Technology department outlines device refresh, cybersecurity review and growing AI work

District technology staff told the Chippewa Valley Schools Board of Education on April 28 that the district’s 1-to-1 laptop program and supporting infrastructure are mature, that substantial device replacements and a Windows 11 migration are scheduled for the summer, and that the district has engaged an outside firm for a cybersecurity assessment.

Sarah Maria White introduced the presentation and described the program’s growth since 2020. The board heard that a 1-to-1 initiative purchased roughly 12,300 student laptops beginning in late 2020 and that the district added technical staff to support device maintenance and classroom integration. Technology staff reported they now support more than 18,000 devices districtwide (excluding some networked infrastructure devices) and have closed 4,764 help-desk tickets this school year while handling about 6,300 phone calls to the help desk.

Robin Osterley, the district’s network and security supervisor, outlined the network and security backbone: fiber between buildings, roughly 600 network switches, phone and emergency notification systems in classrooms, a growing video/camera server environment and roughly 100 servers that provide core services. Osterley said staff recently upgraded public-address systems at 15 buildings and that the district maintains layered filtering for student accounts, with separate filtering levels for elementary, middle and high school students.

Instructional technology staff described portfolio work to integrate classroom tools and training, and to manage access to district applications. Jessica Paul, an instructional technology coordinator, said the district rosters and manages 27 software programs through ClassLink this year; those applications represent roughly 43,000 individual student and teacher enrollments across the district. Paul described summer deployments and curricular support: the district will replace devices for grades 3–12 and issue teacher portable devices during the summer cycle, with approximately 13,250 student/teacher devices scheduled for replacement.

Staff listed several infrastructure and security priorities for the summer, including replacing a firewall that has reached end-of-life, upgrading email security, and completing a vendor-led cybersecurity assessment. White and Osterley named Karhu as the firm performing the assessment; staff said Karhu will produce a report with external and internal vulnerability findings and recommendations for remediation and that the district expects to present results to the board in July.

Staff also discussed instructional priorities: professional-development sessions planned for August, increased teacher training on artificial intelligence tools, and district partnerships to embed technology into curriculum rather than treating technology as a separate subject. White and Paul emphasized the district’s emphasis on security, usability and classroom support staff to keep devices working for teachers.

Why it matters: the planned summer refresh and security work are intended to keep classroom devices current, help ensure testing and classroom systems remain reliable, and address cyber risk by bringing in a third-party assessment. The work will affect device availability during summer deployment and require continued coordination with principals and classroom staff.

Speakers identified in the presentation included district technology leadership and security staff.