Mr. Reffner’s enthusiasm extends to more than his positive views of technology and his modeling usage of it. He also encourages greater integration among all stakeholders, from parents to teachers, in a variety of ways. As I observed him, he provided support and encouragement to teachers who wanted to participate in conferences and development. He routinely communicated to staff through email instead of traditional print and distribution of communication. He required teachers to submit lesson plans through email. He also slowly integrated technology into the lives of parents by asking for email addresses on medical forms and sending school information by email to those parents who noted they permitted this form of communication. Mr. Reffner believes that technology implementation cannot be successful

What is the best way to facilitate enthusiasm among teachers regarding embracing the use of technologies?

Administrators must heed such lessons because of staff complaints that such an environment as Mr. Reffner’s seldom exists when schools decide to implement information technologies.

The following questions represent the main ones I asked Mr. Reffner:

Teacher Organizations. Viewed on Nov 15, 2003: http://www.teacherwebsite.com/organizations/organization.htm

What role does training play in the successful implementation of technology?

Principals like Mr. Reffner understand the complexities of successful IT program implementation. However, Mr. Reffner argues that “Many principals are themselves unprepared to facilitate successful IT implementation,” (Reffner 2003). He argues that some of the mental barriers and lack of understanding of new technologies also impedes action on behalf of many principals. Those that do attempt to implement such programs often fail to achieve expectations because of such obstacles and a lack of support from district administrators. Mr. Reffner argues that the lack of support on behalf of many principals toward their teachers is similar to many district administrators toward principals trying to implement IT programs. As he said in his discussion with me, “District administrators need to do their jobs as well, by providing technology training for principals” (Reffner 2003).