To find the general information about
the Okefenokee RESA, the viewer has to scroll all the way down to the bottom of the page. I
think the center needs to have a separate page for the general information because if a viewer of
the website wasnt familiar with how the website is set up then that information could be
overlooked. When I first opened the website to the home page, I was looking for the general
information, but was unable to a tab. I happened to scroll down the home page and thats how I
found the general information. If the center were to have a separate page for their general
information, I think the website would be even more organized. Other than the separate general
information page, I think the website is fantastic and very well organized.









EVALUATION
Combining all of my observation notes and recalling my experience at Okefenokee RESA, I
would say the center is well run, but under staffed. I like the concept of a Board of Control and
Professional Learning Advisory Council. From an observer outside of the school systems, the
Board of Control and Professional Learning Advisory Council is like a system of checks and
balances. The Board of Control is made of the superintendents and presidents of the colleges
while the Professional Learning Advisory Council is made of the curriculum directors. Having
the two different councils would share the stress of evaluating and making changes to the
curriculum. The presidents of the colleges are communicating with the curriculum directors and
superintendents about what they need to push more from the students to be able to have the
students ready to go to college and be successful in college.
In my opinion, the center is under staffed. While I was visiting the center Mrs. Hendry was
informed more than once that she had more files that she needed to go through and organize.
Since she is over the gifted endorsement, math, social studies, and science areas she has a lot of
work on her plate. She said that she has had to work almost every weekend just to stay caught up
with all of her work. The online training courses she is teaching make for an even heavier work
load. While Mrs. Hendry is there full time, a few of the other consultants and specialists are part
time. This means that they are at the center even less and when they work overtime they are
usually not compensated for their time. To lighten the workload, I think that the work should be
more evenly distributed. If someone has a little extra time in her day then I think that person
needs to check with her fellow co-workers to see if they need any help. Being an educator
myself, I know having someone else help finish a project or assignment takes the high stress
levels down and the work seems to be completed more quickly.
As for the center fulfilling its mission and goals, I think they are doing a splendid job. Some of
their on-site equipment isnt up to date, but each member of the staff is very knowledgeable in
new and upcoming technology. Mrs. Hendry conducts trainings on new technology and
reinforces the trainings by having follow up training days to check for understanding. The
website has up to date news on new technology and what is going on in the Department of
Education. They provide quick and efficient technology support to the school systems by sending
a technician to correct the technology problem or to do a short on-site training with the personal
about a new technology.
The improvements I would recommend to the Okefenokee RESA center would be to distribute
the workload around the building so that no one person has a whole area to look after and update
the pamphlet at the center. The website is great, but an outsider may not have the knowledge of
the website, but want to visit the center. Having an up to date pamphlet would give a better
impression of the center.

MONTHLY REPORT
The month of October was successful for some training and less successful for other at the
Okefenokee RESA center. During the month, Okefenokee RESA conducted several workshops
through the center and offsite at various school locations. Those workshops and participants are
in the following table.
ELA Precision Review, Grades K-2 and 6-8
October 1, 2012- RESA

87 participants (full)
GaTAPP Reading Essentials October 2, 2012 -
RESA

4 participants
Georgia School Counselor Evaluation Program
Training October 3, 2012-Ware County Board
of Education

4 participants
School Council Training (new council
members) October 18, 2012 - RESA

9 participants
Preschool Special Education Consortium
October 19, 2012 - RESA

10 participants
Statewide Longitudinal Data Systems Training
October 19, 2012-RESA

17 participants
Hearing and Vision Screening
Certification/Renewal Training October 23,
2012-RESA

33 participants (full)
Converting the Graphics Organizer in the ELA
Units to Thinking Maps Grades 3-5 October
24, 2012-RESA

7 participants
Georgia Media Specialist Evaluation Program
Training October 24, 2012-RESA

3 participants
Legal Issues in Education: Myths and Realities
under Section 504-IDEA October 26, 2012-
RESA

70 participants(full)
Thinking Maps and Literacy Standards-Science
and Social Studies Focus October 30, 2012-
RESA


18 participants
Diabetes Education Training October 31,
2012-Mayo Clinic Health System Annex
Waycross, GA

35 participants

Some of the trainings were given only to those needing the training such as new employees or
employees who changed positions. Most of the trainings had a $25.00 or greater fee along with
the PLU credit. New trainings will be developed for November through the success of each
training. A new training for the Converting the Graphics Organizer in the ELA Units to Thinking
Maps has already been planned for grades K-2 in November.






























Appendix












Interview Questions

How many full-time employees does Okefenokee RESA have?
What is the chain of command at Okefenokee RESA?
Who is on the Board of Control and Professional Learning Advisory Council?
How many school systems does Okefenokee RESA service?
What is your job title?
What are the functions and responsibilities of your job and the other employees?
Who are your stakeholders?
What is your mission or vision statement?
Are trainings held on-site or can some of them be accessed online?

















Okefenokee RESA pamphlet and website
I evaluated the pamphlet and website on the information each contained and how organized both
were. I gave a full evaluation of both in the above report. A checklist for the website can be
found below.

Okefenokee Website Checklist

Yes No

Easy to view and read



Address and name of center



General Information



List of upcoming trainings



Tabs are easy to navigate



Information is current and up
to date



Information pertains to
schools and/or center