hartenstein

Michael Hartenstein

Michael Hartenstein is the Executive Director of Information Systems. He is responsible for all facets of technology use in the school district. Mr. Hartenstein manages the Applications Systems Group, Network and Field Support Services, Help Desk, EMIS, DBA, Media Centers and Computer Science Departments.

Prior to his work with Parma Schools, Mr. Hartenstein was a partner in the consulting firm, Convergent Inc. Convergent specializes in engineering and technical support of large network environments in schools systems throughout the mid-West. He spent five years with IBM as a Systems Engineer and was the first Technology Consultant of the Ohio Department of Education.

Mr. Hartenstein has authored numerous papers and monographs including a review of "Writing to Read" for NCREL; "Polaris" the journal of the Ohio Educational Technology Association; and was the co-author, along with Steven Meiring, of the ODE publication: Integrating Technology into the Classroom. He is the former President of the Ohio Educational Technology Association and received the Distinguished Service Award from the Ohio Educational Data Systems Association.

Focus of Work

Improving student academic performance through the use of technology;
continued acquisition and deployment of technology resources for use throughout the district;
utilization of information systems in the decision making process;
alignment of district activities into a coherent, unified, and efficient effort;
strategic planning to improve district infrastructure and reduce costs;
securing additional outside funding to support the district's varied technology initiatives.

Major Accomplishments at Parma

Redesigned and rebuilt the district-wide area and local area networks;
created the Department of Information Systems modeled after the business data processing center model;
designed and built the Network Operations Center;
put in place a data warehousing infrastructure;
deployed a fully networked digital imaging and document management system;
nurtured several pilot instructional projects at individual school buildings in the district;
implemented a new integrated student information system software package;
Negotiated and secured a contract with Nextel Communications to provide the district $1.6 million for unused high frequency ITFS spectrum space;
deployed a Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) telephony solution to replace the legacy Centrex system.