Technology director briefs new board on infrastructure, cybersecurity and device rotation; district authorizes desktop and interactive-panel purchases

Joshua Winnie, the district director of technology, gave a status update on the district’s technology operations, infrastructure and priorities and described steps staff are taking to harden systems against cyber threats. The board separately approved staff recommendations to purchase desktops for the elementary rotation and to continue replacing interactive whiteboards with LED interactive panels.

Why it matters: technology purchases and infrastructure upgrades support classroom instruction and district operations and cybersecurity measures are intended to protect student and employee data.

Winnie told the board the district is now effectively a 1:1 Chromebook district for students, leases roughly 3,500 Chromebooks for grades 5–12, and runs a five‑year desktop rotation so no classroom desktop is older than five years. He said about 4,500 students and roughly 600 employees use district technology.

On interactive panels, Winnie recommended continuing with the current vendor line for elementary classrooms because of proven warranty responsiveness; the board approved purchase of LED interactive panels unanimously. On desktops, staff recommended procuring approximately 100 desktops for elementary teachers under the established rotation; the board approved the purchase unanimously and staff noted one bidder included tariff‑adjustment language in its quote.

Winnie also described recent infrastructure work — fiber repairs, Nutanix storage upgrades for virtual servers, and network switch/wireless upgrades — and said the district will pursue further cabling improvements using E‑Rate funds when feasible. He emphasized cybersecurity as an increasing threat and summarized a staff phishing campaign: of about 535 delivered test emails, roughly 10% were clicked and about 2% advanced to simulated credential‑entry steps; staff said the district will continue training and simulated exercises.

Board members thanked Winnie and the technology team and asked about priorities; Winnie said mission‑critical classroom support and help‑desk ticket response remain top priorities and described ongoing plans for server and storage refreshes and Windows 11 readiness.

Ending: With purchases approved, district technology staff will schedule procurement, deployment and installation and continue cybersecurity training and infrastructure work through the summer and next school year.