Technology director outlines five‑year capital plan, device refresh schedule and cybersecurity concerns

Dan Maguire, speaking to the finance committee on March 3, presented the district's five‑year technology capital plan and an update on operations, staffing and cybersecurity preparedness.

Maguire reviewed a shift to sustainability in device funding: starting in 2025–26, student and teacher devices are expected to be funded from the district's general operating budget rather than through separate capital lines. He said the district will continue an annual refresh of about 1,000 Chromebooks (for grades 1, 5 and 9 on a four‑year cycle), supported by a remaining stock purchased with federal ESSER funds. "This is the second true year that we are on a refresh of a thousand Chromebooks every year," he said.

Nut graf: The plan covers classroom‑level upgrades (STEM and fine arts labs), data‑center and firewall refreshes, and continued use of E‑rate federal discounts for networking and infrastructure; Maguire emphasized that cybersecurity and staff capacity remain the principal operational risks as the district modernizes systems and prepares two new school buildings.

Maguire described planned STEM lab and digital‑arts refreshes that favor flexible laptop‑and‑workstation configurations rather than fixed desktop stations. He identified a major upcoming replacement of the district's hyperconverged VxRail storage solution and a firewall refresh; while these items carry sizable price tags, he said a multi‑year procurement and a move to more traditional architecture should produce long‑term savings. Maguire noted that many network and infrastructure refreshes are eligible for E‑rate discounts and highlighted the amount of E‑rate funding the district has tapped in previous years.

Maguire also discussed support operations: the technology department recently reorganized roles (building ed‑tech specialists and systems administrators), maintains bilingual help resources, and is transitioning to a more feature‑rich work‑order system (Incident IQ) to capture inventory, parts and metrics. He described routines used for high‑stakes testing (SATs), including device readiness checks and spare updated Chromebooks kept on hand.

On cybersecurity and staffing, Maguire said the district is monitoring threats and running phishing campaigns and training, but warned that "cybersecurity" and the department's capacity to sustain support are his top concerns. He told the committee that retaining skilled staff is essential and that he is exploring outside and IU support to meet demand.

Maguire also said the district is reviewing vendor questionnaires and privacy assessments for any product that includes generative AI and is requiring data‑privacy reviews before classroom pilots. "Every program that we look at now is gonna have a component of AI," he said, adding that vendor compliance and data governance reviews are part of procurement.

Ending: Maguire invited board members to request any additional detail; committee members thanked the technology staff and recognized the department's role in planning for the new Greenwood and New Garden schools.