| State: Florida | Number of Students: 207,469 |
| School Type: Public School District | Free and Reduced Lunch: N/A |
| Grade Level: PK-12 | English Language Learners: 11.9% |
School Context
Student Growth: There is a heavy focus on student growth including improving graduation rates, attendance andbehavior and increasing digital learning opportunities.
Teacher Talent: The district places an emphasis on teacher talent including increasing teacher and leader effectivenessthrough professional development opportunities and improving retention.
Communication is Key: HCPS takes communication seriously and works hard to support communication between allmembers of the school and district community.
Operational Organization: The district has a goal of improving operational and financial processes and increasingefficiency.
State of Technology
Virtual Learning: Hillsborough Virtual School (HVS) serves K-12students in the district. The classes are taught by Hillsborough teachersand students have access to their teachers by phone, instant message,email and in their virtual classrooms. HVS offers a few programsincluding a full-time option, a co-enrolled option for students attendingother schools, a credit recovery option for students who are looking toimprove their grades and an option for students who are homeschooledlooking to fulfill curricular needs.
BYOD: Beginning in the 2014-2015 school year, Hillsborough beganallowing students to bring their own devices to school to accessinstructional materials, collaborate with peers and use apps andproductivity tools to support learning. All BYOD school sites use threesigns to help students determine if a particular space is appropriate fordevice use. The signs read “device friendly zone,” “device limited zone,”and “device restricted zone” (in which students must ask an adult forpermission before using a device for learning).
Social Media Class: During the 2013-2014 school year, BloomingdaleHigh School offered a Social Media 1 course where students could learnbasic skills in social media including ethical and legal uses. While takingthis course, students moved from consuming content to producingcontent. The course has spread to other high schools includingHillsborough Virtual School and the district wants to continue growingthe course to all high schools. As part of this work, students andteachers across the district have created video content around digitalcitizenship.
Tech Needs & Requirements
For all purchases less than $5K, the district encouragesstaff to use good business practices to compare priceseither obtaining quotes over the phone or in writing. Forpurchases between $5K-$10K, the district requires thatquotes be obtained over the phone. The procurementdepartment process all purchases between $10K-$50K,getting at least three written quotes. For all purchasesover $50K, a formal RFP process must be held by theprocurement department.