Dave Bond is the new techno-guru for Falcon School District 49. As the chief information officer, he’ll expand the scope of information technology in the district and report directly to Superintendent Dr. Nancy Wright.”The previous position was not structured to look across the entire district, and it did not report to the superintendent,” Bond said.Since he started with the district six weeks ago, he said he’s met with every principal and director. “Almost everyone decided that a change was needed at the same time, so an amazing amount of change had been planned without everyone knowing what others had planned,” Bond said.”This is a fantastic opportunity, but we really have to do some hard work in an incredibly compressed period of time to make sure it all can be done without any glitches.”Bond said his goal is to provide infrastructure throughout the district that allows everyone – staff, parents, students and administrators – to access information appropriate to their needs, without compromising security. “Information needs to be more accessible from more locations,” he said. “The new tools need to be flexible and integrated with the district’s other tools. We need to look at where it makes sense to use Web-based tools.”Bond said he is pleased with the district’s wide-area network, the data center and the IT staff. However, he added that the IT system will undergo significant changes this next year. “We have an opportunity to do some incredible things and get dramatic results.”He also has met with the district’s IT vendors. “The district hadn’t realized how big of an IT organization it is,” Bond said. “With nearly 3,000 desktops, the district is a big IT organization, but it was making lots of small purchases and vendors were treating the district like a small organization.” Bond said he’ll combine the purchases he can to allow for vendor discounts. It’s easier for vendors to deal with large orders, he said.Bond, a Colorado native, brings plentiful previous experience in information technology to the district. He worked for Electronic Data Systems, an IT consulting company, and EMC Corp., after the latter purchased EDS.He also attended the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs and served six and a half years as an active duty officer.His wife is in her second year of veterinary school in Berthoud, Colo., and Bond said he commutes to Berthoud on the weekends. They also have a daughter, who is almost 2 years old, and a 5-month old son.Bond said that after attending the USAFA he had always planned to return to the Colorado Springs area. “I just didn’t think it would happen so soon,” he said. “But I have found that when I make a plan, it happens sooner than I expected.”
