For those who work in education(primarily k12, or k-12) we can now come up for air. The kids are back in class and routines are starting to mesh, and teachers are settling back into their groove. Working in IT for a k12 school, our projects usually run over the summer, including device upgrades, infrastructure updates, etc. The two weeks before school starts till about two or three weeks after school starts are the busiest.
Two weeks before school starts teachers and support staff start coming back into the building, setting up their classrooms, and, for most, re-acquainting themselves with the technology. There’s also the whole getting the room temp right(good luck). For most of us in the technology or facilities departments, this means jumping from ticket to ticket, helping staff remember how to use the technology, or figuring out what failed over the summer when it sat dormant.
The first day of school starts a whole slew of tickets, both for the technology and facilities departments. The two weeks that follow are near constant tickets, from the temp in the room to students who can’t log in to their devices to last-minute hires who need to get into all their new accounts. During these two weeks, it’s just taking on one ticket after another and existing.
Now that things are starting to get back to more of a baseline pace for everyone, staff, and students, we can take a collective to breathe and start to find our stride. For myself, this includes eating decent and cutting back my caffeine, for about the past month I’ve been running off of whatever food I can get when I have time and large amounts of coffee(in all forms).
For those who work in a school, especially k12, don’t forget to come up for air and find whatever gives you the energy to keep going and settle in for the year, the holiday breaks will be here before you know it!