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USD 231 technology team outlines cybersecurity, network and classroom tech upgrades
Summary
District technology staff reviewed network and cybersecurity work completed this year—firewall and server upgrades, better backups, wireless replacement, fiber burial—and previewed major projects for summer and next year including a phone system replacement and classroom pilot work.
District technology staff told the USD 231 Board of Education on May 12 that a series of network and cybersecurity upgrades over the past year have reduced operational risk and prepared the district for bond-funded projects.
The presenter identified as the district technology director summarized completed work: upgraded battery backups across network closets, replaced and consolidated aging servers, updated VMware and backup software, added redundancy to off-site backups, and repaired or extended network links such as a wireless point-to-point connection to the visitor concession stand at the high school. “One of the biggest things when you talk about cybersecurity is making sure that you've got good backups,” the technology director said.
The team replaced an undersized firewall that had become a performance bottleneck and installed a new firewall (Firepower 3105) capable of the district’s Internet speeds while leaving intrusion-prevention services available. Staff said that configuration will also allow deployment of a high-capacity inline filter (Content Keeper) to improve content filtering and block VPNs and proxies that students sometimes use to bypass protections.
Staff noted a small but recurring outage problem caused by an exposed aerial fiber stretch; the district plans to bury that segment over the summer and said roughly 60 percent of the burial cost should be reimbursable under an available E-rate-type reimbursement (district described as “E rated” in presentation). The technology director also previewed larger summer projects: districtwide wireless replacement, a move to cloud-hosted Cisco Webex phone services with new handsets, and continued classroom-technology pilots focused on teacher mobility (Apple TV plus iPad screen sharing emerged as a favored setup in pilots).
The technology team advised keeping the district data center in its current location rather than moving it to the planned district service center to avoid significant fiber rerouting costs; they recommended treating the new service center and new elementary as additional fiber "spokes" to the existing hub. Staff said the department resolved more than 3,500 help-desk tickets since July and that most tickets rated the service positively.
No formal board action was required; trustees thanked the technology staff and asked staff to continue aligning tech purchases with the bond program and curriculum priorities.
