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BILLINGS – It’s eerily quiet in the halls of Elder Grove, with only two weeks left in the school year. But one person they do have is Director of Technology Carol Phillips, and that’s a good thing because the district could go wrong without her.
“People don’t know what she’s worth,” said Elder Grove Middle School Principal Mike Rice. “She is irreplaceable.”
Elder Grove, a rural county between Billings and Laurel, doesn’t need to hold a popularity contest, because Phillips runs away with it.
“I average a couple hundred tickets a month,” Phillips said. “I have about 3,000 items that I’m responsible for.”
Casey Conlon/MTN News
And she is the only one – of a class.
“Carol Phillips is one of the smartest people I know,” echoed Elder Grove K-5 Principal Jesse Moore.
Four years after Phillips started volunteering at Elder Grove, the district realized what was available and created the district technology director position for her.
“She’s very efficient and knows everything that goes on in the school,” Rice said.
“It takes an incredible amount of stress not only from Mr. Rice and I as administrators, but from our staff and students,” Moore added.
Rice and Moore were thrilled to nominate Phillips for the CoSN Withrow CTO of the Year award, and were thrilled when she won. So was she.
“I was really in shock,” Phillips said. “Most of the time I’m an island to myself, and I appreciate them recognizing how hard I’ve worked. Everyone likes a little validation every now and then, right?”
Casey Conlon/MTN News
At some point, Phillips leaves, so she begins training her successors. Phillips has a tech team – a group of middle school students she teaches to do anything with technology.
“They fix a device. They install something. They drop things. They come back with something, bring it, fix it and come back,” Phillips said. “They’re part of my team.”
It’s one of the most popular clubs on campus and Phillips’ favorite part of the job. You can see her light up as her students work on their projects. They all want to make a full-time class — Phillips is working on it.
Photo courtesy of Elder Grove Schools
For now, she continues to make a big difference in her little pond.
“Most of the school districts that won (the CTO award) were between 20,000-50,000 (students),” she said, “so Elder Grove, under 700, I’m excited to be part of that elite group.”
I can’t think of a better word to describe her.
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