#SchoolDistrict

[visionarycios]

Iron County School District: Cultivating a Tech-Driven Future for Student Success

https://visionarycios.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Iron-County-School-District-Cultivating-a-Tech-Driven-Future-for-Student-Success.jpg

Despite the technological advancements in the EdTech sector in recent years, ensuring equitable access to this tech remains a significant challenge—especially in underserved communities. Educators also need to be equipped with the necessary skills to leverage EdTech for the better future of students.

Today, Iron County School District is setting a new standard in educational technology thanks to a dedicated team of innovators. Led by Troy Lunt (Technology Director) and supported by Randy Yardley (IT Manager), Ken Munford (Network and Security Manager), and Logan Staheli (Data Systems Manager), the team is transforming traditional classrooms into dynamic, digital learning environments.

The team is working continually to ensure that the district’s infrastructure, systems, and strategies remain at the cutting edge. As a result of their consistent efforts, Iron County School District has successfully cultivated a supportive environment where educators can innovate to help students thrive—making it one of The Most Trusted CIO Application Companies in 2024–2025.

A Commitment to Quality Education

Iron County School District is dedicated to setting students up for success by equipping them with the knowledge and skills necessary for college and career readiness. To create a supportive learning environment, the district fosters a strong relationship among students, teachers, and families. The district’s vision is to empower all learners to reach their full potential. 

Through innovative teaching methods and cutting-edge technology, Iron County School District strives to provide high-quality education for every student. The district holds itself accountable, ensuring that all programs and technology solutions align with its goals and meet the specific needs of its students.

Leading the Way in Educational Technology

Iron County School District’s motivation to lead in CIO applications for education stems from its responsibility to support its stakeholders—school board members, the Superintendent, staff, principals, teachers, parents, and the community. The company focuses on exceeding expectations in technology and education through effective support for end-users like teachers and students. Led by the freedom to make key technology decisions, the district prioritizes innovative, practical solutions tailored to its unique needs—reciprocating the trust and support it receives from its leadership teams and stakeholders.

At the helm of Iron County School District, Troy Lunt plays a crucial role in enhancing the learning experience. Beyond serving as a district resource, he actively participates in regional and state consortiums to influence policy decisions. Ensuring that innovative solutions are carefully vetted and implemented, Troy builds strategic partnerships with top-tier vendors to optimize educational outcomes—making him a key driver of the district’s growth and development.

A Unique Partnership Approach

What separates Iron County School District from the rest is its willingness to give back its time, knowledge, and expertise to its vendors. This helps it improve its ability to work with and provide solutions to its customers—through white papers, webinars, event participation, presentations, content for annual vendor conferences, and more.

The majority of K-12 school districts will not do this because of the time and effort needed to make a difference. Troy spends a significant amount of time working with vendors because it is often the most valuable input and contribution they can receive in making better products and improving their relationships with the Iron County School District.

This is a major distinction between Iron County School District’s tech department when compared with others–Troy goes the extra mile to establish “partnerships” with the Iron County School District’s vendors and technology providers rather than treating them as “just users” of the technology.

Streamlining Operations with Scale Computing

In terms of technology, the Iron County School District has taken a substantial leap forward by implementing Scale Computing hyper-converged infrastructure (HC3). This innovative solution has streamlined virtual machine management and significantly reduced the time and effort required previously. With the adoption of this technology, the district has freed up valuable IT resources—enabling staff to focus on critical priorities. This advancement showcases that the district is committed to leveraging innovative tools with the goal of improving operational efficiency and supporting broader educational goals.

Prioritizing Security and Student Success

The Iron County School District wants to ensure that technology serves as a tool to enhance learning, not hinder it. To meet the required quality standard, it carefully evaluates all technology solutions and prioritizes student data privacy and compatibility with existing infrastructure. Moreover, teachers’ requests for resources are carefully considered to align with curriculum needs.

A recent initiative, the implementation of standards-based grading through PowerSchool significantly improved the transparency for parents and provided teachers with valuable insights into student performance. This system helped teachers identify specific areas of student strength and weakness—allowing them to tailor instruction to meet individual needs. The district ensures consistency and equity in assessment practices by aligning with national grading standards—showcasing a strong commitment to both technological security and the enhancement of student learning outcomes.

Overcoming Tech Obstacles

It was a massive challenge to integrate new technology, led by the complexity of managing devices, infrastructure, and security for a medium-to-large district. It included deploying devices efficiently, ensuring network compatibility, and maintaining compliance with the CIS Controls security framework. The district overcame these difficulties by adopting tools like Mosyle MDM (Mobile Device Manager) for student and staff devices, Google management for student devices, and One to One Plus for asset management and tracking. The  district tech department prioritized collaboration, proactive planning with schools, and continuous follow-ups to optimize equipment usage and streamline deployment processes.

Robust Infrastructure: Prioritizing investment in high-quality network systems to support evolving applications and ensuring strong foundational technology.

Collaboration: Regular coordination among teams to align on goals and solutions.

Cloud Transition: Gradually moving suitable applications to the cloud for cost efficiency and scalability.

Research & Training: Continuous exploration of emerging technologies and investing in staff development.

Outsourcing: Leveraging third-party services for large-scale projects to optimize resources and focus on critical tasks.

Success Driven by Key Partnerships

The success of the Iron County School District in technology and innovation can be attributed to strategic partnerships with leading organizations. The Utah Education Network (UEN) provides a robust network backbone that supports schools, libraries, and healthcare facilities across the state.

The Utah State Board of Education (USBE) ensures the district’s compliance with data privacy laws and state legislation, while key vendors such as Palo Alto (firewall and filtering), Virtru (email and file encryption), Scale Computing (hyper-converged infrastructure), and 1Password (password and system access security) contribute to security, data encryption, virtual machine management, and password management. Specialized site resources like the Student Data Privacy Consortium (SDPC) and Learn Platform further safeguard student data privacy by ensuring the use of secure, vetted classroom applications—enabling efficient and secure operations.

A Culture of Trust and Innovation 

As an IT manager, Randy emphasizes the Iron County School District’s commitment to cultivating trust and innovation in educational technology. With robust infrastructure, up-to-date systems, and a responsive technology team, the district is dedicated to supporting educators and students. This collaborative culture prioritizes student success, builds trust through transparency, and aligns decisions with the shared goal of continuous improvement. Its focus on innovation has led to improved student outcomes to ensure the company remains at the forefront of educational technology.

A Strong Foundation for the Bright Future

The Iron County School District is committed to preparing students for a bright future. By fostering critical thinking, embracing innovative technologies, and empowering educators, it is creating a thriving learning environment that inspires and challenges students. Through a combination of rigorous academics, engaging extracurricular activities, and a strong focus on character development, the district is equipping students with the tools they need to succeed in college, career, and life.

Company Overview:

Name: Iron County School DistrictFounded: 1851Website: https://irondistrict.org Headquarters: Cedar City, UtahLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/iron-county-school-district

Iron County School District: Achievements

E-sports Program: Launched in 2018-2019, it attracted over 200 parents at each participating school, and now features nationally ranked teams.

Cyber Camps: Organized for local and statewide students, these week-long camps inspired future tech professionals.

Paid Student Internship Program: Offers hands-on experience, fostering loyalty among students who often remain in the district.

Proactive Stakeholder Support: Ensures teachers are empowered, parents are reassured, and students are safeguarded.

[k12academics]

George Vanderbilt's quest for knowledge was a lifelong passion, and his legacy of learning continues today. Biltmore's programs for student groups include musical performances, experiential and educational Biltmore House tours, Homeschool Days, higher education events, and more. We look forward to sharing the history and legacy of Biltmore, America's largest private home, with your educational group.

[yatescountyhistorycenter]

Working for the children

By Jonathan Monfiletto

Susan Miller Dorsey already had nearly two decades of teaching experience under her belt when she began teaching Latin at the only high school in Los Angeles, California in 1896. Thirty-three years later, when she retired as superintendent of the Los Angeles school district, she had overseen the doubling of the student population of the fastest-growing school district in the world during the 1920s. At the time of her death in 1946, Dorsey had been the only living person to have a school in Los Angeles named after her.

Historian Rich MacAlpine captured Dorsey’s life in a nutshell for a March 2009 article in Yates Past, the bi-monthly newsletter of the Yates County History Center, that was reproduced in MacAlpine’s 2014 book Yates County Chronicles, so I won’t duplicate his efforts in this article. Just briefly, I will mention Susan Miller was born to James and Hannah Miller, of County House Road in Jerusalem, on February 16, 1857. She seems to have attended Jerusalem School District No. 17 in her childhood, and then she graduated from Penn Yan Academy at the age of 16 in 1873. After four years at Vassar College, she graduated in 1877 and embarked on a 20-year period of teaching in higher education as well as a career in social work. Marrying Patrick Dorsey – a fellow Yates County native – in 1881, Susan moved with her husband to California, where he was called as a pastor, shortly afterward.

From 1896 to 1902, Dorsey taught at Los Angeles High School and also served as the head of the school’s classical department. Her tenure with the Los Angeles school district follows a time in which her husband, taking their son, Paul, with him, decided to travel for better health and apparently abandon his wife in the process. However, Dorsey never described herself as divorced but did list herself as widowed upon Patrick’s death in 1927.

From 1902 to 1913, Dorsey presided as vice principal of the school, and then in 1913 she was selected assistant superintendent of the school district – the first woman to hold the position. She broke the glass ceiling yet again in 1920 when she was chosen to be the superintendent of the school district, despite her misgivings over the position and apparent desire not to hold it. While she is described as the first woman in the United States to be the superintendent of a metropolitan school system, a contemporary newspaper article lists her as the only woman in the country to hold such a position and notes this is a distinction for a former resident that Yates County should be proud of.

During her time at the helm of the Los Angeles school district, Dorsey accomplished several educational initiatives. According to newspaper accounts of her career, she established a visual education division, a classical center, an Americanization department, and three types of schools for practical and vocational preparation. She also enlarged the health and physical training sections and the elementary school library. She was an early advocate of the importance of kindergarten, and in her free time she volunteered in the city’s social welfare programs. This included working with the Chinese community and tending to those with tuberculosis as well as being a temperance advocate.

Her aim was to “solve vocational problems and train character,” she said, and she oversaw a school district whose area measured 965 square miles, with 400 schools and a $30 million budget ($544 million in today’s money) by the time she retired. In her near-decade as superintendent, the population of Los Angeles increased from 500,000 to 1.2 million while the student population increased from 135,000 to 350,000. School facilities tripled in size during that time as well.

In fact, having witnessed the present and foreseeing the future, Dorsey urged upon the importance of spacious grounds to allow room for future growth. “It is through her foresight and vision that school sites range from five to thirty acres, as she always has insisted that Los Angeles must look to future expansion and that the children of its citizens must build strong bodies on its school playfields,” one newspaper article stated.

Dorsey used her position to advocate for the modernization and advancement of education as the world modernized and advanced, noting in a speech “that young people be trained to become useful members of society should be the most important phase of education,” according to a newspaper article. The article captured the message of Dorsey’s speech this way: “The education that answered for the child of forty years ago when the world lived without telephones, automobiles, submarines, amplifiers, and the many electrical devices at command, will not fit the child to live in the world today.”

She also led a teacher-citizen committee that planned a convention to give parents the opportunity to hear from the greatest experts in child training in the country. “The movement to educate parents better to enable them in the upbringing of their children is state-wide,” one newspaper reported, stating an analysis of high school students “shows that some of the problems are lack of knowledge by parents, lack of supervision of the child’s leisure time, lack of acquaintance by parents with the companions of the child, lack of sympathetic cooperation with the child’s friends, lack of understanding, broken homes, and discordant homes.”

Under Dorsey’s leadership, the committee studied the need for recreational facilities such as playgrounds and indoor community centers as well as the need to diminish students’ heavy loads of homework and activities to allow them and their parents to address home and community problems. She was recognized for helping improve the health of schoolchildren, accomplishing beneficial reforms for the city’s public school system, and seeking to address such problems as the need to house the ever-increasing number of children moving into the district.

Dorsey received her third four-year contract in January 1928 with a salary of $12,000 ($218,000 in today’s money) and a stipulation that she could leave the school district before the end of her term. Indeed, she later announced her retirement effective in January 1929. With this announcement, she was hailed as “for the past ten years been considered the outstanding woman in the educational world on this side of the Atlantic” and “one of the most famous women in recent generations to claim Penn Yan and Yates county as her birthplace.”

The cornerstone for Susan Miller Dorsey High School was laid in December 1936, and the school opened the following September. Dorsey died on February 5, 1946 at age 88 – less than two weeks shy of her 89th birthday – at Wilshire Hospital in Los Angeles, where she had been a patient for a short time following an illness. During one of her last public appearances on January 17, she spoke before the board of education in favor of character training for young people and joked that her greatest mistake was resigning, since she no longer could work as closely with the students, which was her chief interest in life.

[aanews69]

Philly Schools Face Crisis! Philly Schools in Trouble: What's Next? #shorts #VirtualLearning #SchoolDistrict #EducationCrisis #TeacherShortage #Fairness #StudentSupport #SafeSpace #PandemicImpact #TransportationIssues #InternetAccess Watch the full video here: https://youtu.be/tKIZ8f9OZ4c Subscribe👇: https://sub.dnpl.us/AANEWS/ 👀👇: https://viralbuys.vista.page/

[usnewsper-business]

First-Time Homebuyers: Avoid Costly Mistakes and Find Your Dream Home #appraisals #budget #closingcosts #commonmistakes #creditscore #FHAloans #firsttimehomebuyers #homeinspection #housepoor #inspections #insurance #InterestRates #lackofknowledge #localamenities #location #longtermcommitment #maintenance #mortgage #neighborhood #preapproval #propertytaxes #proximitytowork #repairs #researchprograms #schooldistrict #statespecificprograms #unexpectedexpenses #USDAloans #VAloans

[propicsmedia]

AI Revolutionizing Education at Every Level AI For Schools, Teachers and Administrators. The future of education will be very reliant upon AI and technologies which only a few years ago would have been unthinkable. Now AI is a tool which can benefit everyone from students and parents to teachers and administrators. Contact ProPics Canada Media Ltd and PPC Media, AI and Technologies for further information on education solutions and workshops. https://www.propicscanada.com or call (778) 980-4635 #artificialIntelligence #education #k12 #school #Postsecondary #schoolsystem #secondaryschool #Highschool #juniorhighschool #Teachers #teaching #schoolboard #schooldistrict #schooladministration #schoolstaff #educators #headmaster #headmistress #schooladministrators #schooltrustees #learning #educationsolutions #classroom #courseplan #study #college #university #Ethics #responsibleAI

[daartistznt]

So let’s see, I’ve been busy! Balancing life, running a business, being a mom, an interesting start back to remote learning for the #schooldistrict supporting #specialeducation I am still running #zntartsonline and it’s been the highlight of my week. I am officially in my last semester of undergrad! I am in week 3 of the semester. But I still carve out time to create for my beautiful friends and #zntartsfamily I must say this #customjewelry #wearableart is definitely my favorite! It’s suitable for a queen 👑 so happy I got to create this lovely #brasswirejewelry #metalwork #rosequartz #amethyst #crystalcrown I used some new threading techniques and I am pleased with the outcome. The goal is to never stop learning, experimenting and applying yourself. #smudge for #goodvibesonly and the utmost loving intentions 🥰 What are you going to inquire about next? DM me for custom jewelry and art! Giving you art from the heart... 💖#artist #educator #entrepreneur #jewelrydesigner #gemstonelover #crystalhealing #multifacetedwoman #metalsmith #wirework #wirewrappedjewelry #painter #illustrator (at Boston, Massachusetts) https://www.instagram.com/p/CFmI07aHDgA/?igshid=fwol8zpk1ni5

[sparrowatheart]

Apparently tonight was a great night to come back to work at the PAC! I just saw six people in a row that I haven’t seen in YEARS. ♥️ #backtowork #PerformingArtsCenter #Usher #sparrowatheartooc #Workselfie #SchoolDistrict #Highliners #MamaMia2019 https://www.instagram.com/p/B2snv20HW1t/?igshid=14gxbibg0hiwz

[k12academics]

Top ranked by TripAdvisor / Yelp! Ed Leedskalnin secretly built Coral Castle at night; excavating, carving, and moving over 1,100 Tons of coral rock. Since 1923 Scientists, Engineers, and Scholars continue to be mystified. The methods Ed used to create this architectural feat remain unanswered to this day. See a hand-carved 9-ton gate: perfectly balanced, a Polaris telescope, the world's only Sundial that provides you with the time of day, month of the year and four seasons. Referred to as a Modern Megalith, Coral Castle is compared to the ancient megalith's of the Egyptian pyramids, Stonehenge, and is considered by many to be one of the Wonders of the World. Experience the Coral Castle with our tours guides. The guides will share the "Love Story", the History, the Science, and experience how some of Ed's items work; even after 98 years! Seen on the History Channel, Travel Channel, Discovery Channel, Ancient Aliens, Univision, BBC, and much more! Billy Idol wrote his famous song & continues to sing "Sweet Sixteen" in concert today. There is a fantastic short movie about the greatest mysteries of Coral Castle and it's creator and builder; Edward Leedskalnin. Enjoy the delicious delights at the Coral Castle Café and Gift Shop.

[yatescountyhistorycenter]

The other round-stone schoolhouse

By Jonathan Monfiletto

For a building that is no longer standing – and that hasn’t stood for well over a century – the Round Stone Schoolhouse is a gem in Yates County. Formally known as Potter School District No. 5, the schoolhouse is unique in that – for 80 years of its existence – it was a schoolhouse made out of cobblestones.

According to a Wikipedia entry, historians estimate that at least 75 percent, and perhaps as much as 90 percent, of cobblestone buildings in the United States are within 70 to 75 miles of Rochester – largely due to that major city’s proximity to Lake Ontario, from where the cobblestones were gathered. And here in Yates County, we had a schoolhouse constructed from these smooth, round stones.

The schoolhouse was built in 1838, round in shape with walls two feet thick built of field stone and faced with cobblestones. The cobblestones may have been drawn by wagon from Lake Ontario, or they may have been picked up in neighboring fields. The structure was 30 feet in diameter and 11 feet high, with seven windows and seats arranged in the style of an amphitheater.

In 1919, an explosion of gas in the chimney started a blaze in the wooden part of the building, destroying the wooden infrastructure and damaging the stone walls. The following year, the school was taken down, and a wooden school house was put up in its place. That structure is also no longer standing, and a historical marker is all that remains on the site.

Here are the Yates County History Center, the Round Stone Schoolhouse is a gem also because it was the school Caroline Underwood – the namesake for the L. Caroline Underwood Museum – attended as a young girl. However, if my recent research is correct, it was not the only cobblestone schoolhouse ever located in Yates County.

Looking more into the history of the town of Middlesex through our research files, I came across the following typewritten but otherwise unidentified statement in the folder: “Another round stone schoolhouse stood for a time near Pine Corners on the Middlesex-Rushville road. In the late 1830s the district decided to replace the old school. Men drove to Lake Ontario to get cobblestones for its construction. Part of the school benchs [sic] were built to fit the shape of the wall.” As the description suggests, this school appears to have been the Pine Corners Schoolhouse or Blair School District, or Middlesex School District No. 1.

According to “Memories of the Rural Schools of Yates County, New York” by Jennie L. Hiler, the land title for the schoolhouse location – on Middlesex-Rushville Road (State Route 245) at the intersection with Loomis Road – dates to 1790 and a log building was built in 1796. Though Hiler states a frame structure known as the Poplar Schoolhouse was in use by the 1830s, she does not mention a cobblestone structure. She goes on to say an improved building was constructed in August 1889 according to S.N. Blair’s specifications.

In “America’s First Rushville,” Robert Elbridge Moody states the cobblestone schoolhouse at Pine Corners – a hamlet in the northeastern corner of Middlesex, situated on the outskirts of the present limits of the village of Rushville – was built around the same time as the Round Stone Schoolhouse was constructed in Potter. Indeed, he asserts the two schoolhouses were among the first cobblestone structures – houses or otherwise – constructed in the Rushville area. Unlike its cousin in Potter, though, the Pine Corners Schoolhouse “was given a very poor foundation,” Moody writes, “so bad that cracks in the walls made it dangerous and the building had to be torn down.”

According to a handwritten document from the subject files – possibly written by Hiler in the course of her research on rural schools – the Pine Corners Schoolhouse was the first school established in Middlesex. William Bassett started the school and served as its first teacher. The log schoolhouse was situated on a 504-acre farm that John Blair had bought in 1795; Blair gave the land for the site of the schoolhouse and also did many things to support the teachers and students. Indeed, Bassett later married Blair’s daughter Ann.

It was initially called the Poplar Schoolhouse, then the Round Schoolhouse during its time as a cobblestone structure, and finally the Pine Corners Schoolhouse. Typical of schoolhouses of the time, according to an article by Ruth Clark, it had a dirt floor, a fireplace for heat, benches made of split logs, and windows covered in paper rubbed in grease to make the paper transparent. The last record of Middlesex School District No. 1 is from 1929, and it seems students transferred to the nearby Rushville district at that point. Moody tells of children being transported to school in wagon and sleighs.

A newspaper item from the subject file, stamped October 12, 1944, states the Pine Corners Schoolhouse “has been unused since centralization,” a period that according to a timeline started in 1937 with district residents voting in favor of centralization and begun in 1938 with a new central school. The first six grades attended school in Middlesex, and the upper six grades went to Rushville. In 1939, the Middlesex Valley Central School opened. The schoolhouse was purchased by a man who intended to use it to store electric welding machines and household goods and planned to occupy it at some point.

Thus ended a nearly 150-year history of a schoolhouse in Middlesex, with a brief period within that timeframe as a second cobblestone schoolhouse in Yates County. According to the newspaper item, the property was to revert to the Blair family when the site was no longer used for a school. Indeed, it was Mrs. Elizabeth Blair, the oldest living member of the family, who completed the transfer.

[ledskylights]

Schools are becoming more and more stressful to our children, especially with #covid mandates. Artificial Sky is a simple, same day install to help alleviate students’ nerves and anxiety. #school #maskmandate #schooldesign #student #teacher #k12 #kindergarten #middleschool #highschool #mentalhealth #recess #ledskylights #skyceiling #schooldistrict #schoolrenovation #classroom #backtoschool (at Los Angeles, California) https://www.instagram.com/p/CS6xZe7JaFG/?utm_medium=tumblr

[usnewsper-business]

First-Time Homebuyers: Avoid Costly Mistakes and Find Your Dream Home #appraisals #budget #closingcosts #commonmistakes #creditscore #FHAloans #firsttimehomebuyers #homeinspection #housepoor #inspections #insurance #InterestRates #lackofknowledge #localamenities #location #longtermcommitment #maintenance #mortgage #neighborhood #preapproval #propertytaxes #proximitytowork #repairs #researchprograms #schooldistrict #statespecificprograms #unexpectedexpenses #USDAloans #VAloans

[haitiankole]

Back on my grind #custodian #schooldistrict #northsidehigh 🤑🤑🤑🤑💪🏾💪🏾💪🏾🤞🏾👌🏾🤪 (at Northside High School (Columbus, Georgia))