District technology team outlines security upgrades, ParentSquare rollout and AI policy work

The Camdenton R-III technology team presented a progress report on security, communications and instructional-technology projects and outlined planned cybersecurity upgrades and policy work.

The nut graf: Technology staff said work this year included a districtwide phone rollout, partial camera replacements, ParentSquare adoption, and new phishing and cyber-awareness training (InfosecIQ); the department proposed upgrading endpoint detection to a managed detection and response (MDR) platform and replacing wireless access points under an approved E-rate request.

Mister Johns, the technology presenter, said the department’s motto is “mitigating risk while allowing innovation.” He described current projects: a middle-school security camera installation scheduled for completion over spring break; a new phone system with phones in every classroom; ParentSquare implementation; and quarterly cybersecurity training and simulated phishing using InfosecIQ. Johns reported that approximately 25 percent of staff are successfully identifying simulated phishing emails with InfosecIQ and said the district has seen roughly a 6-percent per-month drop in staff being phished since starting the tool.

Johns also outlined next steps: server replacements for cloud infrastructure scheduled for June, a wireless infrastructure overhaul tied to the district’s earlier E-rate approval pending final USAC confirmation, and a planned upgrade from the current EDR to an MDR product to meet cybersecurity-insurance expectations. He said the team saved about $220,000 in this year’s technology budget compared with last year and projects about $50,000 of growth in next year’s technology spending driven by new software and cybersecurity needs.

Sheena Self, library media specialist, discussed instructional-technology work, including a curated applications list and student-data-privacy agreements. She described a district “lunch-and-learn” professional development model and said roughly 321 teachers responded to a November reflection about the district’s EdTech philosophy, with about 57% strongly agreeing the direction aligned with their instructional philosophy.

The team also described a planned four-week professional learning opportunity on artificial intelligence for teachers and student-focused AI sessions at the high school beginning the next day; a policy recommendation committee will meet June 5 to produce a board recommendation on AI guidance for classroom use.

Ending: The technology department said it will return with vendor decisions on MDR selection after a security symposium and will begin inventory audits and server and wireless hardware deployments over the summer.