JPII in the News!

MOSSWORDS:
Connecting Classrooms: Five-Star Technology Solutions 'a passion project'

SELLERSBURG — The Catholic school here did away with its computer lab. Students no longer take a break from math or English to hone tech skills.
Each child carries a laptop. Technology shares center stage throughout each day.
Just as Jim Benson surely imagined.
Benson founded Five-Star Technology Solutions a little more than a decade ago. He realized this school, St. John Paul II, his alma mater, and all others must jump on the technology bandwagon.
And they would not know how.
They would struggle with what to plug in where and how to fix what's broken. Some teachers eagerly log in. Baffled, others resist. For every educator comfy with routers and hyperlinks, another is not.
So Benson had something of a groundbreaking business by 2005 and his first two helpers two years later. Word spread. Five-Star's presence steadily swells. From engineers to coaches, about 150 employees today enact Benson's vision. Many spend much of their time in schools such as St. John Paul II.
Most local schools rely on Five-Star as do more than one-half statewide. The company's reach begins to extend nationally. Technology is no fad, after all. Relationships vary but Five-Star's potential is clear. It offers the right services at the right time.
"Five-Star really found its niche," Karen Haas, principal at St. John Paul II, said. "They knew.
"They're really on top of it. Any interruption (of technology) is an interruption of teaching and learning. Five-Star really is an integral part of what we do and its people are very responsive."
Benson, the CEO, lives now in Indianapolis while his company operates from a sprawling former insurance office in Sellersburg near Ind. 60. I met there recently with top lieutenants D.J. Hanen, the chief operating officer, and Jason Roseberry, the chief innovation officer.
Like had Benson, Hanen and Roseberry came from careers locally in education. The company's culture is to be as at home in classrooms as at keyboards. "We try to instill in our employees to help teachers who are helping the students," Hanen said.
Neither Hanen nor Roseberry stops often to appreciate the revelation that is Five-Star. Besides, they say, the company better succeeds when schools better succeed. "Being under the radar is kind of our purpose," Roseberry said. "We want our clients to look like the rock stars."
Smallish schools such as St. John Paul II were first to say yes to Five-Star. The company offers a monthly fixed price, easy for schools to budget. If not necessarily ideal for the Five-Star bottom line, the approach suits Benson's vision. "For him, this is a passion project," Roseberry said.
Focused on elementary and high schools, Five-Star helps schools set students' class schedules and post grades, for instances. It evolved into also assisting day-to-day teaching, say, with the use of Google. "We've been able to keep up with trends in the fields," Hanen said. "We can give schools an idea of what we're seeing elsewhere."
The New Albany-Floyd County schools are a client. Five-Star employees are daily in those buildings, aiding with immediate issues as well as with long-term challenges. "It's a very nice service," Louis Jensen, an assistant superintendent, said.
"They understand the plight of a teacher."
While an assistant principal in Scottsburg, Roseberry realized how powerfully technology was emerging in schools. He joined Five-Star as an unabashed disciple of what he calls a major movement. "I saw a chance to work with schools," he said. "'How do we make this meaningful to student learning?'"
Such questioning continues. Skeptics remain. More schools equip all children with computers. Others stubbornly hold out. "We've had this discussion again and again and again," Hanen said.
Roseberry and Hanen smile, trying to figure the future. Roseberry said things change week to week. Make that hour to hour, Hanen counters. Be it self-assured, Five-Star was named to reflect reviews awarded the best. Five-Star Technology Solutions counts on more growth. But how? Where?
Hanen envisions no particular finish line. Roseberry said this is no time for Five-Star, however proud, to sit back. It must buckle up and keep riding this roller coaster. "A five-year plan is a joke when it comes to technology," Roseberry said. "A three-year-plan is often a joke."