By LINDSAY CAREY
STAFF WRITER
The Board of Education has appointed Jamie Olander as the new director of technology for the Southington Public Schools.
Olander has served as the executive director of institutional data for the Hartford Public Schools since 2012. Prior to that, he worked in analytics, information, and marketing at The Hartford, an insurance company.
Some of Olander’s skills include technical support, programming and application design and data management, which the committee of administrators and staff who conducted the interview process found appealing.
The new director of technology said that he is really excited to join the Southington Public Schools, because it seems like a close-knit town. Olander said he is looking forward to being able to have more face-to-face interaction with board members, students and teachers, which he was unable to do in his former position because of the size of the school system.
“Coming from Hartford with 22,000 students to a 6,500 student base, I just think that I can have that one on one communication,” said Olander. “I love the fact that I can really dig in deep and get to the bottom of what we need to do with technology to give us a better place to take care of our students.”
Chairman of the Board of Education Brian Goralski said Olander’s experience proved he was capable in both the private sector and in public schools to use data and computers to improve performance.
“He seems to have a very good understanding of the educational software and also experience in leaders doing different projects within the school system,” said Goralski.
According to Goralski, the position was difficult to fill because the former director of technology Karen Veilleux had such a unique skill set.
“This was a complicated position to fill, because Karen was with us for a very long time and she built the program,” said Goralski. “We actually reopened the pool a few different times.”
Olander’s start date is still to be determined by Superintendent of Schools Tim Conellan.