John Lehmann It is my pleasure to write a reference letter for John Maklary. As the superintendent of the Oakridge School District I have worked closely with John for the past three years. John serves as the Technology Coordinator for our school district. He is instrumental in our staff development technology program; coordinating our technology software and hardware infrastructure on a district-wide level; and securing personnel and financial resources to improve our technology programs. John is incredibly talented. He has a can do attitude. He is an independent thinker and a team player – a wonderful combination and asset for a progressive organization. John possesses very good interpersonal relationship skills and he truly values people. He works for people with a genuine personal interest in assisting others to be successful. This is very evident in John’s service to teachers regarding integrating technology in the classroom not only as an educational reference resource, but also as an instructional tool and strategy. Should John Maklary decide to move from our school district and community it will be a significant loss for us, and a real gain for you. However and most importantly, he will still be contributing to the education and improvement of others. If you hire him, congratulations! You’d be hard pressed to make a better choice. Lynn M. Lary, Ph.D. It is with great pleasure that I write to you on behalf of John Maklary. I have known John on a professional level for approximately five years and have worked closely with him over the last year and a half on several district-wide projects. As the district's technology coordinator, John has been instrumental in the successful transformation from a district filled with non-networked computers into a district with complete Internet access, both wired and wireless, and a full NT network serving both platforms. He provides technical support to teachers, students, and office personnel on a regular basis. Most recently, John has written, received, and implemented an NCLB Ed Tech grant. The focus of this grant has been (1) to provide K-12 staff development centering on the integration of technology into the writing process and (2) to implement wireless technologies in all schools in the Oakridge School District. In Oregon, all Ed Tech project directors are required to participate in a Professional Development Cadre. Many of the participants specialize in either curriculum or in technical infrastructure. John is one of the rare project directors who has the ability to transcend both worlds. He is a true leader who is open and willing to learn and apply new strategies both instructionally as well as technically. In addition to implementing the Ed Tech grant, John coordinates/provides both formal opportunities as well as informal, job-embedded, just-in-time staff development for the teachers in his district. Although he is not an administrator, he somehow has been able to attend administrative meetings where he is an advocate for technology staff development. John is a highly skilled, motivated professional with excellent oral and written communication skills. I have always found John to be willing to go the extra mile, making it a real pleasure to work with him. David Gordon I have known John Maklary ever since he came to Oakridge in 1996 and began helping me with the technology of the Oakridge School District. I was the District Technology Director at the time and also a fulltime teacher. I knew we needed a Network Administrator and a Technology Director who could help bring our rural school district into a technologically proficient educational system. John has done that and more. John helped me implement a $200,000 technology grant to upgrade our district. While doing that, John went back to school and received his teaching certification. He has excellent scope in the area of Technology and is able to problem solve very well. When he took over the district technology position he also taught 1⁄2 day. His expectations were excellent and he had exemplary management of student expectations of equipment use. He has high expectations of student behavior and he produced very technologically savvy students. Not only did students love being in his classes he helped other teachers love using technology with their students. John is very goal oriented and strives to get results. As you probably have read elsewhere he was instrumental in our district receiving a $225,000 grant to make more technology available to our students. Every single teacher and student in our district has benefited from John being a faithful employee here at Oakridge School District. John and I have worked together very closely and I can say confidently that he will be a wonderful asset to your faculty. He not only is wonderful here at school, but he is also involved outside the school setting by playing his bass guitar in benefit concerts to help our community. John has been involved in his local church and with the Chamber of Commerce. He is an excellent role model for our students as they see him taking the time to help other people. |