Brentwood technology presentation cites $747,000 FCC cybersecurity award, BOCES aid gains and staffing requests
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Summary
Candace Chang presented the district's information-technology budget on Jan. 23, describing shifts of software and laptop purchases to BOCES that increased projected aid, a $747,000 FCC cybersecurity pilot award, planned firewall and security upgrades, and requests for additional technicians and administrative support to sustain a growing 1:1
Candace Chang, a staff member who presented the Information Technology budget for 2025–26, told the Brentwood Union Free School District Board of Education on Jan. 23 that the district has pursued a multi-year strategy to shift software and hardware purchases to BOCES to increase aid, and that the technology unit recently received $747,000 in FCC pilot funding for cybersecurity.
Chang said the district shifted software agreements to BOCES beginning in 2022 and estimated that the realignment boosted BOCES-aid receipts by approximately $1,148,000. She said moving student laptop purchases through BOCES should generate roughly $1,650,000 in aid (a conservative estimate, in her words) and that district BOCES aid projections for 2025–26 rose by nearly $3.5 million in the most recent projection the district is using.
On cybersecurity, Chang said the district was awarded $747,000 through an FCC cybersecurity pilot and plans to use the funds to upgrade firewalls, add network segmentation, and deploy a security information and event management (SIEM) product to centralize logs and flag potential incidents. "We were awarded $747,000 to support cybersecurity initiatives," Chang said.
Chang described other near-term technology priorities: wireless upgrades in five additional buildings, expanded high-school wireless, security-camera storage expansion, replacement of smaller copiers next year (she sought a $350,000 reduction in copier equipment budget this cycle and said copier maintenance costs have fallen as printing declines), and additional vans for technician deployment.
Chang requested several staff additions to support enterprise services and event coverage: two additional technicians to support cybersecurity and redundancy, a database coordinator to help govern and protect district data (part of implementing the NIST Cybersecurity Framework 2), two maintenance-mechanic II positions to provide later-shift AV and facilities support, two communications aides for building-level 1:1 program coverage, and a 12-month office assistant to consolidate clerical work and reduce repeated use of temporary subs. She noted that substitute clericals and substitute technicians require significant training and that continuity would improve with dedicated 12-month positions.
Chang also reviewed operational-code changes: a relatively small overall budget increase of about 2.1% ($213,000) in her operational request, reductions in hardware budget because the large student-laptop purchase was moved to a BOCES code last year, and modest increases for maintenance and multifactor-authentication licenses.
Board members thanked Chang for pursuing aid opportunities and for attention to cybersecurity after recent sector incidents; Chang noted Brentwood uses a different student-data vendor than some districts affected by the PowerSchool breach and said East School Data has assured the district its data are safeguarded. Chang invited the public to a Brentwood Technology Expo next Monday, featuring STEM exhibits, parental support for platforms and device insurance sign-up, and a raffle.