A new technology department service agreement for Mansfield City Schools will serve to launch City Mills Technology, an independent technology startup located in Mansfield.
The contract was unanimously approved in May during a special session of the Financial Planning and Supervision Commission, a state-mandated panel overseeing finances for Mansfield City Schools. Superintendent Brian Garverick presented a proposal to terminate the district’s information technology (IT) contract with North Central Ohio Computer Cooperative (NCOCC), opening the way for City Mills Technology.
The one-year contract – a series of three agreements totaling $582,000 – goes into effect July 1, but City Mills will immediately assign two technicians to assess current technology services and additional needs throughout the district. According to Garverick, the contract with City Mills will save Mansfield City Schools approximately $10,000 in the first year.
“It began with just a general discussion about the district’s technology needs and what all that encompassed,” explained public relations consultant Larry Gibbs, “The more they talked, the more Garverick became convinced this was an opportunity for the district to contract with a company that could better meet our needs specifically for technology.”
City Mills President David Rose said City Mills Technology was formed strictly for servicing the Mansfield City Schools district. While the company itself is new, Rose is not new to the technology business having been in the industry since 1991. City Mills will operate separately from Rose’s principle company, Cobra Systems, Inc.
“We were approached by the school system to come in and help repair their technology department and really look at how do we get it moved forward,” said Rose. “When this opportunity came about it was a good opportunity for us to split off the business and form this strictly for servicing the educational business. Dan (Rzeppa) and I formed a partnership, which is City Mills Technology.”
Dan Rzeppa, Chief Technology Officer for City Mills, explained the company will be in charge of anything technology related throughout Mansfield schools.
“We’re going to be working closely with the faculty, staff and administration to find out what kind of technology they need in the classroom and then we’ll be in charge of implementing that technology,” he said. “We will be in charge of not only maintaining what they have but also upgrading and moving it forward.”
Expanding technology services is one goal Gibbs said Mansfield schools are striving towards, as well as a greater reliability on aspects of technology including hardware and software.
“In our current contract we’re one of many they serve over there, so sometimes things get spread kind of thin,” said Gibbs. “With City Mills we will be their sole clients. We would get more and quicker attention, plus better service across the board.”
The expansion is a tall order, as Rose pointed out technology is implemented into nearly every part of daily life in modern times. City Mills’ biggest challenge, said Rose, is the current state of the equipment in Mansfield schools and how best to utilize the current equipment for both teachers and students.
“There has to be an integration between the curriculum the teachers are teaching and the technology,” added Rzeppa. “From what I gather there’s been a disconnect between that, and we want to bring that back together.”
Currently, Rose and Rzeppa have been assessing the current status of the equipment in schools throughout the district and plan to meet with staff to better understand their immediate needs. Over the summer, Rose said City Mills will be reconditioning and reimaging current equipment to prepare for the next school year. It’s a daunting task, but one that Rose said City Mills is up for.
“On a positive note, we do have the support of the administration,” he said. “They are fully behind what challenges we have and helping us, they’ve been very positive. We’re excited, it’s a good challenge we’re looking forward to and we think it’ll be fun.”
“There has to be an integration between the curriculum the teachers are teaching and the technology,” added Dan Rzeppa. “From what I gather there’s been a disconnect between that, and we want to bring that back together.”
