Canal Winchester technology team reports large Chromebook recovery, cybersecurity steps and AI plans

Dr. Cooley, the district’s technology presenter, told the Canal Winchester Local School District board on Sept. 8 that the technology team has consolidated inventory, tightened infrastructure and advanced cybersecurity while preparing for new state requirements. The presentation said the district recovered about 1,000 usable Chromebooks and avoided procuring devices for the current school year — a savings the presentation estimated at about $300,000.

The technology team reported a drop in support-ticket resolution times from an average of 2.7 days before the current staff took over to “less than seven hours” on average; during the busiest back‑to‑school period the team averaged 2.7 hours. Dr. Cooley said the district reduced the number of local servers by about 50% through consolidation and migrated some applications to the cloud.

The presentation summarized infrastructure and security upgrades: reimplementation of handheld radio systems for school security and buses, upgrades to mobile device management for tablets and smart boards, rollout of single‑sign‑on for staff and students, automated update systems, and deployment of multi‑factor authentication. Dr. Cooley said the district adopted a cybersecurity framework required by state law and is working with the Ohio Cyber Reserve toward “safe harbor,” which the presentation said can reduce district liability after a cyber event.

Dr. Cooley described compliance work tied to Senate Bill 29, a state privacy-related requirement for vendor agreements. He said SB 29’s requirements were unfunded and that most of the district’s SB 29 costs were staff time for vendor negotiations and legal review. On district cybersecurity insurance, the presentation said the district’s premium fell from roughly $11,000 last year to about $6,000 this year after the security changes.

On emerging technology, Dr. Cooley said the district is pursuing a seven‑year technology plan and exploring automation and generative-AI use cases for administrative work, stressing the need for “guardrails” around generative systems used near students. He described the district’s approach to new technology requests under four principles: consolidate, integrate, innovate and celebrate.

Board members asked about two pieces of state legislation. Dr. Cooley said the district met the House Bill 96 requirement to adopt a cybersecurity framework by the Sept. 30 deadline and is “on track” to meet further compliance steps through the Ohio Cyber Reserve. On SB 29, Dr. Cooley said the requirements were not funded and primarily imposed negotiation and documentation work.

The presentation introduced members of the technology team by name and role: John Paul Hoffman (student information systems manager and Chrome Depot lead), Isaiah Cole (help desk specialist), David DeWeese (applications integration), Sheila (administrative assistant), Will Melvin (infrastructure specialist) and Heather (infrastructure specialist). Dr. Cooley said future initiatives include automation of onboarding and consideration of AI tools for administrative automation; the district is also developing a technology section within the CW Promise to present consolidated services for parents, staff and students.

The board did not take action on the technology presentation; the item was a report and was followed by board questions.

Dr. Cooley: “Our vision has four words. It is consolidate, integrate, innovate, and celebrate.”