Listening to Cheryl Parris reflect on her 33-year career with the R-7 School District is a little like listening to your parents talk about their childhood.</p><p>Phrases like “back in the day” and “believe it or not” are spoken often. Words such as “Internet” or “voice mail” are used sparingly, and mostly to complete a statement that began with one of those prior phrases, such as, “Back in the day, when we first got computers, they were used mostly for word processing. There wasn’t anything like the Internet at that time.”</p><p>It’s those stories of days gone by, however, that make her career as interesting as those tales of your dad walking 15 miles to school in the snow — uphill both ways.</p><p>Parris retired from the R-7 School District earlier this summer, after serving the past 12 years as its executive director of technology — a job that put her at the forefront of so many technological advances adapted by the district. </p><p>“Cheryl is a remarkable example of an exemplary and visionary leader within our school district,” said Dr. David McGehee, R-7 superintendent. “She guided our schools through tremendous changes and advances in technology for more than a decade — all while keeping a focus on the classroom and on student learning.” From managing the district’s first computer network to helping put a laptop with wireless Internet capabilities on each teacher’s desk, Parris has seen and done it all.</p><p>“I’ve always believed, and I still believe, that technology is a tool for instruction,” Parris said. “It was back then and it still is now.”</p><p>The definition of technology has changed throughout Parris’ career. When she began her career at LSHS in the fall of 1975, Parris said, “believe it or not,” her first classroom was full of manual typewriters. “Well, there was one room that had half electric and half manual typewriters,” she said. “So we thought we were really big stuff.”</p><p>Sometime in the early to mid-1980s, Parris said, the district purchased its first Apple IIe computers, then eventually obtained some IBMs. The implementation of the computers, she said, dazzled many within the district, specifically for that simple “backspace” button.</p><p>“Back in the day, if you made a mistake, you had to get the eraser and scratch it of the paper,” she said. “Or even worse, that infamous bottle of white-out. It was amazing to people that had learned to type in that environment that you could now just backspace and it was gone. It was amazing that you could actually proofread your document on the screen before you printed it.”</p><p>As her teaching career progressed along with the technology, Parris became the instructor for the district’s first business law and business administration courses — Parris earned her bachelor’s degree from Southwest Baptist University in business education.</p><p>In 1991, Richardson, Trail Ridge and Underwood elementary schools were built, and were the district’s first schools that boasted a computer lab, Parris said. A year later, Bernard Campbell Middle School became the first school with a computer network throughout the building, and they needed someone to manage it.</p><p>“That was my first foray into specific technology coordination at a level where I was taking care of more than just the computers in my business classrooms,” Parris said.</p><p>Then, in 1996, Parris drew upon that experience when she interviewed to be the district’s second executive director of technology. She thought she was right for the position due to her experiences with technological advances and because of her teaching background.</p><p>“I always believed that whoever was in charge of technology needed to have an instruction viewpoint,” she said. “Having used computers and really growing into them in my instructional career, I was just looking forward to the challenge.”</p><p>Since Parris became the head of the technology department, it has grown from a staff of four or five to a department of more than 50 employees.</p><p>“Back in the day, the technology department had very few people on staff,” Parris said. “We’d have computers that would break, they’d put in a request, but there just weren’t enough people.”</p><p>During her stint as technology director, Parris helped lead the district toward adopting several significant technological advances into its everyday activities. One of the biggest changes, Parris said, was the creation of a large fiber network that runs throughout the city and connects each of the district’s schools and buildings, a project that began in 1999. Prior to that, the district leased network capacity and bandwidth from a major phone company.</p><p>“We felt like we needed to be in charge of our own destiny,” Parris said. “That was one of the most forward-thinking projects we had completed.”</p><p>Other major achievements during her tenure were the creation of phone, voice mail and e-mail systems. “It used to be that every school just had its own number and there wasn’t much for voice mail,” she said. “Yeah, I know, it’s hard to believe.”</p><p>Another major project was the administrative office’s move from the Miller Building to the Tony L. Stansberry Leadership Center, which Parris described as a “huge undertaking.” And it was the completion of the SLC that pretty much solidified Parris’ decision to retire, something she has been pondering for a few years.</p><p>“I wanted to stay to complete this building,” she said from her SLC office, just days before her retirement began. “I certainly didn’t want to retire before we moved in here. That would have been really tacky to say, “OK, you guys take care of that.’ Having a year here and making sure things were pretty well organized, it just seemed like the right time.</p><p>“Plus, you start thinking, ‘Well, I’m not going to work here another 10 or 15 years and I’m not going to be here when they build the fourth high school, so when is a good transition time,’” she said. “Their vision of where we’re going, after the strategic plan of 2010, 2011, that vision needs to be cast by someone else.”</p><p> That “someone else” will be Don Andrews, former principal at Summit Lakes Middle Schools, who has been hired as Parris’ replacement as executive director of technology.</p><p>“Like Cheryl, Don has tremendous expertise and experience in both technology and instruction, and we are pleased to have him taking over this important role in our school district,” McGehee said.