According to information provided by the Parkland School District, Tracy Smith, assistant to the superintendent for operations, has announced her plans to retire at the end of the 2020-21 school year.

The announcement, which marks a 30-year career in public education, was made during the Dec. 1 school board meeting.

Smith serves as one of three core leadership team administrators for the district who oversees 1,500 employees and 9,500 students.

She has been employed by Parkland for the last 13 years.

Smith oversees the technology department and is also integral in serving as a liaison between the curriculum and school operations departments.

She is focused on maintaining a reliable infrastructure and successfully integrating technology throughout the school district.

During her tenure, Smith is credited with:

•Rolling out a robust Wi-Fi network on all Parkland campuses that allows students to connect to the Internet in a safe and filtered environment.

•Creating an annual teacher technology conference that offers free professional development for educators to train teachers on the best practices of incorporating technology into the curriculum to help pave the way for students to experience 21st century learning principals and expose them to computer science.

•Launching a 1:1 program to give all school students a personal learning device.

•Designing a Digital Citizenship course to help students understand their role in Internet responsibility, as well as how to care for their Chromebooks.

•Being one of the first in Pennsylvania to offer a certification pathway for Parkland High School students to become accredited in Microsoft IT Academy courses.

•Developing a computer science pathway of courses that expose Parkland High School students to various careers in Information Technology.

•Mentoring young students by overseeing the launch of a National Girls Who Code after-school club at the middle and high school levels.

•Encouraging schools to participate in the annual Hour of Code sessions that are offered by code.org.

Smith has stated many times her goal has been for students to feel engaged and empowered to dive into topics that spark interest, imaginations and career goals so that they can be ready to make a great choice for life after graduation whether that be work, college, or military.