CMS principals, Apple crew talk transformation

Charlotte-Mecklenburg's principals will meet with a team from Apple on Wednesday and Thursday to launch a school year that's focused on turning each school into a  "school of choice."

Kemker

Kate Kemker,  Apple's Southeast education development executive and a former technology official with the Florida Department of Education,  will lead the first day's  "Challenge for Change"  session at Hopewell High. She's one of 12 Apple staffers the company is sending at no cost to CMS,  Chief Communications Officer Kathryn Block says.  The second day will include sessions by another Apple executive,  Stephanie Hamilton;  Jonathan Travers of Education Resource Strategies;  Block and local leadership consultant Mike Whitehead.

The two-day  "transformation summit"  is central to Superintendent Heath Morrison's vision for long-term academic success,  in which principals lead faculty,  families,  students and community partners in creating schools with individually tailored academic programs,  teaching strategies and schedules.

But every time Morrison and his staff enthuse about the Apple-led sessions, I scratch my head.  Isn't Apple in the business of selling computers,  digital devices and software?  Wouldn't any vendor leap at the chance to lead a planning session for the nation's 17th largest school district?

In a 2011 series on  "Grading the Digital School,"  the New York Times noted Apple's savvy at  "wooing and wowing"  educators.

"The demand for technology in classrooms has given rise to a slick and fast-growing sales force. Makers of computers and other gear vigorously court educators as they vie for billions of dollars in school financing. Sometimes inviting criticism of their zealous marketing, they pitch via e-mail, make cold calls, arrange luncheons and hold community meetings,"  reporter Matt Richtel wrote.

"But Apple in particular woos the education market with a state-of-the art sales operation that educators say is unique,  and that,  public-interest watchdogs say,  raises some concerns. Along with more traditional methods,  Apple invites educators from around the country to  'executive briefings,'  which participants describe as equal parts conversation,  seminar and backstage pass."

This week's session follows a trip by Morrison and four other CMS administrators to Apple headquarters in July.  But Block said the exchange of visits isn't tied to a CMS purchase.  "We have no idea if it's going to translate into the use of Apple products,"  Block said.

CMS: California weekend wasn't on taxpayer tab

A reader emailed to ask about a recent business trip Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools administrators made to California.  They left on Friday,  this reader said,  for meetings that started on Monday.  He wanted to know who was paying for the weekend.

The reader is mostly right.  Superintendent Heath Morrison,  Deputy Superintendent Ann Clark, School Performance Chief Kelly Gwaltney,  Learning Services Chief Valerie Truesdale and Central Learning Community Superintendent Kit Rea went to California on Friday,  June 28, to learn more about using technology to "design schools of choice,"  said CMS Communication Chief Kathryn Block. There was a meeting on Friday,  she said,  with most of the business done Monday and Tuesday.

The district spent $6,005 for airfare, car rental and lodgings,  Block said,  but over the weekend the administrators were on their own for lodging and meals.

The trip included meetings with IDEO,  a Silicon Valley consulting firm that has worked with San Francisco schools;  the superintendent and school board members in Napa Valley public schools;  and Apple,  which is heavily involved in digital education.  Block said one benefit of the trip is that Apple is sending staff to lead a  "transformation summit"  for CMS principals in August,  at company expense.