Board asked to adopt resolutions to accept federal cybersecurity grants for East Central ISD network monitoring and incident response

East Central Independent School District technology staff described two federally funded cybersecurity projects and trustees were asked to adopt resolutions to accept the grants.

The projects come from the Department of Homeland Security State and Local Cybersecurity Grant Program. Director of Technology James Rmanzik introduced the need for board action; Mr. Benson then described the two funded projects: an incident response planning engagement with a vendor (about $21,000) to build and exercise an incident response plan, and an NDR/network monitoring implementation (about $11,000) to place an appliance on the district network with SOC monitoring. Mr. Benson said the combined project value is roughly $30,000 and the district’s out-of-pocket would be about $3,000 if the grants are accepted.

Mr. Benson told the board the incident response project will include live exercises and the monitoring project will provide 24/7 security operations center alerts to the district. "That project alone was about $21,000 ... the IVS NDR implementation project ... is about $11,000," Mr. Benson said, describing the two awards.

The superintendent recommended approval and a trustee, identified in the record as Miss Gisenhot, moved to "adopt all resolutions for the 2 cyber security grants." The meeting transcript does not include a recorded second or vote in the excerpt provided.

Because the motion and a superintendent recommendation are recorded but a roll-call or final vote is not present in the provided transcript segment, the formal acceptance and execution of the grants are not documented in this excerpt. The board packet included a DoPFUND/DoDLink-style resolution template for accepting the grants; staff said the resolutions are required for the district to receive the funds.