Luke Newhart has spent nearly twelve years at EduTech, making sense of complex data and turning it into tools that help BOCES and its Component Districts better serve students.

When Newhart joined Wayne-Finger Lakes BOCES in 2014, he started at the Help Desk, which he remembers as a great place to begin his BOCES career.

“In that role, you get an idea of how big our BOCES and EduTech really are,” he said. 

Newhart then moved into test scoring and eventually into his current role which focuses on database development, reporting, and analytics. He recently built the Regionalization Dashboard for New York State from scratch.

“I was the one that built that,” Newhart said. “Coding it, making sure it works, getting all the data from the state and everywhere else from point A to point B.” 

He also helped develop the Driving Student Success and Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) Dashboards, which allow districts to look closely at attendance, academics, behavior, and social and emotional learning (SEL) in order to support educators in making informed decisions about student needs. 

While much of his work happens behind the scenes, Newhart knows the impact goes far beyond numbers on a screen.

“What you’ve been able to build, what you’ve been able to do is actually having an impact down to the child,” he said. “That’s where you find that satisfaction of coming to work every day, knowing that what you’ve built is actually having an impact.” 

Newhart also credits the relationships he’s built for keeping him at BOCES.

“We were talking about these ideas 10 years ago,” he said of the projects he’s worked on coming to life. “Now we’re actually seeing the fruits of all those conversations.” On top of solid collaborative partnerships, he also credits strong BOCES leadership for giving him the tools he needs to do his work well.

Outside of work, Newhart enjoys music and technology, both longtime passions. He laughs that even after a full day of work, he still goes home to tinker with tech.

“My wife thinks I’m nuts,” he said. “Even after being here all day, I go home and mess with my computer.”