Joe DiLeone is the Assistant Network Administrator for East Hartford Public Schools who ensures network systems are functioning at all of the district’s schools and buildings. He puts a great deal of effort into his work and to problem solving because he truly cares about the district.
“Joe is a very hard worker. He’s someone that takes a lot of pride in his work. He’s very dedicated and really does the research necessary to get the job done,” said EHPS Information Technology Manager Tim Homa. “He’s going to come up with the best possible solution to make that happen.”
DiLeone’s role differs greatly from day to day. You can find him fixing major network issues behind the scenes that could be affecting whole schools or buildings, or you can find him interfacing directly with staff members experiencing issues with technology. DiLeone was also instrumental in setting up the mobile East Hartford Board of Education meetings that launched this school year.
Homa said, “He's definitely an asset to the district. I don't think there's ever a day that he doesn't give 100%.”
Learn more about Joe DiLeone in the Q&A below.
How long have you worked for East Hartford Public Schools and what brought you to this role?
DiLeone: I've been here for six years. I come from several jobs in the education field, but I've also had background in business as well. I saw this role as a stepping stone up for me. It was the next logical step in my career. I’ve been a computer tech, and then I became a lead tech, and then I left education and became an IT manager, and then I came back to education and became an Assistant Network Administrator.
What does your role entail?
DiLeone: It's basically making sure that you have network availability 24/7, the Wi-Fi works, when teachers come in in the morning the phones work, the computers work. It's everything you see on the back end that makes everything function.
Every building basically has its own network, right? And all those networks are combined in two central locations. If any portion of that breaks, then communication breaks completely. So, you kind of have to make sure that everything's running all the time, and you have to be notified if something's going wrong. So, we kind of keep our eyes on things all the time, and just do our best to keep everything running.
What does a typical day look like for you?
DiLeone: Normally I plan to come here to the high school, which is where my office is. But, you know, first thing in the morning, when you open your eyes, you have to check your emails and make sure that there's no emergencies happening because that could totally change your day as far as where you’re going and what you're doing.
So, when I get here in the morning, I check up on emails. I make sure that systems are functioning properly, key systems. And then I start continuing on projects, I check tickets. There's never a shortage of things to do.
Our buildings rely on technology for tasks in and out of the classroom, so whenever there’s an issue it must feel like an emergency.
DiLeone: Oh yeah, it’s always an emergency. If we get an alert that a piece of networking equipment isn't working at a building, we'll have to stop what we're doing and head over there, depending on how urgent the situation is.
I dream about East Hartford Public Schools, and I wake up in the morning thinking about East Hartford Public Schools. Just because I'm in that mindset, you know, to make sure that nothing's wrong.
What do you enjoy most about your role?
DiLeone: I enjoy the people that I work with and I enjoy looking at a computer screen, examining code and trying to figure out what it all means and trying to solve the problems that no one else can solve. You know, I kind of like a mystery and being able to figure something out.