New Haven education committee reviews proposed multi‑year identity management and MFA agreement with Clever

The New Haven Board of Alders' Education Committee on Aug. 27 heard a presentation about a proposed multi‑year agreement for identity management and multifactor authentication (MFA) with Clever that would serve New Haven Public Schools.

Technology staff said the system would provide MFA for district users — including younger students — and automate creation of three primary accounts when a new user is onboarded. Michael Semillon, chief technology officer for the city of New Haven and the Board of Education, told the committee Clever would provision accounts in the district Active Directory (corporate email), Google accounts and PowerSchool, and would allow teachers to perform password resets for students without contacting the central IT help desk.

The technology presentation framed the Clever offering as part of the district’s longer‑term cybersecurity strategy. Semillon described student‑friendly authentication options — for example, letting younger students pick animals instead of entering passcodes — and reiterated that Clever includes integration points intended to reduce manual account setup and speed classroom access.

Committee members and a Perry Haven School youth coordinator asked whether classroom filtering or visibility tools would remain effective once devices were in students’ hands. Semillon said the district will return to the board next month with a separate product called Securely that is intended to let teachers view students’ Chromebook activity in class and intervene when students stray from assigned work.

Committee members asked about cost. Semillon stated the expense “is approximately $187,000 over the three‑year period,” and in ensuing back‑and‑forth there was some numerical confusion in the meeting transcript: presenters and committee members repeated different partial figures. The committee did not take a formal vote on the Clever agreement during the workshop; the agenda item remains on file and subject to full‑board action.

The committee recorded no formal direction to staff to execute the contract during the meeting. The presentation materials are on file with the city clerk and the item will proceed through the Board of Alders process unless the full board changes course.

Further details disclosed during the presentation: Clever’s identity management product is intended to reduce manual account setup work for new hires and students, to enable teacher‑led student account recovery, and to provide MFA for district accounts. The district will present an additional classroom‑visibility product (Securely) to the Board of Alders at a future meeting to address in‑class monitoring and assignment compliance.

The committee accepted public‑comment procedures and closed the workshop segment without approving the Clever agreement; any formal approval would need to appear on a subsequent full board agenda.