Frontline Blog

Do you know what would happen to your school district’s data in the event of a cyber-attack? How much data, exactly, would be at-risk if your school district were suddenly exposed? Who would be affected and what information could become available?

What steps should you take to activate efficient and consistent data-based decision-making in your district? For district technology teams, this is not an easy question to answer.

Making sure that your people are being paid the right amount, consistently and on time is among the most critical responsibilities of a school business office. An unintended consequence in many districts, however, is that Finance and Payroll tend to be an island instead of working alongside Human Resources.

School district technology leaders: there’s a growing threat to the schools you serve, and it’s not low internet bandwidth or outdated hardware… it’s school cyber attacks.

Just this month, over 143 million American discovered their sensitive information was compromised by a massive security breach at Equifax. Once again Americans find themselves scrambling to update passwords and wondering when the scammer emails and phone calls will start rolling in.  

Over the last three years, there has been a definite increase in the number of K-12 security incidents. School districts are often “easy targets” due to a lack of cyber security resources, and because student information is an unfortunately hot commodity on the dark web markets.  

During the selection process of an HRIS/HCM vendor, it’s easy to get caught in constant due diligence mode. But that means wasting valuable time when you could be implementing a product to reduce administrative headaches and provide valuable insight into your school district.  

Two weeks until Christmas: this is when we all discover what types of holiday shoppers we really are! Maybe you blitzed your way through the madding crowds on Black Friday and crossed everything off your gift list in one fell swoop. Or maybe you're one of the smart ones who's been buying presents all year long, and now you're sitting in front of the fire, sipping hot cocoa, while the rest of the world floods the Walmart parking lot, scours Amazon, and finally gives up and buys gift cards in bulk. The good news is that buying software isn't nearly as stressful as Christmas shopping. But here are some tips from holiday shopping that will help make any software decisions for your district easier this year!

The role of the school district IT Manager has changed. What used to be a position marked by installing and maintaining hardware has shifted to one of safeguarding - almost consulting for - the district on decisions and their effects across the entire organization. The IT Director has grown from maintaining systems to managing  them; fromrunning software to recommending it.  Gary Lambert, the Educational Technology Manager for Beekmantown Central School District in New York, has embraced this evolving role. In the interview below, he shares his insights on this new role and how to maximize your value as an IT professional to your school district.