This past week, Ready, Set, Teach! got to take a look at the other side of education, behind the scenes. Ready, Set, Teach! students took a morning field trip to the Education Service Center and toured the facilities with opening and ending speeches by Superintendent Dr. David Vinson, Assistant Superintendent Jeannie Stone, Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources Scott Winn and Recruitment and Induction Coordinator Ann-Marie Towell.

Wylie High’s Texas Association of Future Educators, or TAFE, club also joined the tour and learning experience.

“I’m glad we could all do this together,” TAFE sponsor Jessica Taylor said.

Students learned how the district’s money is spent and handled.

“I didn’t know there could be so many different processes just for handling the budget and how money is spent or made,” junior Abby Smith said.

Coordinator of Instructional Technology Lee Hattaway walked one group of students through the “NOC” or Network Operation Center which holds computer servers stacked and organized like large omniscient towers. These servers connect the entire district and feed the television, Internet and just about everything else accessed to WISD computers.

“The computer room was so intense,” senior Natalie Janson said. “It was like something from a movie with the little screens and the generator.”

Students circled around through the cubicles and even met a few staff in the Special Services Department, the Finance Department and the Testing Department.

“I never realized how many people work behind the scenes of education,” senior Clarissa Montoya said.