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Shenendehowa presents technology, cybersecurity and Maxwell upgrade plans
Summary
District technology director outlined completed and planned work including multi‑factor authentication, wireless and wired upgrades using e‑rate, an $800,000 Smart Schools allocation for Maxwell, device rollouts, and a NIST‑based incident response plan with planned tabletop exercises.
Ray Nardelli, the district’s director of information management systems, told the Shenendehowa Central School District Board of Education at a Sept. study session that the district is continuing several multi‑year technology initiatives and adding new operational safeguards.
Nardelli said last year’s rollouts included multi‑factor authentication for staff Google accounts, replacement of high‑school classroom desktops with mobile devices, and completion of a district wireless network. He told the board there were “over 300,000 student connections in the past 12 months” to the district’s Magic School platform and that only one staff group remained to finish MFA enrollment.
Why it matters: The district framed the items as infrastructure and security work intended to support classroom instruction, continuity of operations and data protection. Board members asked operational questions and sought clarity about timing and device behavior during the early weeks of school.
Nardelli said the district is using federal e‑Rate funding to refresh aging wired network gear, noting the program provides a roughly 50% discount on eligible networking purchases. He also said the district had about $800,000 remaining in its Smart Schools fund that was approved to pay for networking infrastructure, phones, a digital public‑address system, and gym and cafeteria AV at Maxwell. He added that additional classroom devices, interactive panels, printers and other equipment for Maxwell would require further purchases.
On cybersecurity, Nardelli said the district’s incident response plan follows the NIST framework and that this year’s update mainly refreshed contact information for vendors and partner agencies. He said the district does not publish the full incident response plan for safety reasons but will provide a redacted or GRAMA version that explains the process to the public. Nardelli told the board the district plans to run both an IMS tabletop and a district‑wide tabletop exercise this year; he said no such district tabletop was run last year.
Other items Nardelli discussed included disaster‑recovery measures (redundant hardware hosted in two locations) and a proposed password‑policy change encouraging passphrases over complex random strings. In response to a question about a quarantined software message staff had been seeing, he said the feature had been turned on prematurely during the busy start of school and temporarily pulled for a short delay before full implementation.
Board members pressed for continued communication to staff about quarantined items and device connectivity. The presentations and the board’s questions emphasized operational readiness and the district’s focus on minimizing classroom disruption while improving security.
Ending: Nardelli invited further questions and said IMS staff would continue to update the board as Maxwell funding decisions and equipment purchases progress.
