District Web Technician Named GCS Employee of the Month

J.T. Tonkins called “Jedi Knight” of content management system

"When you get 25 nominations for Employee of the Month, including one that calls you the “Jedi Knight” of the new district web system, you know you’re doing something right. That title belongs to Elbert “J.T.” Tonkins, district web technician, who this week was named the April GCS Employee of the Month.

Tonkins earned the admiration of many of the district’s school webmasters and media specialists for the calm, caring way he has guided schools from one content management system to another during the course of the past year. It’s not an easy task in a district with 126 schools and up to 40,000 web pages under the umbrella of www.gcsnc.com.

“J.T. stepped into this webmaster role last June and has done an amazing job of working with a wide variety of skill levels among his webmasters, and always with a smile,” says a nomination from Patty Stringer, media specialist at Northwest Middle. “In our new Edline application, webmasters and teacher users are referred to as ‘SuperUsers.’ I personally have begun calling J.T. ‘the Jedi Knight of the SuperUsers.’ He is a gracious, kind, wise and imperturbable OverLord of the SuperUsers. He is my Obi-wan!”

As Employee of the Month, Tonkins received a $50 gift card from Sam’s Club, which has given nearly $5,000 to outstanding GCS employees since 2005. During the month of April, his photo will hang at the district’s central offices, at the Technology Services department and at the Sam’s Club on Wendover Avenue. He will be recognized at the Board of Education meeting on Tuesday, April 8."

From a Press Release