Rachael Maves: Hello everyone. You are listening to the Rachael Maves podcast and I am Rachael Maves, your host. This podcast is part of the leadup to the upcoming measure what we value Summit, scheduled for February 5th through 6th 2025 in Fresno, California. The summit emphasizes honoring and amplifying student voices, fostering inclusive classrooms and equipping Educators with tools for impactful change. You can find more information at parsecsummit.com. Today I have the pleasure of speaking with Cam Iliff.

Cam is the vice president of engineering at Apollo education systems. He brings over 25 years of experience in K-12 education technology. Previously at Aeries software, he led the development of California's leading student information system, serving over 700 districts across California. Cam specializes in translating School District needs into innovative solutions and has played a key role in CIS and CALPADS advisory groups, driving the evolution of student Data Systems Statewide Cam. Thank you for joining me today.

Camden Iliff: It's a pleasure, Rachael. It's always fun to get into the weeds with another data. Nerd.

Rachael Maves: So, Cam, I just want to give you an opportunity to tell us a little bit about yourself, share your story, your journey. What led you to this current role, why this Niche and education. I'm I'm excited to just learn more.

Camden Iliff: Well, I got my opportunity starting edtech back in the 90s as a software developer fresh out of high school. I needed a, an internship and interested in software development and just so happened. My mother was working as Dean at a high school that was one of the early adopters of Aeries and was able to get me that job, so I landed there. I believe I was actually employee number seven, so it was definitely early days startup, and over the years I had the opportunity to innovate and work on technologies that were truly unique and first to their kind. Back when I started, schools barely had internet access, so we were building out the first web-based access for teachers that was seen in the industry, the first web-based grade book, they paying the gred parent portal. This was all new and but you know, after 24 years working on and leading the development of Aeries, it was time to move on.

A few years ago now, fortunately for me, Brad blankens ship, the CEO and founder of Apollo, reached out and offered me an amazing opportunity to build really what's the first of a new generation of student information systems that aren't Bound by Antiquated Legacy designs and Decades of technical debt. We it's a system that's going to be ready to serve the needs of schools today and into the.

Rachael Maves: Okay, like I want to camp out there a little bit and hear more, because having dealt with student information systems like to find one. That's kind of teasing. The things that you're saying is unbelievably exciting. Before we jump into our questions, can you like share just a little bit, or is it kind of hush until you guys go to market?

Camden Iliff: No, we actually well, we were Hush when I was interviewed. I had to sign an NDA before I was even told what the company was doing. But we did have our launch at the site conference back in October and so we are fully Market, ready to take on new customers. We have our early pilot schools that have already been running Apollo this school year, so we know it's functional, ready to go. We've done CALPADS reporting, we've done our P1 numbers, our pment figures and all the various reports that are necessary to run these schools throughout the school year, and so we know we're ready. Now we do have.

We how to put it? Our software is unlike any others. The demos that we do, people are really. They really like what they see clean, easy to use, and you we're going to we have an opportunity to really do something different. I think our sessions are going to highlight that difference of the way that Apollo is designed and built out. Compare with everything that came before us.

Rachael Maves: Yeah, that's super exciting. I'll have to follow up with you later because now I'm intrigued and I want to see a demo of it. So tell me a little bit about your keynote, because you're going to be joining us for the summit this year, which I'm really excited about and excited to meet you in person is called Future Ready education: improving District performance with Apollo. Why do you believe tools like Apollo are essential for preparing schools and students for future?

Camden Iliff: Success well. Over the years, so much Focus has been paid to directly improving student outcomes, and rightfully so. That's why we're here. This involves a high degree of focus on teacher Effectiveness, learning and instructional tools and student data analysis, and these things are all great, but what has been overlooked is the staff behind the scenes who run schools and districts. These folks are the unsung heroes in education. They are what is really the foundation of any school, as they support not just students and families, but also those teachers who are teaching our kids.

Rachael Maves: [speaker uncertain] Yeah, I heard a quote once: great teachers in great schools make great students and citizens, and sounds good, but that got me thinking about what makes schools great and gives great teachers a place to thrive.

Camden Iliff: For me, it boils down to looking at a school as a team. Every school is a team, with different staff playing different positions. They all have to work together to create was truly a great school. The nutrition staff keeps the kids well fed, the nurse keeps the students healthy, counselor keeps the kids on track, the attendant's office keeps the kids in their seats and, of course, teachers are instructing the students. There's so many tools that have been built to help teachers right. There's dozens of hundreds of thousands of instructional tools out there, but there really hasn't been great tools for the other folks.

It's been very superficial, I would say. And what Apollo does is help the everyone else in the school do their jobs more effectively. For too long, student Information Systems have been a place where staff just put data in and get data out. It's simple IO. No one has focused on how schools do business. The SIS is are focused on data but not operations.

But Apollo is built to Align data management with the business practices of. Schools. It also aligns and we've taken the best practices of high performing schools, put those into the system to guide other schools to adopt those same practices, optimizing their systems, so creating great schools. In the end, Apollo makes schools and districts run smoother and it helps schools become great by supporting staff to achieve what I would call operational excellence.

Rachael Maves: That's. I mean, that's fantastic when you think about, like our audience, so, School leaders, practitioners at the summit, what are some of the tangible key takeaways they'll be able to apply to their context.

Camden Iliff: I hope that attendees to our sessions will walk away with an understanding that the old days of student Information Systems being held together with duct tape and shoing gum or pieced together like Frankenstein's monster those days are gone and I'll have to call any individual SIS out there. You know who I'm talking about. But there is a new generation of student Information Systems coming and it's led by Apollo. These systems are built in the Modern Age using modern Technologies and are influenced by Future focused Innovations like AI and cloud computing. We are not held back by platform designs dating back to the days before schools were even connected to the internet.

Rachael Maves: Yeah, so Cam just out of curiosity for my own learning: does Apollo also include budgets? When you say that it includes things with like operations did, does it also include the fiscal side of things?

Camden Iliff: So not right now. Apollo was designed as what we call a platform, and that platform currently contains a student information system. Yeah, and we intend, fully intend to expand. The applications and modules available on the Apollo platform to include, you know, potentially, budgeting, HR and position control. These the world is, it's open for us and that's it. We really are the first student information system to be designed with that idea in mind, that we have a platform we could sell on SIS in the future when we build, say, a asset management, just as an example, we could sell Asset Management as an independent product, aside from the SIS, and so it all.

What really matters is what the opportunities are, what the needs are in schools, and is the software that's currently being offered not meeting the needs of schools? Yeah, and for us, we want to come in, we want to address those concerns and build, I say, best-in-class products that could be sold and compete alongside of those Standalone systems that are out there.

Rachael Maves: Sure, yeah, that makes sense. As you think about our Summit and joining us for the first time, what are you most looking forward to?

Camden Iliff: You know, over the last few years, I've I've watched parek build a Vibrant Community of Educators. And it's been exciting to see and seen them seeing grow and make an impact. My Apollo colleagues and I are excited to engage with really future focused professionals who are excited to take advantage of modern tools like Parsec and the technologies that are coming out in making great systems That Couldn't exist 10 or 15 years ago.

Rachael Maves: Yeah, it really is an exciting time to be in education, isn't it? To see what's coming forward. Yeah, so I mean our final question as we wrap up, I'd love to give you the it's not really a question, just an opportunity to leave a final word for our listeners, any Sage advice or thoughts to ponder.

Camden Iliff: So yeah, I'm in the SIS Arena and I like to think of student Information Systems being very similar to cars and trucks and it those are outside the software world may not kind of see from that same perspective, but how many software systems are you using today that were originally built and designed in the 90s and you know, in consumer software that just doesn't, doesn't happen. So I think of an SIS like a car or truck. Some may age well and that old 95 Ford pickup you've been driving may have had a new stereo put in it, a new coat of paint, maybe some engine upgrades. Sure, it's been well maintain for all these years and you're used to driving it. Yeah. But the technology available on new cars today can never be fully retrofitted into that old truck.

It's never going to have self-driving, it's never going to have Lane change assist or rear seat reminders and it's never going to be as reliable as a new truck, no matter what you do to that old. So if you want the highest performing student information system, upgrade to a new platform and don't settle for a freshly painted 94 Corolla.

Rachael Maves: Yeah, I love. That I have to say, since we're talking kind of an analogies and pictures here, I always think of it like a patchwork quilt, where you're kind of stitching together all of these different pieces but at some point you know it's not going to last, so to eventually have to buy a new comforter, you know is true. Well, I appreciate your time today, Cam. Thank you so much for joining me and sharing a little bit about Apollo, what you're going to be sharing with us at the summit. I'm excited to meeting you in a couple of weeks.

Camden Iliff: Thank you, Rachael. See you soon.

Rachael Maves: Parsec education is hosting measure: what we value. Summit on February 5th through 6th in Fresno, California. Join us for impactful conversations on empathy, engagement and hard truths and more. Alongside leaders like Chaka Booker, Rich Stowell, Jamila lcot and Cam iff, and student speakers like Liliana San Sanchez and Tim Lori, we have a promo for 25% off Summit tickets until January 31st. Ticket seats are filling up fast, so make sure to secure your spot today. Get your tickets at parsecsummit.com.

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This transcript was created from the episode's captions and lightly edited for readability. It may contain small errors; please refer to the audio for exact wording.