City Schools reports growth in devices, new cybersecurity grant and plans to expand LMS and AI safeguards

Baltimore City Public Schools' Office of Information Technology told the Operations Committee on Jan. 21 that the district has expanded its technology footprint, strengthened cybersecurity funding and will phase in a new learning management system while piloting controlled uses of artificial intelligence.

The update, delivered by Maxim Lapushin, special assistant in OIT, Director Russell (Office of Information Technology) and Elvis Tia, executive director for cybersecurity and infrastructure, said device inventory has grown from roughly 20,000 active devices in 2020 to about 80,000 in 2024 and the district now has more than 7,000 voice-over-IP phones and over 7,000 wireless access points districtwide.

The growth, the presenters said, accompanied investments in an asset-management system that provides a single source of truth for device inventory and dashboards to track replacement rates and breakage. "We are able to follow our tech our devices from cradle to grave," Director Russell said.

Why it matters: district officials said the expanded bandwidth, phones and access points allow simultaneous testing, classroom phone access and remote learning capacity that did not exist before 2020. Those changes, officials said, support equity of access across 160 schools and roughly 70,000 students.

Cybersecurity funding and incidents

Elvis Tia told the committee that the district has used grants and federal programs to support technology and security. He listed recent awards and applications, including Emergency Connectivity Fund (ECF) monies, E-rate program funding, and a larger education grant the presentation labeled as "ESA." He said the district applied for $3,000,000 for cybersecurity and was approved for $2,400,000 this week. "We just received that information, this past week," Tia said. "We were 1 of the 2 [LEAs] in the state of Maryland awarded."

Tia also summarized an increase in cybersecurity incidents and said staff will provide more detailed information to the board in closed session. "We look to provide more in-depth information to the board in a closed session," he said, while adding that OIT works with federal and state partners, including Homeland Security.

Administrative systems and learning platforms

Maxim Lapushin and other OIT leaders described ongoing work to modernize administrative systems. The district will phase in a commercial, cloud-based learning management system (LMS) and is replacing Blackboard with a combined Canvas and KickUp implementation for staff and students. Chief IT staff characterized the LMS purchase as "configured versus writing code," describing it as a subscription product requiring integration effort.

On budgeting and the district's new budget-amendment app, OIT and finance staff said the app required custom in-house work because the district—s budgeting structure did not match off-the-shelf products. "We are a buy person, because trying to keep the technical talent... is extraordinarily difficult," one chief said, but also acknowledged the district built a custom budget app that will require district maintenance.

AI stance and pilot work

The committee discussed artificial intelligence risks and uses. Officials said OIT is piloting AI internally and developing guidelines. "We don't look at it as restricted. I look at it as carefully monitored and managed," Chief Tavi said, summarizing the office's approach as cautious monitoring rather than an outright ban. Commissioners said the board should engage in policy-level conversations about student data, vendor data use and appropriate guardrails.

Operations and next steps

Committee members asked practical questions about commissioner ID badges; OIT said staff will replace commissioners' IDs and coordinate with the board office. OIT also promised a more detailed technology retrospective and standard operating procedures to document the district's changes over the last several years.

Officials closed the discussion by noting that while OIT has made the infrastructure improvements, the finance office and other partners were essential to making purchases and sustaining deployments.